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Full Chapter Outline:
Information Sources
---The Yellow Pages
---Newspaper Advertising
---Radio and Television Advertising
---Trade and Civic Organizations
---Consumer Resources
---Public Libraries
---The Internet

Hours of Operation

Retail Food
---Supermarkets
---Farmers Markets
---Convenience Stores
---Specialty Food Stores
---Food Labeling and Packaging

General Merchandise and Clothing
---Department Stores
---Discount Stores
---Small Specialty Stores
---How the Types of Stores Differ

Rent To Own

The Downtown Shopping Area

The Shopping Mall

Strip Shopping Centers

Category Killers

Warehouse Clubs

Outlet Centers and Malls

Catalogue and Internet Shopping

Street Vendors and Flea Markets

Thrift Shops

Yard and Garage Sales

Letters and Packages

---The Post Office
---United Parcel Service
---Express Services
---Facsimile (Fax) Services
---Packing, Shipping and Mailbox Services
---Telex and Telegraph
---Messenger Services

The Telephone
---Information
---Emergency Calls
---Help Lines
---Coin Telephones
---Long Distance Service
---Toll Free Service
---Phone Card Calling
---Cellular Phones
---Facsimile (Fax) Machines
---Modems and Computer Data
---Telephone Answering Machines
---Telephone Etiquette
---Pay-Per-Minute Calls

For some goods and services, a few large “category killer” chains control the market. This is so in hardware and home improvement goods, as an example. Even in this area, however, smaller entrepreneurs and even “Mom and Pop” operations fill their own particular market niches. Competition for customers brings great variety to the marketplace, which means it is not always easy to choose where or how to acquire a product or arrange for a service.

If you want any product or service in the United States, you will have to do some work to familiarize yourself with the choices. Products and services vary greatly in quality, accessibility, price and suitability. Because America is so free, and because, in many respects, it has an unplanned, market economy, you will have to become an informed consumer to get the greatest value out of the American system.

The pages that follow give a detailed picture of the types of retail and service establishments you will find in the United States, followed by sections on sending letters and packages and a number of sections on telephones and communications.

www.lifeintheusa.com/services2 covers restaurants, hotels, and further retail and service establishments.

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