Well, the government. In spite of: *Metric being the preferred system of measure (Congress said so) *EO12770 telling Federal agencies to be as metric as practical (POTUS said so) *The BATF (which has some other new name) forcing wine and spirit sellors to use metric size bottles the law levies alcohol taxes per gallon ($1.07/gallon for wine 0.5 - 14% ABV), and the laws about size of winery, when to pay, required forms, etc are all in gallons per year. Ref: http://viticulture.hort.iastate.edu/info/pdf/fedwineregs.pdf The government, which won't force anyone to be metric, routinely forces industries which ARE metric to be Customary (this also affects the auto industry regarding units for emissions and fuel economy). We might have thrown off the rule of King George in 1776, but not his ruler (or Queen Anne's wine gallon or Lord Winchester's bushel)
Obviously, industry complies because complaining about it may single you out for special audit attention, which is a BAD thing. Perhaps the government shouldn't force the unwilling to be metric; however, they should be required by law to accept metric data when offered, and to offer a metric alternative in legislation about required reporting. --- On Wed, 11/25/09, Harry Wyeth <[email protected]> wrote: From: Harry Wyeth <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:46204] Wine casks To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Wednesday, November 25, 2009, 10:37 PM . . . Another example of the beauty and simplicity of the metric system! But go figure why the wineries produce wine in liters, bottle in liters, and the wine industry supplies statistics in gallons. HARRY WYETH
