New Crib Standards in Effect for Both Retailers and Manufacturers
Jane Kitchen -- Kids Today, 8/30/2011 5:30:17 AM
It was just over six months ago that the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced new regulations for cribs, and as of June 28, 2011 all cribs sold in this country - both new and used - must meet those regulations.
It was a bumpy six months- the first lab to test to the new 16 CFR standard was not approved until late February, and it was slow-going to get others approved; the CPSC only addressed the issue of whether retrofit kits would be acceptable in June (they are); and just weeks before the deadline, a fight was still raging about whether smaller retailers might be given an extension to sellthrough their inventory (they weren't).
The new CPSC regulations, which apply to full-size and non-full-size cribs, prohibit the manufacture or sale of traditional drop-side rail cribs, strengthen crib slats and mattress supports, improve the quality of hardware - including making sure the bolts on a crib do not have to be re-tightened - and require more rigorous testing. (The details of the rule are available on CPSC's website at www.cpsc.gov/businfo/frnotices/fr11/cribfinal.pdf.)
Manufacturers are required to regularly test samples of their cribs to the new standards and to certify that they comply with the new standards. Manufacturers must be able to provide a Certificate of Compliance or a General Certificate of Conformity for each model of crib that says it conforms to 16CFR 1219 (the new standard for fullsize cribs) or 16CFR 1220 (the new standard for non-full-size cribs) to retailers; many have these available on their Web sites for easy reference.
What was unprecedented about this ruling is not that industry standards were upgraded at a government level, but rather that both manufacturers and retailers were held to the standard on the same date. Usually a sell-through period is given to retailers so as not to interrupt the supply chain, and the process is a smoother one.
But the combination of the compliance date being the same for both manufacturers and retailers, along with the fact that the approval of testing facilities was delayed, made for some last-minute scrambling to make sure merchandise was compliant.
"The CPSC did the industry a disservice by making the retailers' and the manufacturers' deadlines the same," said Larry Muller, owner of Houston-based independent specialty store Baby & Kids 1st Furniture. "They didn't allow the retailers and the manufacturers the quality time with one of the most important issues that our industry faces, and that's the safety of the kid."
Many posit that because retailers have spent the past six months selling off soon-to-be noncompliant inventory at a discount, full-price merchandise was not moving at the rate it normally does. Some are worried that consumers may have bought a crib before they needed one because the sale prices were so good, and that crib sales may slow over the next few months as a result.
But the other possibility is that informed consumers may have been waiting until June 28 before buying a crib to ensure they got a new, safer model.
Whatever the fallout is, to say our industry has been impacted is obvious. Manufacturers have had to re-design and re-test their cribs. Retailers have had to sell off non-compliant merchandise at a discount. Likely thousands of man hours have been spent by both retailers and manufacturers putting together retrofit kits and adding new instructions.
And throughout the whole six months, confusion reigned above all, in a sweeping change that left some standing with non-saleable merchandise and questions about how it all happened so quickly.
In the next few pages, Kids Today takes a look at the initial impact on the industry from both a manufacturer and retailer point of view, and we also hear from both the Juvenile Products Manufactures Assn. and the CPSC itself. But the true impact on the industry remains to be seen; where we will be six months to a year from now is another story.
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