NONSTORE RETAILERS (SIC 596)

Establishments primarily selling merchandise as a result of orders
received by catalog, mail, or television order. Customers are made
aware of goods available for sale through catalogs, mailing pieces,
advertisements in newspapers and magazines, advertising on radio
and television, and by operating catalog stores that carry little
stock other than display items. They receive their orders by phone
or mail and fill most of their orders by mail. These establishments
do not ordinarily maintain stock for sale on the premises. 
Departmentalized retail stores normally with 50 employees or more
and operated by mail-order houses and selling a general line of
merchandise are classified in SIC 531. Retail stores normally with
less than 50 employees and operated by mail-order houses and
selling a general line of merchandise are classified in SIC 539.
Establishments primarily engaged in mail-order sales of computer
hardware and/or software and television order (home shopping) sales
are included within the classification.

Establishments primarily engaged in the retail sale of products by
automatic merchandising units (vending machines) which are
generally located on the premises of other businesses. This
industry does not include coin-operated service machines such as
washers and dryers (SIC 7215), music machines and amusement game
machines (SIC 7993), lockers and scales (SIC 7299), or insurance
policies sold through vending machines (SIC 63). The
"establishment" is the location from which the vending route (or
routes) is serviced, not the number of vending machines or the
number of business locations in which vending machines are located.

Establishments primarily engaged in selling merchandise by
house-to-house canvass, by party plan, by telephone, or from trucks
or wagons or other temporary locations. The "establishment" is the
location from which the canvassers operate. Canvassers who do not
have any paid help are excluded from the tabulations in this
report. In some tabulations at the national level, direct selling
organizations are divided into subclassifications on the basis of
the merchandise they sell. The subclassifications are furniture,
homefurnishings, and equipment; mobile food service; books and
stationery; and other direct selling.