At 06:04 PM 5 October 2002 +0100, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >John David Galt wrote: > >They wouldn't have jailed that guy in Britain recently for > >selling meat by the pound. >... >1. Metric >********* >UK traders are obliged to be capable of responding to a customer request >for goods in kilograms.... > >2. Imperial >*********** >UK traders have the option of pricing and weighing goods in pounds. If >they wish to do this, then they must have dual pricing and dual scales. >It is not permitted for the trader to price and weigh in imperial-only >because of the possibility of error when converting to kilograms....
As I pointed out in an earlier email, this is just a backhanded way of forcing metrication on those who do not want it. You can stand there all day and claim he was not punished for selling in pounds, but, in effect, that is EXACTLY what he was prosecuted for. The government refuses to certify his pound-only scale, then punishes him for using an uncertified scale. >Thus it remains perfectly legal to sell goods by the pound in the UK and >many shops and supermarkets still do. The traders were convicted because >they refused to support metric custom. This certainly says it correctly, as in "If you wish to engage in commerce, you will do so in metric (albeit with an ifp facade) or we will destroy you." >Now, one of the tricky issues is how do you transition a nation from >imperial to metric. There is nothing at all tricky about it. Let the free market decide and it will happen, just as it IS happening in the USA. It won't be fast enough to satisfy most on this list, but it certainly is not "tricky" and does not require any self-anointed "experts" to tell us how to do it. >If you want to have an extended period of dual working then you have a >conflict of freedoms between retailers and customers. If you give >retailers freedom of choice, then customers are forced to be truly >bilingual. I totally disagree with this. There is no "conflict of freedom": customers spend their money where they choose, companies make the products they choose. There is *tremendous* pressure on companies to make what customers want to buy, which clearly says that, in America at least, MOST PEOPLE DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT METRICATION!!! If every second or third customer at grocery store complained about not being able to buy meat in kilograms, how long before the manager would start selling it in kilograms (probably along with pounds)? If Pepsi eliminated the 12 oz. can in favor of a 300 mL can, would their sales increase or decrease? If the former, how long before Coke would follow? If the latter, then clearly Pepsi is doing the OPPOSITE of what its customers want it to do. >...The metric martyrs got themselves into trouble because they refused to >support metric custom. However, it is difficult to make a headline out >of the more accurate statement 'trader is incapable of selling a kilo >of bananas'. I think the headline is easy, but the pro-force metricationists won't like it: "Trader Punished for Not Supporting Metric." > >And it's a violation of human rights that they did. > >Although I have used a different definition of 'did', the issue is not >yet fully established by the courts. The people concerned are going to >the European Court in the next 5 years. I think this is a fascinating aspect of the whole case: Many of the same people who support forced metrication think a "one-world government" approach to globalization is a wonderful thing. Yet, they scream bloody murder when one precursor to this, the European Court, is called upon to stop their own form of tyranny. For numerous reasons, there is NOT going to be any forced metrication in the USA, at least until the country has already become 95% metric. If we want to speed up metrication in this country, we need to use our efforts to: (a) continue to educate the public-at-large as to its benefits, so they ask for metric (b) continue to apply what pressure we can on companies to metricate (c) do our best to get the government to metricate -- a step that will *tremendously* accelerate metrication in the USA. Jim Elwell, CAMS Electrical Engineer Industrial manufacturing manager Salt Lake City, Utah, USA www.qsicorp.com
