Karl Ruling wrote: > Cooks on this list might want to actually buy the sugar. This will help > ensure that the 2 kg package isn't later withdrawn because no one > bought it. And, of course, recommend it to any of their friends who also cook. (I cook, but almost exclusively main dishes, which don't use sugar. <g>) However, assuming C&H doesn't apparently offer an alternative, now, in that size range, they will presumably continue to make that size anyway. I think only a malcontent (of the type that populates the BWMA in the UK) would actually complain about the metric size. As Jim Frysinger has suggested here before, people are usually looking for something that is "yay big." They don't actually object to metric; they're just not activists. On the general topic of offering praise to progressive companies, the recommendation of leading activists, in any field (including consumer goods), has always been to go directly to the top. Those lower down in the organization, especially those who have no role in creating or manufacturing a company's products, are unlikely to have any influence. They are usually obliged to forward complaints to higher levels. However, for praise, it's almost certain they simply follow a routine response procedure, possibly including sending some reward (dollar-off coupons, and the like) to those customers who have provided an address. Going to the top almost certainly involves the use of ordinary mail. Presidents of large companies rarely publish their email addresses. Toll free numbers almost always present the caller with a structured response menu, on which talking to the president or to the vice president of marketing is never an option. Even when one selects the option to talk to a representative, the system almost never provides the power or the means for the representative to forward the call. A company president may not, in fact, have time to read all of his/her mail. However, his/her administrative assistant or other staff member will very likely pass the correspondence to the appropriate department (e.g., to the vice president of marketing). It should get attention there, simply because it was forwarded from the office of the president (usually with a signifying date-received stamp). I don't offer this approach as a panacea. However, it has been known to get results. It might also be helpful to suggest that, the next time a company does a consumer survey, they include questions on their metric sizes. On a survey response, anything from "don't care either way" to "fantastic" is positive. Only the angry anti-metric responses are actually negative. Those are things we might want to point out. For those intending to write to their congressperson, senators, state government, newspapers, etc., don't forget that you can find all of them at http://metric1.org/consolact.htm. (Consolact is an abbreviation of "consolidated action.") I intend to add some text, there, recommending that, at least for congresspersons and senators, ordinary mail is more effective. Email is, of course, an excellent way to communicate with newspapers. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
