HIgher Toy Prices Just in Time for Christmas!

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This article just came out with the news that we will have to pay higher prices for quality toys! Eventually the public is the one that pays the price for the companies mistakes! Someone is going to have to pay all the extra costs of making toys safer. For now, toy makers and retailers are sharing the burden, but that's only expected to last until the holiday season. Next year, American consumers will be facing price increases of up to 10 percent to pay for the industry's increased vigilance after more than 3 million lead-tainted toys from China were recalled worldwide since June. That means a $6.99 Barbie doll could go up to about $7.70, or a $70 child-friendly digital camera could retail next year for almost $80. A 10 percent average increase would be the biggest one-time price hike in toys in several years, analysts say. And it's more than twice the government's measure of consumer inflation of 4.7 percent during the first seven months of this year. Consumers could also see higher prices on other Chinese imports like fish and children's apparel, but the big price gains in toys could be more jolting. Shoppers have become accustomed to cheap playthings from China because Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and other discounters have waged cost-cutting campaigns. Critics say real safeguards were sacrificed to keep prices low.