Thread 8 - Brought to you by a Boris Johnson onesie and snow glow Elsa <teeth dazzle with Ross from Friends like brightness>

[Reastie]

As previously, if you spot a link in the OP links isn’t working/no longer in date, please let me know by posting in bold so I can easily see to update

MYHENS for blind bags amazon is great, they are really cheap if you get them as add on items along with another order.

Lots of gifts sets on clearance at Tesco Direct. Starting at just £1.50 Ladies' Gift Sets (355)

Sale on photobox photo books until october

Right I know this still isn't xmassy (except perhaps in Thr spirit of getting ready for it) but my bargain steam mop from b and q is BRILLIANT.

We have just spent a happy half hour together steaming out my shower and I am horrified at the amount of muck it found.

It's my new favourite toy. If anyone doesn't have one and wants one, there were loads in my local b and a yesterday, it'd instore only, £50 and everywhere else I could find it for sale was £80.

It also means you don't need harsh chemicals, so environmentally friendly AND should pay for itself over several months!

This is getting a bit complicated now but 'Made in China' can mean a few things. In terms of quality, these are the basic options from high to low:

• Big brand sets up their own factory in China to make stuff for them (Mattel, Fisher Price etc.)

• Big brand gets independent factory in China to make stuff for them

• Independent factory in China makes its own stuff, which buyers for John Lewis, Tous R Us, Hamleys etc. pick up at trade shows for their store collections

• Independent factory's stuff is stocked by and distributed through a UK/EU/US online retailer, like Amazon (eligible for Prime/super-saver delivery)

• Independent factory makes and sells its own stuff through a UK/EU/US site like Amazon or eBay

• Independent factory makes and sells its own stuff through various direct-sell websites

The further down the list you go, the less rigorous the checks, until at the bottom there are no checks beyond the factory's say-so. In the middle the checks and quality will vary depending on the brand, so both Harrod's and Pound Stretcher will do supplier checks but at different levels.

So stuff that was free delivery from Amazon is a few steps up from Ali?

Just in the Saint Nick of time (get it ) new thread here

Madrigals Can you link to where it says John Lewis randomly runs laboratory style tests on things they sell? How big a would a company be before they did these tests, I mean should I stop buying from my small independent shops as it would cost quite a bit of money to do these tests. And what about the horse meat in our food, how did that get past all these random tests for so many years?
My point really is you can trust no one, ever, not really. At the end of the day how 'safe' your things are boils down to two things, that a substance being used has been fully tested and results disclosed (almost impossible, Asbestos causing Asbestosis?) and that the factory is only using materials it should be. Also each country has different regulations. Americas banned list includes MDF, yet here it is used everywhere, commonly used in school projects, until recently America also had Kinder eggs on their banned list just in case you ate the plastic toy I can't remember which but one of our common over the counter drugs are highly illegal in America, but guns, go for it, give an automatic to an 8 yr old, it's their right! Whilst we all should exercise caution I will do that on an case by case basis, there is basically no manufacturing industry in this country so I'll have to trust other countries not to kill us all off.

So has this one finished yet?

No another 15 messages to go

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Now getting massively complicated :o an independent shop is likely to stock brands, so their goods would be at the higher end of the check scale. The indy wouldn't do the checks but the brand name would. Thinking of John Crane, Tidlo, other 'wooden toy' brands.

I work for a big multinational (not toys) which has a factory of its own in China, specifies designs to be made by Chinese factories, sticks its name on generic products designed and made by Chinese companies and buys stuff in from China to distribute. The factory owned by this company in China has exactly the same quality management and procurement systems as the rest of the company and appears on the company's quality certificates. Every change to the product has to go through a series of vigorous checks, even for something as simple as changing a colour. For the other routes, we have a team of auditors who go in and conduct due-diligence checks before we work with a third-party and make sure that they have systems in place to ensure that the products are safe and have been tested and checked by outside bodies. Then the auditors go back in periodically to make sure those systems are operating as intended. Any changes go through the same check and re-test system. All complaints come to us and we manage them so the product can be recalled, fixed in the field, redesigned etc. It's very, very thorough and that's what you get from a quality brand.

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