Intro to Services Types of Services Origin of Services

What is a service? Any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it Only one locational factor is necessary for services: proximity to markets (customers) Choosing a location for a service is more precise than choosing a location for an industry

Types of Services Consumer, business, and public services

Consumer Services The purpose of a commercial service is to provide services to individual consumers who desire them, and can afford to pay for them There are two types of consumer services: retail and personal

Retail Services Provide goods for sale to consumers 1/5 of all jobs in the United States are in retail services Includes: Wholesale Restaurants Food stores Shops selling goods

Personal Services Provides services for well-being and personal improvement of individual consumers Most of these jobs are in health care or education Also include: Arts and entertainment Personal care

Business Services The principal purpose of business services is to facilitate other businesses There are two main types of business services: producer services and transportation services

Producer Services Provide services primarily to help people conduct other business- either agriculture, manufacturing, or other services 1/5 of US jobs are in producer services Include: Financial services Law Engineering Management Advertising Employment agencies Janitorial work

Transportation Services Diffuse and distribute services Include: Trucking Publishing Broadcasting

Public Services Purpose is to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses About 10 percent of workers in the US receive a paycheck from the government

Origin of Services

Early settlements Services require permanent settlements People were nomadic prior to the emergence of settlements Although we do not know for sure, it is assumed that personal services came first, followed by public services, and finally transportation, producer, and retail services

Early Personal Services The first service probably was probably associated with burial of the dead After establishing a place for burial, priests were needed to say prayers for the deceased Many settlement were created around a temple

Personal services Settlements could also have been established to house families Men were migratory, while women cared for the home and family Education became important

Personal services People also needed goods Early manufacturing centers began Specialization happened during this time

Early Public Services Political leaders chose to live permanently in the settlement to protect the group’s land claim For protection from other groups, some citizens became soldiers Cities became fortified, or surrounded/protected by a wall Settlements became citadels, or centers of military power

Early Retail and Producer Services Everyone in the settlement needed food, and eventually people began to create and store excess food This was the beginning of transportation services Settlements also began to trade with other settlements, and store their excess materials This was the beginning of retail services Settlements were neutral ground to trade, and some people helped facilitate this This was the beginning of producer services

Services in Rural Settlements Clustered and Dispersed

Clustered Rural Settlements A number of families live in close proximity to each other with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings Includes homes, barns, tool sheds, other farm structures, plus personal services like religious structures and schools Also called a village or hamlet

Clustered rural settlements Property is dispersed so that individual farmers may farm on a parcel of land allocated to them by the village Sometimes farmers owned parcels not contiguous to each other Typical clusters are arranged either circularly or linearly

Circular Rural Settlements Central open space surrounded by structures

Linear Rural Settlements Feature buildings clustered along a road, river, or dike to facilitate communications The fields extend behind the buildings in long, narrow strips Known as long-lots to the French

Colonial American Clustered Settlements The first European colonists settled along the East Coast in three regions: New England, the Southeast, and the Middle Atlantic

New England Settlers built their settlement around an open area called a common Settlers grouped their homes and public buildings around the common They were favored for the following reasons: Colonists traveled in groups Reinforced cultural and religious values Outsiders were not welcome

Southeast Southeastern colonies were settled as small, dispersed farms Later became plantations

Dispersed Rural Settlements More common in the last 200 years Clustered settlements meet the needs of a small population, but does not leave room for expansion

Enclosure Movement To improve agricultural productivity, many European countries attempted to convert the clustered settlements into dispersed settlements Britain imposed the Enclosure Movement between They consolidated strips of land owned by farmers into a single family-farm Farmers did not have to waste time traveling from one parcel of land to another Destroyed village life