Shopping

Shopping

A consumer society
When people talk about modern life they often use  the words “consumer society“ . A consumer is someone who uses a product- it is you and I every time we go shopping. A consumer society is a  society in which material goods are very important and in which consumers themselves are very important and have big power. Shopping is an activity that is enjoyed by many people. Many people work very hard for long weeks in order to have enough money, not just to buy the food and clothes needed by their family and to pay the bills, but to be able to aford “luxury“ goods to make their life easier or more enjoyable.There are also people who hate shopping and say it is a waste of time. But whether the people like shopping or do not like, the shopping is a necessity and people have to go to a shop, more or less frequently, to buy what they need.
 
FORMS OF PAYING
When you want to pay for a goods which you buy, you can pay in cash, or there is a possibility to use a credit card. Some kinds of shops offers an installment credit, it is used when you buy something which is really expensive. At buying a new car there is possibility of leasing. Nowadays people don´t have to go out of their houses when they need to do the shoppings. I am sure every one of you had ever got a catalogue which offered goods, for example clothes, office aids, and so on. There are also catalogues offering cosmetics, like ORIFLAME or AVON. Personally I like to buy cosmetics from catalogues, and whenever I have some pocket money, the cosmetics is one of the things I buy.
The internet offers us a possibility of shopping, too. It is enough when you click on a mouse, then put on a number of your account and the goods will be delivered right on your address in a few days.
 
Advertisement
 Adverisement  is part of our every day life even in the case we don´t own TV or other mean of massmedia. Because there are also bilboards, magazines and flyers, so it seems it´s impossible to avoid being involved in this process of advertising because we are part of 21th century.
Advertising in the media has an enormous impact on people. When a company introduces a new product or service, they usually do a promotion. In general, publicity has a great impact on people. We have learn to be more selective and care more about the quality, although price is still a very important factor in Slovakia. Advertising agencies try to use more and more sophisticated techniques to make us buy a product or use a services. Sometimes we do not even realise that a product or a company is advertised, for example in a film. But a good commercial also can help you in choice of better café or restaurant.

Kinds of shops
There are many kinds of shops ranging from large department stores, self-service shops and supermarkets to small specialized shops such as the grocer’s, baker’s, butcher’s, greengrocer’s, chemist’s and so on.
 
Department stores
Nowadays more and more people prefer shopping in large department stores with self service, where everything can be found under one roof, to shopping in small specialized shops. Shopping in big department stores has advantages and also disadvantages. The advantage is that this shopping saves a lot of time. You find there whatever you want from bread, meat, vegetables, to newspaper or flowers. Because it’s so big, they’re also able to lower the prices, making them cheaper than in smaller shops. You don’t have to carry it in carry bags but you simply give it to your trolley and take it to your car.
 
Supermarkets
  are also popular because they often give their customers some gift for spending a lot of money there. Some of the biggest supermarkets also have a café where shoppers can relax with a coffee and a cake, toilets, a place to leave babies and small children while they are shopping, facilities for disabled shoppers in wheelchairs. But they have also disadvantages: they are often full of people and sometimes you spend a lot of time waiting to pay for your shopping. You buy there a lot of things which you don’t need and people spend there a lot of money. Everything is also reserved there, there are so many products that sometimes happens that you find something after date of consumption.
 
Hypermarket Is a big store which combines a supermarket and a department store. A wide variety  of products are sold under one roof, such as clothes, household appliances and furniture. These days, a lot of Slovaks do their weekly shopping in a hypermarket, such as Carrefour or Tesco. An example of an American hypermarkets are usually situated outside cities a nd are surrounded by large parking lots. Some are even open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the socalled 24:7.
 
Small shops
  Many people prefer buying things in small shops. They are good for older people, alone living people who don’t need so much food as young people and people with big family. These shops are very useful for children who want sweets, or anyone who wants a magazine or has forgotten to buy something on their shopping trip to the super- or hypermarket. They often offer everything fresh. Disadvantage of these shops is that they don’t have wide range of products, they are often very small. Usually products are much more expensive than in supermarkets. Goods can be also bought not only in shops and stores but also in outdoor markets. You can find there number of stalls, selling cheap goods, but also flowers, vegetables or fruits as well as meat and fish.

Market  Goods can be bought not only in shops and stores but also in outdoor markets. A market has several stalls. Mostly selling cheap or second-hand goods, but also flowers, fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as meat and fish.

Services
Many people who feel that they don’t have time to go shopping, choose products from catalogues or they prefer shopping over internet. Services are in our life very important too. It’s a system, which provides something that the public needs. It’s organized by the government or private company. We know many types of services like banks, posts, police station and others.

Bank
provide financial services for people. We can pay for goods and services in cash or by bank card. In Slovakia it is less common to pay be cheque. Each bank has a cash dispenser and we can withdraw our money any time we want.  People usually do this throught a cash machine, using a bank card. The machine displays the balance of the account. It is possible to exceed this amount up to an agreed overdraft limit. Most people use their accounts to pay their bills. If the payments are regular, you can ask for a standing order. Bank transfer using the Internet banking service is becoming popular in our country. We may also have a saving account where  we deposit any extra money that we want to save. If we need to borrow money, the bank may give us a loan. If the bank lends us money for building a house, the money is called a mortgage. When we buy something in a shop, we can buy in on credit. The money that we pay for services, for example to a school or a lawyer, is usually called a fee.

Post
Almost everybody uses the services of a post office. The post distributes latters, postcards and telegrams. When we want to send an important document, we send a registered letter or parcel. When we send a letter abroad, we can also use airmail. If the post cannot deliver a letter or parcel for whatever reason, it it sent back to the sender. We can also use the postal services to send money. In this case we have to fill in a postal order. The Internet age, people used to send many letters and postcards by post. When they wanted to send a quick note, they sent a telegram. Nowadays, these are gradually being replaced by e-mail letters.
 
Police
are in charge of maintaining law and order and protecting the citizens. In Slovakia the police force is divided into two groups, the city and the state police. City police discipline people who behave badly, such as drunkards or drug addicts. They also fine drivers for bad parking or involved in a car accident, they usually address the state police. At the police station people can also get new identity cards or passports.