We had a four hour check at Ikea in Renton, WA yesterday. It was part of a safety fair, so kids were getting bike helmets done, Star 101.5 was there (I worked on one of their lady's seats, though I don't think she was one of the main on air people), and we were accepting seats for recycling. In four hours we checked 73 seats and accepted over 200 for recycling. I think I did six cars and saw no kids until the fourth. LOL The first three were expectant parents (due in five days, nine days, and one week. She was the one still working at the radio). They were doing construction on the road in front of us, so I had a sore throat from yelling last night, and we ended up breathing in asphalt for the last hour or so.
After the check I went and helped get seats ready to be recycled. We pulled the covers, buckles, hardware, etc. off. And whoa. I saw seats I'd never seen before, or have rarely seen. Two FPSEs, one Futura, a whole bunch of old Britaxes (some with blue plastic, tons with red lockoffs and old bases), the Evenflo On My Way, which apparently was the Snugride of the day (um, UGH), and I don't know how many Breverras. Some with rubber shields. I'd never seen or heard of those before. How awful! One of the ladies working with me (Denise Donaldson from Safe Ride News) found a snail living in one seat. LOL She ended up getting all the dirty ones for some reason. Ants, food, dirt. I got clean ones, luckily. There was one so badly covered in mold they wouldn't let me do it. And Denise had given me gloves. Thank goodness. They kept coming away wet. With I don't know what. So it was a very interesting day, and actually a lot of fun. Only a true carseat geek would have gotten excited by that pile of icky old seats. LOL Any of us here would have had a field day. We could have crossed so many seats off the pictoral. LOL
This was after I was done checking seats, what the volunteers had gotten done getting seats naked until then:
This is what was still left. When I left 90 minutes later to get Piper from school we had gotten through a large chunk of them.
The Breverra with rubber shield. What a PITA this seat must have been to use!!! I didn't even ask. How did you get the seatbelt into the guide? Lift it up and then put it back every time?
This is the one they wouldn't let me touch.
Oh, I saw one Frontier, three True Fits (one rear, two forward. One lady had two matching that matched her interior. LOL). Those are seats I see, but usually during private checks, not public ones. And of course about a million Snugrides and Britaxes.
Wendy
After the check I went and helped get seats ready to be recycled. We pulled the covers, buckles, hardware, etc. off. And whoa. I saw seats I'd never seen before, or have rarely seen. Two FPSEs, one Futura, a whole bunch of old Britaxes (some with blue plastic, tons with red lockoffs and old bases), the Evenflo On My Way, which apparently was the Snugride of the day (um, UGH), and I don't know how many Breverras. Some with rubber shields. I'd never seen or heard of those before. How awful! One of the ladies working with me (Denise Donaldson from Safe Ride News) found a snail living in one seat. LOL She ended up getting all the dirty ones for some reason. Ants, food, dirt. I got clean ones, luckily. There was one so badly covered in mold they wouldn't let me do it. And Denise had given me gloves. Thank goodness. They kept coming away wet. With I don't know what. So it was a very interesting day, and actually a lot of fun. Only a true carseat geek would have gotten excited by that pile of icky old seats. LOL Any of us here would have had a field day. We could have crossed so many seats off the pictoral. LOL
This was after I was done checking seats, what the volunteers had gotten done getting seats naked until then:
This is what was still left. When I left 90 minutes later to get Piper from school we had gotten through a large chunk of them.
The Breverra with rubber shield. What a PITA this seat must have been to use!!! I didn't even ask. How did you get the seatbelt into the guide? Lift it up and then put it back every time?
This is the one they wouldn't let me touch.
Oh, I saw one Frontier, three True Fits (one rear, two forward. One lady had two matching that matched her interior. LOL). Those are seats I see, but usually during private checks, not public ones. And of course about a million Snugrides and Britaxes.
Wendy