A link posted to the BWMA forum some may find of interest.Dear Daniel,
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Cat1Sci.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=""> <http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=Cat1Sci.sgm&images=images/modeng&data="">
Thanks for that reference -- it is a gem.
It's nice to know that at least one other person has asked this difficult question about how much it costs not to adopt the metric system -- even if they were writing in 1915.
I suspect that Dr. Jos. V. Collins' figure for the 'Total annual loss of $315 000 000' is comparable to my more recent figure of 1.58 G$ (that's 1.58 trillion dollars) per annum, but I haven't worked out the inflation values between 1915 and 2005.
You will recall that you and I had an exchange on this issue a few weeks ago. I have copied it below to refresh your memory.
Since I wrote to you, I have developed my thoughts on this issue and rewritten my assessment of non-metric costs basing it on more recent statistics for Gross Domestic Product and for Population (from the CIA Factbook). I did this for the UK as well as the USA and my thoughts will be published in 'Metrication matters' tomorrow. You can subscribe at http://metricationmatters.com/newsletter/
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com and clicking on 'Newsletter'.
* Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association.
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on 2005-06-22 14.10, Daniel at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
I can't imagine how much extra production costs are involved with making products like fasteners, where duplication abounds from producing both metric and English, keeping the inventory separate, then the cost to stores that have to carry both. Then the frustration of someone buying one fastener when they need the other and having to make a second trip to the store to rectify the problem. Maybe it is the price we are willing to pay to be different.Dear Daniel and All,
I agree with everything you have said above. But how much does that cost?
Years ago, I was involved with the Australian building industry as they changed to metric units. We estimated that each building company that made a quick clean metric transition could expect to increase their gross profits by between 15 % and 20 % and their net profits by about 10 % to 12 % as a direct result of their transition to metric. Each company could then enjoy these gains forever.
I also read (but I have lost the reference) that the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conducted a survey of their members in about 1980 where they found similar savings (15 % of gross profits and 11 % of net profits).
If these figures are right, and we can apply them across whole nations as well as whole industries then we can estimate the cost of non-metric transition as being at least 15 % of gross national product (GNP).
In the case of the USA, non-metric and mixed unit businesses could be costing as much as 1.58 G$ (that's 1.58 trillion dollars) per annum or $5700 per person per year.
In the UK this figure would be 231.6 M$/a (that's 231.6 billion dollars) per annum or $3900 per person per year. This is 126.7 billion pounds per annum or 2133 pounds per person per year.
I base my calculations on 15 % of these figures for GNP in the year 2000 taken from http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/gnp.html
USA $10,533,000,000 $38,000
Britain $1,544,000,000 $26.000
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com and clicking on 'Newsletter'.
* Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association.
This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender by return email.
