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I'd like to see USMA take the lead here and devise
a strategy they then communicate to the membership.
Ezra
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, October 16, 2005 10:47
AM
Subject: Re: [USMA:34895] Re: Picking
apart FMIs arguments
Ezra,
This is a fantastic idea. I would love to
help in any way I can.
We have to deal with companies doing
business internationally, though, since
I don't see we can get anywhere
with companies operating solely in the States.
Remek
On 10/15/05, Ezra
Steinberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
Jim's
thinking is "spot on" in my view.
If we can use P&G's leadership
(and a couple of other receptive larger
companies) to help come up with a
white paper or some such that could lay
out the case for rationalization
of package sizes and the advantage of hard
metric sizes to boot, I think
FMI's objections could be met head on.
This might be a project for
the USMA to take a leadership role in.
Lorelle???
:-)
Ezra
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Elwell"
< [EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
"U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Sent:
Saturday, October 15, 2005 2:25 PM
Subject: [USMA:34894] Re: Picking
apart FMIs arguments
> At 15 October 2005, 02:08 PM, Pierre
Abbat wrote:
> >We already have a proliferation of sizes. I've seen
500 g and 454 g pasta
> >packages on the same shelf and two bottles
of water, one a round number
of
> >fluid ounces and the other
metric, from the same company. I think what we
> >need is some
litership ;)
>
> This brings up an interesting point: two or
three years ago I was in
> the local supermarket (Smith's, now owned
by Fred Meyer), and was
> somewhat taken aback when I actually
thought about the number of
> different packages of toothpaste in that
aisle.
>
> There were variations
in:
> manufacturer
(Colgate, Crest, private labels, etc.)
> "purpose"
(whitening, sensitive teeth,
etc.)
> taste
(mint, regular,
etc.)
> size
(travel, home, family,
etc.)
> tube
variations (screw top, flip top, etc.)
> package
variations (tube, dispenser, etc.)
>
> I stopped counting the
different items when I hit 100; total was
> probably 150 or
so.
>
> Now, ask yourself: how many people can tell you the size
of the tube
> of toothpaste they buy? I don't mean something like
"travel size,"
> but something specific like "3 oz" or "50 g". I doubt
1% of the
> population can answer this question. I can't.
>
> There are eleven people here at QSI today (yes, on
Saturday) and I
> just ran around and asked each of them. Ten had no
idea, or just said
> "the big tube" or something like that. One
actually said "The six
> ounce tube." But, she was an executive at
Proctor & Gamble (Colgate
> brand) for 20+ years, and so is a bit
more attuned to such things
> than most of us.
>
> So I
would suggest that a toothpaste company packaging its toothpaste
> in
hard metric sizes (e.g., 100 g [3.4 oz]) cannot possibly be a
>
detriment in the consumer's mind, since the consumer will not notice
it!
>
> And the unit of measure cannot be very important from a
marketing
> standpoint, because if it was there would not likely be
such a
> variety of other marketing angles to a single
product.
>
> Now, how do we get a consumer products manufacturer
to realize they
> can switch at least some items to metric-size
packages and NOT suffer
> any consequences? Plus realize the benefits
of having the same
> package sizes all over the world.
>
>
Jim Elwell
>
>
> Jim Elwell, CAMS
> Electrical
Engineer
> Industrial manufacturing manager
> Salt Lake City,
Utah, USA
> www.qsicorp.com
>
>
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