I allow my baby to nap with spiked clubs and water ballons filled with wasps to avoid this very problem.

@Fresh-Fest-1986: I make my own spiked clubs at home to save money.

Baby in the image accompanying the article is staring at that giraffe with a mixture of dread, horror, and a little gas. A stare I know well from my son, every time we pulled up to the doctor's office.

Tres creepy.

This is a great idea because when something gets recalled, parents not only have to deal with the fact that they were putting their baby in something that was dangerous, they have to unassemble the item to send back to the manufacturer. And then they have to get a replacement. Well, for most people, they don't have that money just lying around ready to be spent to replace a product they probably thought was a one-time purchase. Assuming that manufacturers aren't going to refund money for items that were recalled, Toys R'Us is cashing in big time with this deal, and it will help a lot of parents.

Remember, before you say these people should've "done their research" - you never know what will get recalled. It's not any parent's fault they didn't have the foresight to put their baby in a large Amazon.com box because there was a possibility a crib may get recalled 6 months or a year from purchase.

Cash for Cribs!

If you need financial motivatation to rid your home of baby death traps, you probably should't be having babies. Just sayin'

@pecan 3.14159265: I am going to make my own kid prisons at home. And cardboard boxes are cheap and safe. Not to mention they can be decorated easily.

SWEET! Those BPA bottles from #1 are going to turn into a carseat discount for #2.

@LoveyH: Its not that. It just that this sweetens the deal a bit.

That and the fact that babies are SO GODDAMN EXPENSIVE.

@LoveyH: I hate it when posters use "just sayin'" as if that excuses what they say.

Baby cribs and stuff costs a lot of money, and it adds up. You can do all the research you can, but you can't predict that your product is going to get recalled in the future. Not everyone has the money to just buy another crib or another stroller. A lot of people budget, you know.

This isn't financial motivation, this is incentive to take your crib to Toys R'Us rather than send it directly back to the manufacturer, and then have to replace it. Toys R'Us is doing the work for the parents by sending it back for them, and giving them a discount so they'll be able to recoup some of the cost of buying the first item.

That's why I love the Baby Cage, aka the Pack 'n Play. Move it from room to room and baby can totally see you and be reassured (turns out babies cry no matter how many plush cuddly toys you bury them in, unless they can see you, in which case they are totally cool. babies are attention whores).

Baby gets the attention he craves, I get to try to make Ubuntu work with iTunes, and everyone's happy. Until baby learns to walk, then he'll want to do it all the time.

You will be hearing from Dan Halen's lawyers about your use of the copyrighted phrase, Baby Death Trap (TM).

@LoveyH: I imagine that if you are short on money and you are told that your child's stroller/high chair etc. may seriously harm/kill them, you think to yourself "I'll just watch them when they are in the stroller/chair, to make sure that doesn't happen because I can't really afford to replace the stoller/high chair."
These people aren't bad parents, they just don't have the money to replace expensive things. This promotion could help those people out.

@pecan 3.14159265: Woah...I know how much babies cost, I have one and a half myself (one's still cooking). I was responding to Phil's comment under the article quote. As for "just sayin," well, I was.

@mcnerd85: Remember you can also save by using a lemon juice mixture to add shine rather then buy those over-priced Spiked Club shinning products.

So I can send the crap back to the manufacturer in a postage-paid box and get 100-150% of my money back, or I can drop it off at Toys-R-Us and get 20% off some other crap?

Oh, We're going to the store! I can't wait 6-8 weeks for that refund!

Yes, the crib recall was a massive ass pain, complete with figuring out alternate sleeping arrangements. But instead of a new crib for 80% of the cost of the old one, I'll get one for 0% of the cost of the old one. I like that number better.

This would be a great program for cheap toys, but from the article: "Storch said the retailer wanted to raise awareness about unsafe children's products and chose high-ticket categories that 'were the most suspect.'"

Um, no. This is not consumer friendly. This is taking money from lazy people. (I don't know if that's bad or not...)

@squinko:
I think you mean trademarked phrase.

@Velifer: According to the latest recalls issued by CPSC, when a product is recalled and there are no repair kits or replaceable parts available, people should take it back to the place from which they made their purchase. For a lot of people, that's Toys R'Us. Not only would they be entitled to their refund or credit, they'd also get that 20% off.

@Velifer:

This isn't just for defective products, however, it's for all products.

@Fresh-Fest-1986: I prefer the matte look... To achieve this, dip your spiked club in vinegar, then roll it in salt. It's a good thing.

This is not only recalled items, but USED baby gear as well (Doesn't have to have been recalled by the maker)

@pecan 3.14159265: Toys-R-Us in Reynoldsburg, Ohio would not take back our recalled crib when we called (again, on a last-hope attempt before jumping through the manufacturer's hoops) two weeks ago. Now, under this program, it looks like they'll take it--but I still don't see where I'd get anything more than 20% off my next crib purchase.

Perhaps if I had a receipt and a news crew in tow...

I'm grateful that baby and child products/furnishings are safer and safer.

I'm stunned that my fellow boomers and I survived childhood in such large numbers.

Front seat of the station wagon with no seat belt? Check.

Riding our bikes all over town every day with no helmets? Check.

Sleeping in those old wooden Jenny Lind cribs? Check.

The list goes on. It boggles this old mind.

hmm, I like this. Since we have 2 kids 4 years apart those old car seats we haven't got rid of yet have now just allowed us to get the young one new car seats and still be under the safe years.

Sure not perfect, but when the products are not recalls, this can be nice.

FYI, check your item to see if recalled, people really should take the time, its foolish to throw that money away. We have done that a few times and usually get money / coupon within 2 weeks.

Everything eventually gets recalled. I know parents who saved all their furniture and toys from their kids, and they are all now deemed deathtraps. 30 years from now parents will marvel that they survived with those deathtrap side-impact car seats and 5 point high chair harnesses.

When I read this the first thing that came to my mind was:

"Toy R US wants to sell your recalled toys to another country for profit in such countries where items aren't recalled. In addition they will profit by giving you a discount on their items and sell you products which are already bought for cheap and marked up from China.".

I could be wrong.

@ElizabethD:

Don't forget lying down under the rear window of your parents old gold duster while waving at cars behind you.

@hi:

Welcome fellow cynic.

@Cameraman: Agreed. I don't think that kid's first trip to the Zoo is going to go well.

@Cameraman: I was just thinking that he was thinking something like "Whaaaaat is it!!?!?"

@pecan 3.14159265: Totally, and not to mention that some people may have cribs etc. that were given to them, either as hand-me-downs or by family maybe getting it for them, and may have no idea where it came from to begin with.