David Sefcik has distributed some forty-plus pages of his “Final Draft” of a “Unit Pricing Guide” to members of the NIST Working Group on Unit Pricing.
In my opinion, Davids “Final Draft" is much too long to effectively convey the *essential elements” of unit pricing, and allows too many choices of units of measurement, which lie outside the SI. Consider the example of ordinary wall paint (not under the influence of Food Marketing lobbies): Paint is sold in half-pint, pint, quart, liter, and gallon cans; and in pails. What is the best choice for the "unit or measurement" for the "unit price” of paint? The correct answer is "dollars per liter” which is the best choice for all the sizes of container, for all the grades of paint, and for all the brand names of paint being offered for sale in any, and all retail stores in the USA (or in "euros per liter" in Europe, etc.). The best choice is *not* dollars per pint, dollars per quart, or dollars per gallon, or dollars per pail which would not give consumers the opportunity for easy comparison of values across sizes. I am writing a much shorter “Best Practice Guide for Unit Pricing” which incorporates all the essential elements of Unit Pricing, but which avoids the pitfalls of trying to perfect the use of units of measurement which lie outside the SI. Eugene Mechtly
