Consumer protection refers to the laws designed to aid retail consumers of goods and services that have been improperly manufactured, delivered, performed, handled, or described. Such laws provide the retail consumer with additional protections and remedies not generally provided to merchants and others who engage in business transactions, on the premise that the consumers do not enjoy a sufficient bargaining position with respect to the businessmen with whom they deal and therefore should not be strictly limited by the legal rules that govern recovery for damages among businessmen. The overarching goal is to protect individuals and the interest of the public in general from unfair and misleading activity in business and commerce (such as false advertising and deceptive trade practices) and scams perpetrated by criminals (such as identity theft and pyramid schemes) that harm a substantial number of consumers.
Foster is a community partly within the city of Sweet Home in Linn County, Oregon, United States. It is located on the western end of the Foster Reservoir. A post office named Foster serves ZIP code 97345, which serves areas beyond the Sweet Home city limits on both the north and south sides of Foster Lake: on the north side, the area extends along the Middle Santiam River to the west end of Green Peter Lake; on the south, the area extends for several miles along the South Santiam River and Santiam Highway.