Celebrating Weights and Measures Week

NASHVILLE— The Tennessee Department of Agriculture will celebrate Weights and Measures week March 1-7, 2015. Weights and measures inspectors keep pace with rapidly advancing technologies to ensure fairness in the marketplace. This year’s theme, Weights and Measures:  On the Path to Tomorrow, recognizes this vital element of our free-market society.

“You should get what you are paying for, and inspectors play an essential role in the health of the economy,” Commissioner Julius Johnson said. “We value our weights and measures system as a crucial service to the citizens and businesses of Tennessee.” 

Fueling stations and grocery stores employ state-of-the-art weighing and measuring equipment.  Railway cars and highway vehicles are weighed while in motion. Motor fuel must be sampled and tested. Those are the areas in which inspectors use their skills to guarantee accuracy and equity for the consumer and a level playing field for commerce.

Weights and measures inspectors oversee approximately 94,000 fuel pumps and 16,000 scales in Tennessee. Based on data from the National Conference on Weights and Measures, inspection services cost each taxpayer less than $1 per year. “Weights and Measures Week serves as a reminder of the great value citizens receive for a minimal investment in the inspection program,” weights and measures administrator Bob Williams said.

The Tennessee Weights and Measures laboratory maintains and houses the primary standards of mass, volume and length for the state. Department officials are in the design and planning stage for construction of a new metrology lab, which will include the most current equipment and testing capabilities.

Tennessee is a member of the National Conference on Weights and Measures. In 1905, NCWM was formed to develop model standards for uniform enforcement from city to city and state to state. The organization has set the example to develop and amend national standards to keep pace with advancements in the marketplace.

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