Thursday, September 20, 2007

Wal-mart: I don't recall those toys...

As most of us know, Congress has been having hearings about the recent toxic toy recalls. They've summoned Toys "R" Us and Mattel, which makes sense: Toys "R" Us sells 18% of the toys in the United States and Mattel is one of the largest toy distibutors in the U.S. (notice I said "distributor" and not "manufacturer." Like most companies these days, Mattel can't afford to manufacture their own toys cheap enough to sell to Wal-mart; so they outsource to Chinese factories, who outsource to other factories, etc.)

Why wasn't Wal-mart asked to be a part of the toxic toys hearings? They sell more toys in the U.S. than Toys "R" Us does; in fact, they almost sell twice as many toys. Wal-mart sells 30% of the countries toys vs. 18% at Toys "R" Us. So why wasn't Wal-mart a part of the hearings? One word: lobbying.

Read more about Wal-mart & the Congressional Safety hearings here.

Curious about the relationship between China and Wal-mart? Read more here.

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