Chris wrote in USMA 19305: it's interesting that opposition to metrication (which didn't >exist to any perceptible degree prior to 1994) has only occurred since >the requirement to sell loose goods by the kg. We have been happily >using metric for many other years in other respects. But I believe >that the latest changes would have happened overnight if the kilo were >smaller than the pound. The real opposition to metric in this case is >the fact that they have to show unit prices which appear higher. I'm >convinced opposition would have melted away overnight if the metric >prices had appeared less. (c.f. the lack of complaints about spending >public funds changing US speed limit signs when the national limit was >removed, vs. the outcry against changing signs to metric.) > >Chris
It was the same in Canada. Opposition to metric only became vocal when the retail scales were changed to kilograms because customers might feel embarassed if they were expected to ask for a metric quantity which they did not understand. However, proposals that goods might be sold by 100 grams went nowhere. That may have been due to the conviction among retailers that all prices should end in nine, or better yet, end in ninety-nine. That would not have left enough flexibility for the pricing of most vegetables. Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
