My goodness, all I asked was simply whether he accepted their claims or not.. A simple yes he did or no he didn't would have sufficed. How would me taking a political science class or reading some reports answer the simple question? To answer the question I posed doesn't have any bearing on how many players are on the field or what goes on in secret meetings behind closed doors who who bribes whom. I hope you see my point.
Jerry ________________________________ From: James Frysinger <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 21, 2009 11:08:11 AM Subject: [USMA:43144] Re: consumer education on the metric system Why on Earth would Ken Butcher accept FMI's points as gospel, Jerry? I would like to point out that our governmental situation is a bit complex -- perhaps more than you realize. Most of what is done on the floor of the House and Senate is for show. The bulk of the work gets done "in the back halls", in offices, and in committee meetings. Most representatives and senators are not amenable to pure, dispassionate reasoning. Elected officials run expensive campaigns and bloc politics overrides individual inputs, except those from the wealthiest contributors. USMA represents us in those back halls and offices, but USMA is small compared to the many blocs that can "swing" thousands or tens of thousands of constituent members. Also, USMA is not a registered lobby. Last year Lorelle Young, Ken Butcher, Elizabeth Gentry, two other NIST folks, and I had a meeting where some issues were discussed. The largest thing at that particular meeting was to discuss the proposed standard for the dispensing of H2 at "filling stations", but we discussed other matters, too. If you get a chance, you might care to take a political science course on policy making. I have and realize that I merely scratched the surface of that topic. It is not only complex, but at times it can be rather bizarre. I also suggest that you read the NIST MP reports on the FPLA conferences. That will give you a bit of a feel for the variety of "players" in the ball game. Jim Jeremiah MacGregor wrote: > Since the FMI wrote their letter to Ken Butcher, what has Ken done to refute > their claims or did Ken just accept them as gospel? Jerry > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > *From:* Phil Chernack <[email protected]> > *To:* U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> > *Cc:* U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> > *Sent:* Thursday, February 19, 2009 1:17:00 PM > *Subject:* [USMA:43085] Re: consumer education on the metric system > > Well, I pose this one: > > Does the avarage consumer know and understand the differences and > relationships between ounces, pints, quarts and gallons? Many times I see > unit pricing in quarts but the items being sold have no mention of quarts on > them. They are either fl oz, mL or L. It seems to me to be very > disingenuous on the part of the food marketing industry to "claim" most > consumers don't understand metric or rather, understand customary units > better all the while they are changing package sizes to non-standard sizes > and putting only fl oz rather than expressing rounded up units such as quarts > or gallons. Meantime, the unit pricing does not reflect these. You know as > well as I that most consumers don't even pay attention to the units on the > package to begin with. They buy by size--that is small, medium, large. How > many people have been hoodwinked into thinking they are buying a half-gallon > carton of something when it really contains less. The package size is a little smaller but it "looks" like a half-gallon. > As for the space argument that rationally sized metric products won't fit >into the current racks, refridgerators or shelves is a specious one at best. >I have seen plenty of rationally-sized metric products in the supermarkets >from soda and juice to cleaners and they fit fine. > One other note, the FMI refers to the "metric experiment" I have news for >them: it's no experiment. As many here can point out, many industries have >converted to metric or work in metric with no issues and have made the >deliberate decision to do so. What we have is a long, slow, painful >inevability that could be made quicker and less painful. > Phil > On Thu, Feb 19, 2009 at 10:57 AM, Paul Trusten <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > FMI claims that the American public does not understand the metric > system and is not demanding metric products. I think there is some > truth to this claim. Although the U.S. public has taken to metric > soft drinks (and hard drinks, too) , it remains to be seen if the > average U.S. shopper understands, /upon inspection, /how, for > example, a 1 L bottle relates to a 500 mL bottle or a 750 mL > bottle. Now, you and I on this list laugh at such a statement, > because we have made this understanding of metric units as > instinctive as cents relate to dollars. But FMI is talking about > the average consumer who, under the FPLA amendment, suddenly will be > faced with labeling, shelf tags, and advertising in metric units > only, and will have to make a purchase based upon metric-only > labeling. Its point that numerous questions will be handed to store > personnel is a valid one (I speak here from personal experience as a > retail pharmacist over the years, when any consumer-product issue > comes up from behind and taps the public on the shoulder) . We >must face the fact that Americans are generally not taught or > oriented to using, and /comparing,/ metric units. Buying a 2 L > bottle of Coke is one thing, but really processing that measurement > information is another. Does the average shopper know that 2 L = > 2000 mL, and can (s)he yet quickly and easily relate a 2 L bottle to > a 250 mL bottle? I don't think so. I say we need to work to change > that. We who extol the advantages of metric need to educate our > fellow Americans on features, and the virtues the metric system. This >just isn't common knowledge yet in America. > Developing a plan for consumer metric education is going to be a top > priority for me at USMA in the coming months.. We can accomplish >two things with mass consumer education: to > reduce any possible public confusion over metric units, and also to > sell the decimal advantage of metric. > Paul Trusten, R.Ph. > Public Relations Director > U.S. Metric Association, Inc. > www.metric.org <http://www.metric.org/> 3609 Caldera Blvd. Apt. 122 > Midland TX 79707-2872 US > +1(432)528-7724 > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > > -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108
