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The 'State of the Blog' and more about Disney Pixar cars and the recall

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It's funny how the posts you least think attract the most attention.  My blog earlier this week about the recall of the 'Sarge' die cast car is one of the most popular posts ever on this blog.  So far I have about 1300 views of it, which is the most I have ever seen in such a short period of time (my blog is not one of the more popular ones).  To date, the posts with the most views have around 4000-5000, but they have been up for many months.

Earlier this week (before the cars post), I looked to see how many views I have had on the blog and it came to around 115,000. It's funny that when I started this blog I never thought I would have that many.  Unfortunately for my blog counts, I will soon start focusing more on OCS specific blogs so my numbers will slow down. :)

For those who had questions about what to do for the recall and how to determine what toys were recalled, there is a URL in the post that points to Mattel's site.  That is the best place to go for recall info.  The site is easy to use and it was very simple to order a mailing label (which I still have not received, though) to send the car back.

It's funny when I think back to the last time I was at my parent's house.  They saved all of my old toys and I found my old box of Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars.  I had about 200 of them and most of them are still in decent condition considering they were very heavily played with.  I let Eitan and Nathan play with them for the weekend and my parents are still finding cars around the house.  It was interesting to see, too, that for the vast majority of the cars when I turned them over it said 'Made in England'. 

We thought about bringing the cars back with us but thought due to their age they may be too dangerous for our young kids to play with.  Now of course, I wonder if that is really true.  Still, I'm sure lead guidelines were not as strict then.

The sad thing is when I thought about it we likely will continue to buy toys from Mattel and Thomas and in fact we will almost certainly not buy toys from other smaller manufacturers that make their toys in China.  The primary reason is at least Mattel has the financial resources to detect and undertake a recall.  I'm sure there are far more problems with other manufacturers that do not have as stringent controls.

It seems like the remaining cars in the Disney Pixar Cars series are safe - as I'm sure they were tested at the same time as 'Sarge', so we will likely give them back to Nathan soon.  I hid them when the recall emerged in case any other cars were found.  Nathan plays with these cars every day and it is very fun to watch him throw the cars all around and then pick them up at the end of the day and put them all neatly back into his box.  So far he has been taking their absence very well, but I do believe if there is another Thomas recall he will throw a fit.

A number of people commented in my previous blog that they were outraged by all of this.  I also am quite upset, but I suspect we will see more of the same in the future.  Just remember that consumerism is one of the most democratic systems around - vote with your pocket book and you will see change.

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