TDA Observes National Weights & Measures Week

NASHVILLE - Tennessee is joining the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) in recognizing National Weights & Measures Week, March 1-7, to remind consumers and businesses of the importance of equity in the marketplace. For more than 100 years, Tennessee's Department of Agriculture has ensured that all products sold by weight, measure or count are labeled accurately and correctly.

 

This year’s theme is Weights and Measures: Keeping Pace for the Future. Weights and measures inspectors are keeping pace with rapidly advancing technologies to ensure fairness in the marketplace. Their service to consumers and industry plays an essential role in our economic recovery by protecting buyers and sellers in virtually all sales of goods in the United States.

 

“This date is significant. It marks the signing of the first weights and measures law by John Adams on March 2, 1799,” said Randy Jennings, NCWM Chairman and Executive Assistant with the Regulatory Services Division of TDA . “During the 105 year history of the NCWM, we have seen advancements from mechanical devices to highly sophisticated software-based weighing and measuring instruments.”

 

Today, quantities are determined in the gas station and supermarket using the latest advancements in technology. Railway cars and highway vehicles are weighed in-motion. Coal is weighed while moving rapidly across belt-conveyor scales. Motor fuel quality, another function for weights and measures, is also a rapidly advancing science. Regulatory officials are meeting the challenges associated with both the development of specifications and introduction into commerce of evolving fuel sources such as alternative fuels. Inspectors are highly trained to secure accuracy and equity regardless of the technology in place.

 

“The weights and measures inspector is perhaps the least known element of daily commerce in the United States, but serves to protect buyers and sellers in every transaction,” said Jennings.

 

Weights and Measures Week is an opportunity to express appreciation for the value that our society receives for a very small investment in Weights & Measures inspection programs. The cost of a regulatory presence is estimated to be less than $1 per person, per year. Yet we can realize the full return on that investment in a single trip to the market or gas station. 

 

TDA has tips to help protect consumers:

 

If a consumer notes a problem, they need to first talk with store personnel and give them the opportunity to correct the discrepancy. If the problem is not explained or corrected to their satisfaction, consumers should contact the TDA’s Weights & Measures office and provide a detailed explanation of the issue. Following the completion of an inspection, the Weights & Measures office will provide a report of their findings upon request.

 

For more information, or to register a weights and measures complaint, contact TDA at (615) 837-5109 or toll-free at 1-800-628-2631 or visit www.TN.gov/agriculture.