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.
Carpenter is an unincorporated community in Clark County, South Dakota, United States. Although not tracked by the Census Bureau, Carpenter has been assigned the ZIP code of 57322. Despite the city's size of one square city block, businesses such as Wheat Growers, the Carpenter Cafe, Dick's Garage, and the post office flourish here. Carpenter was named by postmaster John C. Opsahl for his recently deceased friend, G. W. Carpenter, a land office agent in nearby Watertown, Codington County. U.S. federal censuses enumerate a George W. Carpenter, born c1833-1834 in New York, in Waterton from 1880-1910; he was a veteran of the American Civil War, with service in the 21st and the 116th New York Infantry regiments.