Dollar Store toys are terrible quality that breaks easily, is unrepairable and disappoints your kids
I have never been a fan of Dollar Store* toys for my kids. They return home with plastic toys of very low quality, even by Chinese standards. The recent Toronto city garbage strike brings home the need to reduce our consumption because the city, temporarily, will not pick up our trash. I continue to press my case to both my parents and my kids that Dollar Store quality is false economy.
Dollar Store visits are treated as adventures for the kids, where the Grandparents can dote on them. The kids love to be able to go into the store and know they will walk out with at least one new play toy. I, on the other hand, would rather buy a toy of better quality, one that will last longer and will not break at the least movement. This means that most times the kids are not able to have a new toy each and every trip. To the kids, newness and immediacy wins every time. They play with the toy at the store, and then bring it home with them.
I see the disappointment on the kid’s faces when their cherished Dollar Store purchased toy breaks on the first day. They come to me with tears in their eyes, asking me if I can fix it. I inspect the toy and realize, quite quickly that with such low quality plastics and mechanics, there is no way to fix these toys. Invariably they walk away heartbroken.
As a result of many years of Dollar Store visits, we have accumulated a sizable mountain of broken toys, toy sets with missing pieces, and, though I cannot prove it, toys that are probably not safe for my kids. Only after they have grown up a bit will they entertain the idea of throwing away their novel purchase, broken or not. To throw away their toys without their agreement is met with great indignation.
Are we training the new generation to expect planned obsolescence, when the plan is single use? This would be a terrible precedence for my kids and the world in general. What happened to high quality for a modest price, where you buy and use a product for quite a long time, and when it breaks you can fix it. Single use products are highly wasteful, as evidenced by Toronto’s continually diminishing trash landfill capability. It’s not healthy for the environment, it is a waste of resources for people in general, and not very beneficial for my kids.
I vote off this continuing cycle of consumption and hark back to buying fewer but better quality products. Products must be high quality, last a long time, and be fixable in the event that they do break. Ofcourse I am willing to pay a higher price for them. In the long run, because they last much longer and are fixable, they would certainly be much cheaper than the “one use then throw away” Dollar Store model of consumption.
*A Dollar Store is a retail establishment that specializes in products that sell for $1 or $2CAD. Most of these products are cheaply made in China. There are good and bad Dollar Stores, the better ones have many outlets throughout Toronto. The quality of goods, in general, is pretty terrible. Expect the product to not last more than a single use, if that. Universally, toys from the Dollar Store are of very low quality, often so low as to be largely unusable by a child, much to their disappointment.
Temporary treasures. Too Many toys!
For some time now my wife and I have been looking for a good way to do something about the flood of ‘temporary treasures’ that well-meaning family and friends send to us, and the kids as gifts at Christmas, birthdays and other holidays. We are very appreciative of the thought, and the kids love opening fancy boxes – but surely there must be a better way. The difficulty of course is that gifts very often seem to separate and move rapidly in many small pieces to a surprising number of different places in our home, cars, and in the yard. The excitement changes to some frustration, much clutter and quite a bit of work to clean, organize, store, repair (often fruitlessly) and frequently dispose of these items. Many I find tucked in boxes with missing pieces, or immediately abandoned. I feel a bit sad to see it all pile up, and so little time spent enjoying it all.
The more toys they have – the less they are valued.
For a few years now our family has been trying to change our consumption practices – buy less, and borrow, fix and reuse more. We think it is the right thing to do for the planet, the kids and the community. In fact, we’ve notices that when the kids have less – there is a change in their attitudes towards their stuff. When there is less – they no longer step on their possessions. This is a primary measurement in our house of how much we value our things. There is a zero tolerance policy for clothes and books. They are never ever on the floor – and we certainly do not every step on one. But – the toys are often another story. With few exceptions – the more there are, the less they are each valued.
Making a decision to buy
If we are considering buying a new item for our home, or a toy for the children – we have developed a simple process, by asking several questions. When we see something interesting in a store or magazine we talk about it, and ask the following questions:
* How will we use it?
* How will we store it?
* Will it make our lives better?
* Is it something we principally already have?
* Can we borrow it?
* Is there an alternative that is better?
* Do we really want or need it?
* Would we want to use this money for anything else instead?
We are careful not to promote a scarcity mentality with phrases like. “we can’t afford that”. We emphasize choices (based on a recognition of the notion of finite resources), and age appropriate consequences of buying decisions. Often, the conversation with the children is very interesting, and the children change their minds on their own when they think about it more carefully.
We also have a few rules for buying something new.
* We never buy something we see for the first time (no impulse shopping for us, or the kids);
* If an item is truly worthy – it must be mentioned several times over the next few weeks – NOT prompted by advertising of any kind.
* When we buy an toy or item for our home – it is often a specific trip for just that item.
We don’t have the answer yet – but one thing we are trying is BorrowMe.com. We have created a family borrowing wish list, and have listed our toys and items as well – so somebody else to use them if we are not.
Our hope is that this platform will be a way to give something truly meaningful to our family, without all the waste, clutter and hidden costs of the ‘traditional’ consumption model.
— Sean
http://www.borrowme.com/sean
No, i disagree, dollar stores are one of the best stores ever you can get so manny things from there!!!