By the 31st December 1999 shopkeepers weighing goods to the consumer's
specification must convert from imperial units of measurement (i.e. pounds and ounces) to
metric units (kilograms and grams). This means that they will have to display their unit
prices by reference to the kilogram or gram. They will be able to continue displaying the
price per pound or ounce, but it must not be more prominently displayed than the metric
price. If customers continue to ask for amounts expressed in imperial measure, sellers
will have to weigh out in metric amounts and will soon, no doubt, be very good at knowing
the equivalents.
The products most affected by the change are foodstuffs: loose fruit and vegetables,
meat, fish and dairy products. These, when pre-packed, are (or certainly should be)
already marked with an indication of quantity in metric units and the indication of unit
price, also in metric units. Metrication of weighed-out products will enable consumers to
make price comparisons with pre-packed products.
It seems odd that while we universally buy petrol or diesel fuel for our cars in
litres, we still express the measure of fuel consumption as so many miles per gallon. When
last did you buy a gallon of petrol? Using miles per litre is mixing the units of measure;
kilometres per litre would be much more logical. Mind you, it would also help us to think
metric if all the distances on road signs were changed from miles to kilometres overnight
on 31st December 1999.
While we are about it we could start the new millennium by driving on the right to get
rid of that awkward changeover half way through the Channel Tunnel.
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