Babies R Us Employees

disney205

New member
I went to Babies R Us today to try out some seats to keep my 2.5 year old rear facing. I had to turn him forward until we find a seat that will work in our car. As I got out to my car and the employee saw my son, he asked how much he weighed. When I told him 35 lbs, he said I should buy him a booster. :eek: They start at 35 lbs so he would fit in it according to him. After I got over the shock that he actually said that, i explained that this new seat would be to turn him back to rear facing and tried to give him some quick info on why boosters are not safe for kids so young.

So that got me thinking.....does anyone know if the employees there get any kind of training on car seats? Based on this employee, I would say no, but maybe I just got one that didn't pay attention to that training session. It scares me to think of all the people that this employee has "helped". Hopefully the info i gave him didn't go in one ear and out the other!
 
ADS

amymariee

New member
I would say not trained. Our local BRU used to make sure a few employee's were trained in the minimums etc. But they got under new managment and it has been awesome. You can go up to anyone in that store and be like which carseat is best for my kid at so n so height weight age and they will know the answer. I love it.
 

MommyBoha

New member
They dont. I interviewed there a couple years ago. Expressed my interest and knowledge about car seats. Got told" We dont care. We sell seats, its up to the parents to know what they are doing"
 

Mysweethoneybee

New member
I worked at ToysRUS/BabiesRUs before I had kids so like 17 years ago. My training consisted of being told what I could and couldn't wear, how to clock in and out, and that I had to lift every box that went through the cashier line no matter how heavy to try to determine if people had stuffed it full of other things. Then they immediately made me a stock person. I never stocked shelves and they wanted them to be attractive and interesting. My one day in the baby department consisted of having a bunch of non english speaking people wanting to ask me a bunch of questions in their language and the manager telling me to answer them the best I could. I quit after working there less than two months because they didn't tell employees anything except when to come in and when to leave.
Our babies r us is still connected to the toys r us and sometimes people that usually spend the day building bicycles are the ones that are giving out car seat advice. But our babiesrus would never let someone try out a car seat. They are ziptied to the shelves.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Yes, they are supposed to be trained. It's a fairly heavy nationwide focus, actually. And the official training materials are way, way better than they were even last year. (They now teach best practice, last year they said turn babies FF when their feet touch the seat...some old employees still say that :thumbsdown:).
Problem is? Turnover is *constant*. The people that attend the quarterly training sessions barely last another quarter. Not everyone gets 'baby gear certified', which is actually really good training. And the information cards printed with the products are often wrong, so if people wanted a quick bit of info, it probably won't help to read that card :rolleyes: (and if they do, the manufacturers don't help much, with their lame weight limits anyway. Turbo says 30lbs, why should anyone have to question whether that's a safe choice?).
Sigh. I'm fortunate I can waste time working for barely minimum wage at my BRU just because I thought it was the best way to get the message out to people, I wish we could infiltrate every store in the country :cool: (it works...I see tons of RF convertibles and top tethers in use at our store, better than any other parking lot in town, lol).
 

bethng

Active member
i received zero training when I was hired last year. But they knew I was a tech and I could train THEM! But the newbies dont get the info like ...rear face till 2 or longer...avoid the booster for little ones etc.... I try to teach them when I can and politly butt in when I see someone giving bad advice. They seem to be trained on the types of seats but not best practice.
 

murphydog77

Admin - CPST Instructor
Staff member
We (local Safe Kids) used to do some minimal training for our BRUs and had a pretty close relationship with them, but the workers there just did not care. They were there to get a paycheck and clock out at the end of the day. We haven't had a checkup event with them in a long time, so I think our relationship went sour.
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
We (local Safe Kids) used to do some minimal training for our BRUs and had a pretty close relationship with them, but the workers there just did not care. They were there to get a paycheck and clock out at the end of the day. We haven't had a checkup event with them in a long time, so I think our relationship went sour.
Yeah, I've seen the older materials where they were proud to be affiliated with SK, but it's been a long time. There was even a check planned but canceled when our 'new' store opened 4 years ago, and there's never been a check there, since.
 

