I had to laugh at this: stay away from items that seem cheaply made.

Well, if they're charging us a measely $1 and they are still making a profit, do you think it's made cheaply?!?

Redcurls is right - buyer beware.

Many of the glass and ceramic ware these stores sell contain lead. They even have stickers on them warning the consumer, but apparently we are still buying.

Then today, we hear that there are "bad" chemicals in the toothpaste they sell.

That doesn't mean that I am going to stop shopping there, but I will be more observant. I don't buy food there, mostly paper products.

Donna, equally laughable is "items made in China".
Now, just how are we going to stop buying items made in China? If you are reading labels these days, you know that items not made in China are few and far between.

Here is the text:
"Skip the trip to the dollar store
The cheap prices at dollar stores can be more enticing than ever as consumers try to stretch their budgets. But dollar stores are notorious for selling cheaply made items that may not meet safety standards, from lead-laden toys to unsafe extension cords to poorly made batteries that leak. As we reported recently, three dollar-store chains collectively recalled almost 3 million products, accounting for 6.5 percent of the recalled products during the past year. Look for holographic UL labels and stay away from items that seem cheaply made or are off brands, especially items made in China. In fact, it's best to avoid buying electric items, medications or childrenÂs products at dollar stores altogether."

*No copyright laws were broken.

Click here for full article.

Here is a link that might be useful: Full Article

Just because an article doesn't say "Made In China" doesn't mean the products used to make the product were not made in China. =o) Same goes with products that say they don't test on animals. Doesn't mean the stuff that was used to make the product wasn't previously tested on animals. There is a lot of false impressions by those little things that try to get you to buy them.

Many of the glass and ceramic ware these stores sell contain lead. They even have stickers on them warning the consumer, but apparently we are still buying.

There is nothing wrong with glass and ceramic that contains lead. How do you think *lead crystal* is made??

The stickers are put on items to inform the consumer so the item is used appropriately.

Sometimes the sticker will not only say 'contains lead' but also say 'for decorative used only' or 'not for food' just in case there is a person who does not "get it" when they read the lead content. The stickers also alert the consumer to keep some purchased decor objects out of the reach of young children who may put the item into their mouths and suck on them.

Thanks dilly-dally. I wasn't sure if I could copy and paste something word for word from a published article or not. If you or anyone else knows the rule of thumb for this, I'd honestly appreciate it. I always thought if you quoted word for word, you were infringing....

A lot of stuff is ok to buy at the $ store I don't buy food or hygiene products there but most of the stuff sold in other non dollar stores is made in China anyway. Try to find something tht is totally made in the USA .

When quoting from a published article, it is best to quote the section you want, but not the whole thing, and attribute the source and website. Be sure to either to use italic font or put quotations on the text. See Dilly's post above.

The link below has tips on quoting in a blog.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link

Redcurls, copyright laws are complicated and I understand the apprehension, but one is allowed to quote from a published piece of work in order to discuss it. A work cannot be copied in its entirety.

BTW paraphrasing can still be copyright infringment if the entire work was paraphrased. I know of two cases where an entire work was paraphrased. Anton LeVey's best selling and only book, has been proven to have been lifted and paraphrased from an obscure 1880's published book. I read in the news about a Valedictorian who was stripped of the title when it was discovered that an essay he had 'written' had been lifted and paraphrased from The Onion newspaper. Although neither of these cases were prosecuted under copyright laws, it is written into copyright laws that paraphrasing a work and selling it, can be prosecuted.

One of the things that defined with copyright laws is if the person made money off of the copying of the work and distibutring it OR, did they copy and distribute the work with malice, to short the sale of said work.

The profit angle is often part of copyright prosecution. For instance if you created a website as a fan club for your favorite rock star and put of photos to admire, it would probably not be prosecuted unless you started charging a membership to join or made money off of it in some other way, like by selling advertising space on the site or asking for "donations". This is how Wikipedia got into trouble, and has now removed all photos that had been put up that are not in public domain.

Generally if one has inedvertantly broken copyright law the owner of the material will send a cease and desist letter. If there is compliance there will not usually be any prosecution. Court battles are expensive and are wished to be avoided by both parties.

To get back to the subject, I bought paper products and a small "crystal" heart today at a dollar store. I don't buy anything edible, nor do I buy toothpaste, deodorant, etc. there. There have been too many recalls. However, for small gifts and consumables like paper towels, the $$ store prices are hard to beat!