I’ve been premeditating such a move for some time, especially if everything’s priced solely in metric whilst the shop has dual scales. Late this afternoon (check date of this report) I thought I would contribute some influence/pressure on a certain convenience store in my area to sell me some baking potatoes in pounds and ounces.
Half of all their loose fruit and vegetables were dual priced and the other half (very recently) found its way to being priced solely by the kilo. Usually in any case I tend to go to the greengrocers a few shops down where they sell in pounds and ounces, aiming to maximise revenue for them and minimise that of metric shops (especially if they have scales with a superfluous Pound/Euro switch – HELLO, BOTH CURRENCIES ARE DECIMAL!! - surely they could cover the Pound sign with a sticker showing a Euro sign should there come such a bad move as the UK entering the Euro). If I remember rightly, that convenience store did have solely metric scales, but they now seem to have dual scales (good on them), which I spotted yesterday when I happened to be buying a bar of chocolate.
I knew the scales to be dual since the screen where the weight is displayed had under the left had side the characters “lb/oz” and under the right: “kg” (I’m surprised that that model is not listed in the “Dual metric-lb/oz scales and were to get them” page on the website). I obtained a few baking potatoes from the rack just outside the front and when they were being weighed, I asked the lady behind the counter if I could see what the weighed in pounds and ounces (the scales were switched to metric probably since they were first being used).
She did not seem to speak much English (neither do any of the others running that shop as far as I’m aware) so I showed her the “lb/kg” button (most convenience stores in London are run by ethnic minorities – nevertheless, plenty are still selling in pounds and ounces!). I thought I should give them something to think about, especially as they were beginning to price their fruit and veg solely by the kilo: after all, most people either don’t understand metric units or they understand them via converting them to imperial. It’s a sort of thing that ought to help secure pounds and ounces in shops, encouraging them at least to use the imperial system as much as the law at the moment says. Some people are simply tolerant towards unwanted metrication, usually if they don’t know that it’s not the end – did anyone apart from the BWMA look at the metrication of Royal Mail and expect such an intolerant Act of Parliament like that of Michael Hesaltine in 1994?
Even shops that use metric-only scales mark goods in pound pricing.
Frederick Rodriguez
Re: Getting shops to sell in pounds and ounces
September 14 2002, 5:45 PM
The worrying fact is that only SOME shops with metric (or dual) scales dual price their goods - check Warwick Cairns' post about Queen's new shop. That shop I'm talking about was beginning to quit including imperial prices as they raise/reduce them and that is why I 'gave them something to think about'.
The best shops to target are the ones with dual scales because at least they can still weigh in pounds and ounces, such as the one I was discussing. This kind of interaction with the shopkeepers/staff should make them feel inclined not to go metric - that shop probably thought that their customers were just about used to the metric system whilst a year and a third after the law came in force, an opinion poll concluded that most people either cannot understand metric or they have to convert it into imperial.
I do take your point though - I have seen with my own eyes what you're referring to.
Small point about the Euro to Pound key
July 9 2005, 12:38 PM
The reason scales would have this key, is that Counties that continued to successfuly convert to a Euro (₠/€), dispite currency speculators, went through a year or two of duel (or in some places like belgium tri-decuple) currency use; so systems and people could adjust without any cahos. So the key allows the scales to do the arithmitic for the conversion.
So you can ask the scales to give prices in pounds of pounds, Pound of kg, € of pounds or €'s of kg. The machines do all the work to keep everyone but puritanical sorts happy.
Re: Getting shops to sell in pounds and ounces
July 9 2005, 1:57 PM
I can't speak for the UK, but the small shops in my town don't buy their own scales. They lease them. It is much more economical for them. This way the leasing company takes care of the service, certification and upgrades.
If this is true of the UK, then the choice between metric only and/or dual scales is a decision made between the customer and leasing company depending on availability and price. If a shop had one type and switched to another type it may mean one of two things:
1.) The lease expired and the leasing company took the old scale back. If a new lease was negotiated the leasing company may have exchanged the one in use for a different model.
2.) The model they had had become defective and was replaced with the only one available at the time.
Scales are expensive to buy and going from imperial to metric to dual would be very costly.
My guess concerning the £/€ switch may be so that the scale can be sold outside the UK into the greater EU market. Dual scales were most likely produced in the 1990's in anticipation of metric conversion, but with metric conversion an established fact in the sale of food, the need for dual scales is no no longer and I doubt they are still produced. Such scales do cost more to produce and the pound (weight) feature is not needed anywhere in the UK market, it was never needed in the larger EU market.
These dual scales would have been provided to leasing customers prior to Jan 2000 so that they could be set to pounds before 01 Jan 2000 and be legal and be switched to kilograms after 01 Jan 2000 and be legal. The intent of the law is not to be able to select pounds mode after 01 Jan 2000. These type of scales allow for a smooth transaction and prevents a costly swap out for scale companies and leasing companies around the Jan 2000 date. Now that that date is well past, the need to continue to manufacture dual scales is not there. These scales have no export value (were never legal outside the UK) thus their limited marketability makes them more vulnerable to obsolescence once their need is expired (which was after Jan 2000). Thus time, effort and money can be saved by only offering kilogram only models. I'm sure that was the plan all along and that is what is being done.
The closer one comes to the 2009/2010 cutoff date for dual pricing the less of a need there is for dual scales. As leasing contracts expire and leasing companies discard older dual scales for newer kilogram only scales the dual scale approach will fade long before the legal cut-off.
This articles may be of interest even though it does not address this subject directly;