SIC 5199 Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods, Not Elsewhere Classified

SIC 5199

This category covers wholesalers of nondurable goods, not elsewhere classified, such as art goods, industrial yarns, textile bags, and bagging burlap.

NAICS CODE(S)

541890

Other Services Related to Advertising

424990

Other Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Wholesalers

Just a glance at the miscellaneous nondurable goods industry shows how complex it is to place every U.S. nondurable good into a distinct group. Even if each segment of this scattered industry was given its own classification, the need for new categories would likely emerge within a few months. Items listed in this diverse category include: artists' materials, textile bags, baskets, brooms, burlap, candles, charcoal, Christmas trees, clothes hangers, tropical fish, glassware, animal and vegetable greases, hairbrushes, ice, industrial yarn, cigar and cigarette lighters, matches, paper novelties, smokers' pipes, plant food, crude rubber, sheet music, wigs, wood carvings, woolen and worsted yarns, worms, and many other items.

According to a November 2006 D&B Sales and Marketing Solutions industry report, this industry sector consisted of 44,177 establishments. There were a total of 205,944 people employed in this industry, generating annual sales of almost $38 billion. In 2004 the overall miscellaneous nondurable goods sector generated more than $182 billion in sales. In April 2004 the U.S. Department of Commerce reported that the nondurable goods industry had climbed 4.3 percent since 2003.

The majority of miscellaneous nondurable goods establishments were concentrated in California (7,649), followed by Florida (4,068), New York (3,824), and Texas (3,401). Combined, these states controlled more than 45 percent of the market as a whole, generating more than $17 billion in total sales in 2005. General merchandise, non-durable along with gifts and novelties, and advertising specialties contribute approximately 50 percent of the overall nondurable goods.

Approximately 7.6 million workers were employed in the miscellaneous wholesale trade nondurable goods industry during 1998, according to a Washington Post article. In 1997 the average industry worker brought home $504.71 for 41 hours of work each week. Seventeen years earlier, the same worker brought home $255.45 for 39 hours of work each week. A November 1999 survey of approximately 16,000 U.S. companies showed that workers in the nondurable goods industries would be in high...