People use money to buy goods and services, but what is the difference between them? Here’s a useful explanation.

Goods are physical objects or products, something that can be felt or touched with the hands. Goods are things that can be held, smelled, eaten or used. Books, shoes, televisions, they are all goods. For example, if you go to the store and buy a pencil, you can touch the pencil, take it home and use it, so a pencil is a good.

Services are activities, tasks, work that a person performs. A service can be something that someone does for you. When you buy a service, you’re hiring a person to do a job, it’s not something you can touch or feel. Mow the lawn, wash the car, repair the refrigerator, they are all services. For example, if your bicycle is broken, you can hire someone to fix it, so the mechanical work a person does on your bike is a service.

Remember: a good is an object, a service is an action.