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.
Lacey is a city in Thurston County, Washington, United States. Established as a suburb of Olympia, Lacey's estimated population as of 2009 was 39,250, as compared to 43,900 for Olympia. Thurston County, which includes the cities of Lacey, Olympia, and Tumwater, has a population of 239,355 as of the 2009 census.