On 2009/02/01, at 3:49 AM, Jeremiah MacGregor wrote:
Martin,
There is a very easy solution to this problem.
1.) Complain to the supplier and request they change their
formatting so it will print out correctly on one sheet of A4 paper.
2.) If they ignore you or refuse to change it, then move to a
different supplier who can conform. A loss of a good customer is a
often enough to make a change, especially in present times of a bad
economy.
Business will only change their practice if they fear it will cost
them business. You have to make them feel it will cost them your
business.
On the flip side of the coin, all of our printers can scale any
document to fit the page. I've downloaded manuals in A4 pdf format
and my printer scaled it to fit. Maybe you aren't setting your
driver to do so. Of course it doesn't always fill the page neatly,
but who cares as long as the information is all legible.
Jerry
Dear Jerry,
Consider the waste, and the cost of the waste.
The example given by Martin Vlietstra refers to him having to double
his paper costs by using two sheets when only one is needed. Your
suggestion is to add time for negotiating with every supplier from the
USA on an individual basis. Personally, I am like Martin. I am aware
that I am doubling my paper costs but I put up with it because it is
the lesser cost in the short term (even though I know that the
solution in the long run is to have the USA and Canada conform to ISO
216 that has been the basis for the A-series international standard
for paper sizes since the 1930s).
I suppose that you are aware of the many other advantages of the A-
series paper sizes, but just in case you might like to refer to Markus
Kuhn's excellent summary at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html
However, to save money (and hence paper, and forests, and carbon
dioxide, and effect climate change) is relatively simple. See http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/PageBordersInchesORmillimetres.pdf
for some thoughts to get you started.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong, Australia
From: Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]>
To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 10:32:20 AM
Subject: [USMA:42695] Re: A thin veneer of dishonesty
I work in the UK . One of our suppliers, the British branch of a US
company sends us drawings that are designed for US letter sized
paper. If I print the drawings off so that I can verify them, I
need two sheets of A4 paper ( US letter is 254 mm x 216 mm, while A4
is 297 mm x 210 mm). It is a waste of paper and annoys me no end.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Pat Naughtin
Sent: 31 January 2009 10:40
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:42684] Re: A thin veneer of dishonesty
… snip
Every child, in every school, in every state of Australia has to
learn a little about inches and fractions of inches to cope with the
default settings of mostly Microsoft or Apple word processors that
come from the USA . They have to do this whenever they write an
assignment in any subject that they undertake. I do not know the
cost of this to the individual students — all of them — or to the
whole of the Australian economy. In addition, we are beset by
imported companies such as Jeep, KFC, McDonald's, and Subway who
refuse to behave as responsible citizens when they operate their
businesses in Australia; they buy in metric units, they cook in
metric units, then sell to the Australian public in ounces and
inches that they advertise so widely that people who do not
understand the metrology of our laws could well believe that it is
OK to use inches and ounces for other things.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong , Australia
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has
helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the
modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they
now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for
their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many
different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial
and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA.
Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST,
and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com
for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected]
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