Reading - Shopping in the USA

Read the text and do the tasks

Shopping  in the  USA

Everything in the US is big. Not just the vast lands and huge distances to cover, big people and X-large clothes to match them, but also big money to be spent and great numbers of products to be consumed. The whole society seems to be based on continuous consumption. To support their economy the US patriots have no choice but to be "active" consumers.

1.People in the USA have ........ that's why they are activeconsumers.

Shopping being an important element of consumerism culture, thus, occupies a great part in the life of an average American. As it usually takes much time, Americans try not to scatter it throughout the whole week, but would rather devote one whole day usually in two or three weeks to do all the needed shopping.

2.Shopping is ....

There are a couple of reasons for that. Firstly, in most cases (except for probably big metropolitan areas) shops and grocery stores may be located rather far from the place one lives or works. Secondly, it is always cheaper to buy one and the same item in a bigger container, thus, it is more practical to buy a pack of the product you need than a separate item of it. Thirdly, the stores are usually organized in such a way that looking for the products you intended to buy you need to go through a long way of other appealing goods. Almost unavoidably you would end up buying much more than you originally had in your mind or on your purchase list. And so, shopping may become rather dangerous for your purse.

3.There are no reasons why people do shopping in the supermarket

Food shopping can usually be done in a number of places: supermarkets (like Target), grocery stores (like Dillon's, Checkers, HyVee) or convenience stores. Supermarkets would be the largest of these, they carry a wide variety of fruit and vegetables, dairy products, cereals, bread and baked goods, prepared, canned and frozen goods, beverages, paper products (like toilet paper, facial tissue, paper plates, napkins, etc.), personal care products, Film, non-prescriptive drugs, clothing, jewelry, perfumes, electronics, furniture and so on. Depending on the state's laws, supermarkets may also carry wine and beer. Some of them also have coffee shops, fast food restaurants, film developing services, pharmacies, sometimes post office branch and video rentals. In such a place you can easily lose control over time, get lost yourself, and at the same time you will manage to find basically everything you need for your everyday life, and lots of stuff you don't really need.

4. There are many different places in the supermarket

Grocery stores are usually smaller than supermarkets. They limit their assortment to food, paper products and personal care products, non-prescription drugs, film and magazines. They might also have film developing services and pharmacies. The prices in grocery stores would usually be similar to those of supermarkets.

5. The prices in the grocery stores are usually cheaper than in the supermarket

Both grocery stores and supermarkets are usually supplied with plastic baskets and carts for carrying items around the store. As soon as the process of filling the cart is over you would proceed to the cashiers, where a person in a store uniform might have a small talk with you while processing your purchased items through an electronic pricing scanning and then waiting for the bill to come out of the cashier machine. Depending on the store the service of packing will vary: in Dillon's grocery store you will get all your purchased goods in a plastic or paper bag, in Checkers you are supposed to pack your goods yourself, though the bags are available and free, and in Aldi (a German branch) the customers are expected to bring their own containers or otherwise purchase plastic bags from the cashier.

6.All shops are supplied with packing bags for puchased goods

Some of these stores can have a discount policy — they offer their customers various sorts of coupons that help the buyer save money on the item the store wants to get rid of.

7.Some shops..... for their customers

Convenience stores offer a very limited selection of goods and brands. Prices for items can sometimes be twice that of supermarkets. The convenience of these stores is in their 24/7 work schedule and in their location — at the gas stations, close to the automobile routes.

8.The prices in the convenience stores are very cheap

Looking for beer, wine or liquor one should keep in mind that in some states it is illegal to sell beer and wine in supermarkets, grocery or convenience stores. They can be found in special liquor stores. These stores in many states are closed on Sundays.

 As the US laws prohibit consuming or carrying alcohol openly in public places, the cashier of the liquor store will pack the purchased liquor in a paper bag. State laws also restrict the purchase of alcoholic beverages to those aged under 21. Therefore, in order to buy these items the customers may be asked to show a picture identification card, which states his/ her birth date.

9. You can find alkohol in the supermarket only

Big non-food shopping can be done in a supermarket or in Malls. Malls are either indoor or outdoor shopping centers. The indoor Mall is a large building containing different kinds of stores, including big department stores and smaller specialty stores. The outdoor Mall is the area, usually distant from the town's downtown, occupied by various supermarkets, big department stores and smaller specialty stores.

10. Ther are only outdoor shopping malls

The downtown area is usually packed with more expensive fancy stores. Quite often they would have some ethnic (even exotic) stylization.

11.There are no ethnic expensive stores in the USA

Great variety of books can be found in various bookstores, like Borders, Barns and Nobles. What is notable about the bookstores is that some of them have either a reading area or a cafeteria where you can take a coffee and look through the books you are thinking of buying. University students always have a possibility to find books required for the courses in campus bookstores. There the books are already arranged according to the names of the courses offered by the university.

12.Some bookstores have a reading area. where one can look through the book you are going to buy

The last but very important point about shopping in the US is the necessity to keep in mind that the price you will pay for the item is usually higher than the price tag you see attached to the product. The trick is that cities and states have the right to charge an additional percentage of the cost of some items in order to raise revenues. In most places a sales tax reaches 10% of the price. For this reason many people prefer buying books, CD, DVD, video films, electronics on the Internet, as Internet purchase is usually tax free

12. It is very important while shopping in the USA...