LISmama810

Admin - CPS Technician
murphydog77 said:
We (local Safe Kids) used to do some minimal training for our BRUs and had a pretty close relationship with them, but the workers there just did not care. They were there to get a paycheck and clock out at the end of the day. We haven't had a checkup event with them in a long time, so I think our relationship went sour.

I believe that's what happened in my area too.
 

MaggieQ

Senior Community Member
The employees at my babies r us are not only un-educated but give out horribly incorrect/unsafe advice every time I'm there. It makes me sad for all the poor 2.5 yr olds in boosters.

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mlohry

New member
About 3 weeks ago, I was told by an employee that I no longer need to booster my 8 year old, since he was 8. I told him that there was not one car that he would safely to be able ride in at this time and just because the law says he doesn't need to be in a booster it doesn't mean he is ready to go without. I asked for a manager before I left and told her what happened and she said she would talk to him.

I was in there looking at the FR 85 to use in booster mode and the same guy had NO idea how that seat worked.

I do however like that you can try their seats in your car before buying.
 

MaggieQ

Senior Community Member
My babies r us just got rid of their test bench!! I was so disappointed!
Sorry, off topic, lol.

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MommaWhitney

New member
We dont really have a babies r us. Its a small toys r us with baby gear. I dont think lots of parents buy seats there. If I had to guess Id say they are shopping at target. But the last time I was in there (searching for a myride to replace my crashed one). I mentioned it to the clerk checking me out. She said she would recommend the same and that was thier training. I dunno who is training them. I told her I was a tech but couldnt go any further because I was in a rush.

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disney205

New member
So seems like some stores are heading in the right direction to try to get their employees trained.....that is good news. But still very disappointing to hear that most are still not trained properly if at all.

There are so many people that shop at ours for carseats and it would be a perfect place to teach them proper carset usage. I have thought about contacting our store and working with them to come up with a good way to train their employees better or maybe even starting a carseat class for the shoppers.....kinda like all the other classes they have there.

nutritionistmom - How did you go about getting to train some of the employees? I would love to do something like this!

Maybe as a start just trying to get some info put into the packet that is given to new moms when they register would be a start. Maybe they already have done that since I registered years ago??
 

Mysweethoneybee

New member
If only employees were given this information http://www.toysrus.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=4025102
It has more correct usage information and says boosters are for school aged children. However despite what is on their website our babies r us has a thing for parents to be that teaches them how to properly use a carseat for a new baby, but they also do everything they can to sell additional infant padding and piddle pads and seat saver and mirrors and toys to hang from the car seat.
 

Cryssy Jane

New member
I really don't think my local BRU gets any training or if they do they don't pay attention to it. Majority of times, they will call one person for carseat help, and they choose that one person because she's a mom. Not to be rude but just because you're a mom doesn't mean you know best about everything (not trying to step on toes) They stopped doing Buckle up and boogie seminars because they were giving out information that was so wrong (FF when feet hit the seat, 3 years in a booster etc). I don't think I've ever seen an employee tell a parent not to use aftermarket products, in fact I've heard them tell said parent they were requuired. They have a ton of my tech cards in the office but to my knowledge they haven't given any out. We never had a test bench to begin with, and while the selection is getting better, the smart seat has been out for months and they still don't have it. They get every new seat about 4-6 months after the bigger stores (thank goodness I can just head to lynnwood or southcenter for new stuff).
 

joolsplus3

Admin - CPS Technician
Ours did too but I was told it was b/c a mom was bfing on it and someone complained. Seriously, how ridiculous.
Wow, that's... insane. People will make up anything :eek: They just wanted to fill that space with another shelf of fugly infant seats and another side cap of aftermarket products :rolleyes:
 

jubgulia

Active member
The last time I tried out a seat there, the employee kept telling me I was crazy and wrong and just stood there shaking his head as I tried DS1 (2 years old at the time, but probably looked 3-4) RF in an EFTA in our Corolla.
 

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