If a trader has a dual pound/kilogram analogue scale in his shop and has either dual or pound (some do even though it is illegal) only price charts it is now possible and highly probable he is not making a sale in metric units.
A customer enters the shop and asks for a pound of ham. Even though the scale has a kilogram scale, the trader eyes are fixed on the pound numbers and weighs out one pound for the customer who asked for a pound. He charges the customer based on the pound price. And no one is the wiser. If the scale was a single unit kilogram type, then there is no way the trader can conduct the sale without weighing it in metric units and pricing it that way. With the dual scale that some may have, which I believe are legal until 2010, it is easy to do the transaction completely in imperial. Euric ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Potts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, 2004-03-07 18:01 Subject: RE: [USMA:29091] Re: UK scales used in trade > Euric wrote: "The existence of pound prices is in itself proof that the > trader is not selling by the kilogram at all." > > Not at all. > > As I understand it, a trader is allowed to display either metric only or > both metric and non-metric prices, but must conduct the final transaction > (i.e., weigh and price) using the metric price. If a customer asks for a > pound of something, the trader must weigh out approximately 450 g and price > accordingly. (For most items, giving the customer the precise amount > requested isn't really practical, whichever units are used.) > > Bill Potts, CMS > Roseville, CA > http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] > >
