Consumer Confidential: Jobs, DVDs and gold

Here's your full-frontal-Friday roundup of consumer news from around the Web:

--The unemployment rate hit 10.2% last month. OK, we've seen it coming for weeks, and President Obama and Fedatollah Ben Bernanke have been doing their best to prep us for the eventuality. But now that it's here, well, it stings a bit. The pencil pushers say things will probably grow even worse on the jobs front before they get better, with the jobless rate perhaps hitting 10.5% by the summer. Time for all those employers who are seeing their profits creep back up to do their thing ... please.

--But for those with jobs, there's always some shopping to do. And our friends at Target are offering some of their most popular DVDs at a bargain-basement price of just $10, with free shipping. The move is intended to match a similar price point from Walmart, and signals that heavyweight retailers are prepared to duke it out for what little consumer spending we can expect this holiday season.

--Gold futures have jumped to a new record -- more than $1,100 an ounce. Note to wife: Forget about any jewelry this Christmas.

-- David Lazarus

Los Angeles company recalls lead-laced masks, pendants

Team Work Trading of Los Angeles is recalling about 1,400 children’s animal masks and pendants because they contain high levels of lead, which is toxic to young children.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission advised consumers to immediately stop using the recalled items and contact Team Work Trading for a refund or exchange.

The recall involves a children’s animal mask and four styles of metal pendants with anime symbols.

The mask resembles the face of a cat. The pendants are a dog tag with a fire symbol, in a package labeled "Bleach"; a knife and lion symbol, labeled "Final Fantasy"; a key-shaped topped with a Mickey Mouse symbol, labeled "Kingdom of Hearts" and a burning sun symbol, labeled "Naruto." The pendants were sold with silver-colored chains.

The items were manufactured in China and sold at gift shops and modeling stores nationwide from November 2008 through March 2009 for between $4 and $8.

Lead is considered particularly dangerous for children, whose nervous systems are more sensitive to its effects. It can cause brain damage and learning disabilities.

A Team Work Trading spokesman said that no injuries had been reported.

For additional information, consumers can contact Team Work Trading at (213) 680-4489 or visit http://www.cpsc.gov.

-- Sherine El Madany

Photos: The recalled products. Credit: Consumer Product Safety Commission

 

Lead contamination in jewelry in Southern California

State investigators recently discovered lead contamination in more than 30 pieces of jewelry in Southern California warehouses, including one wooden angel necklace with nearly 74% lead content.

Some of the pieces, which were available in a variety of colors, were imported from China and were advertised as being lead-free, according to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control. But tests showed lead content in the jewelry that exceeded California’s limits.

The items included Virgin Mary pendants, butterfly earrings, hair clips and brooches. A silver metal ring with a cross design had 630,000 parts per million lead despite being labeled as lead-free. A necklace with a fairy pendant had 830,000 parts per million lead.

The department is working with distributors to clear the products off shelves.

-- Tiffany Hsu

  

Photo: A brooch containing 800,000 parts per million lead was advertised as "lead-free."

A recession fashion statement?

Are you tired of all the economic gloom and doom? Santa Monica businesswoman Carrie Pollare figures plenty of us are, and she wants to help get the message out. She and her brother have introduced an "I'm Tired of the Economy" bracelet so wearers can proudly declare their fatigue with all things financial.

"I don't know about you, but I'm tried of hearing about how bad the economy is," Pollare said. "People are depressed. It's a really bad time for so many people. We wanted to inject a little humor into things."

To be fair, Pollare and her brother aren't exactly selling the pet rock of the current recession. Their line of "I'm Tired of" bracelets, made of recycled tires and metals, is intended to help a dozen or so worthy causes, including charities that focus on breast cancer, child abuse and world hunger. Pollare said that half the proceeds from each $10 bracelet sold are donated to related organizations. Except, that is, the "I'm Tired of the Economy" bracelet.

With these, half the proceeds are immediately kicked back to the purchaser in the form of a $5 rebate, which Pollare said should be applied to a little economic stimulus. "We recommend a cup of Starbucks, a Big Mac or maybe splurge on a couple gallons of gas," she said.

"We couldn't think of anything worthwhile to donate money to for the economy," Pollare said of why no charity is attached to the economy bracelets.

I don't know, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and the Southern California Counseling Center come to mind. But it's kind of depressing to think about how much help these organizations need nowadays.

-- David Lazarus

Jewelry's glitter dims as shoppers shy away

What were people buying this holiday season? Apparently not jewelry, according to industry experts.

Sales this holiday season dropped for 80% of jewelers, according to initial survey results from 220 business owners released Monday by the National Jeweler Network.

Of those, 65% saw a double-digit decline in same-store sales for the November-December period compared with the same period in 2007. Sales were flat for 5% of respondents. Only 4% reported that their revenue jumped more than 10% over the holiday months.

Over the course of the year, sales plunged 10% or more for nearly half of jewelers surveyed.

Most blamed the slide on low consumer confidence caused by the struggling global economy, but other factors included competition from chain stores holding liquidation sales and bad weather.

Of more than 2,000 shoppers surveyed for the Jewelry Consumer Opinion Council, 12% said November was a good time to buy jewelry -- the same number that reported actually purchasing any, according to data released just before Christmas.

Now is not the time to purchase bangles, necklaces, earrings and the like, 35% of respondents said.

The next year promises to be just as rough as just 17% of customers believe 2009 will be a good year to invest in jewelry. The vast majority were ambivalent or indifferent.

-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: A man looks a a shop window in the jewelry district in downtown Los Angeles. Credit: Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times