Chapter 10 Summary

Edith begins to question Julian about his old-fashioned way of shopping, asking how, if faced with numerous merchants, a woman ever knew which shop to go into. Julian admits that women in his time would often go from shop to shop to shop to find goods, and he confesses that while the busy people often lamented the loss of time, the idle rich often used shopping as a way to fill their time. People often didn't get their money's worth if they didn't have time to shop around, and the livelihood of the merchants was based on selling customers things they didn't necessarily need.

Edith takes Julian into the local distribution center, a beautiful public building where goods are laid out with easy access. Each product is tagged with all the information needed, eliminating the need for sales clerks. The function of the...