New Govt Regulations Will Result in Disposal of 100,000 Baby Cribs

When government waste is examined, the discussion typically focuses upon the monies Congress allocates to government agencies and bodies to use at will. But, what about the waste that government regulations cause in the private sector?

The Heritage Foundation's Foundry blog has an intriguing piece discussing how new changes in government regulations could result in the mass disposal of over 100,000 baby cribs:

...[the cribs] could be destined for the garbage dump, according to new estimates released yesterday by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Despite the large inventory, the Democrat-controlled CPSC voted 3-to-2 against extending [a] June 28 deadline.

Retailers had petitioned for the extension in hopes that they would be afforded more time to deplete their current crib supply. Kids Today has more:

Last week, the National Independent Nursery Furniture Retailers Association, Baby News, USA Baby, and the All Baby and Child Board petitioned the CPSC to allow retailers an additional 180 days...for retailers to sell through existing crib inventory.

They argued that the industry, and particularly small business owners, would be hard-hit if they weren't allowed time to sell their existing inventory

Originally, estimates put the total number of affected cribs at 20,000. Unfortunately, economic woes created a situation in which stores couldn't sell cribs as quickly as expected. With the government only providing a six-month window to get these out-of-code items off the shelves, stores simply cannot meet the deadline.

If the situation doesn't change, this will force businesses to steeply mark down these products, as the cribs that don't meet the new standards cannot be sold after June 28.

The odd part, as Heritage's Rob Bluey notes, is that the current cribs haven't been deemed unsafe or hazardous and there hasn't been a recall. These units simply don't meet the government's newfound standards. You can read more about the governmental changes here.

(h/t Heritage Foundation)