One way to push the U.S. toward metric right now

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Amend the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act so that only metric units are required (customary units optional), rather than the current system where the label must display both metric and customary units. That way, companies have the option of moving to metric only, and lots of companies want to be able to do that because they don't want to have to create special packages for Americans when abroad they just print metric.

A big reason Americans haven't switched over to only working with metric is because individual Americans don't see the need because they can just rely on the customary crutch and ignore the metric units on the label. When companies want to switch over to metric-only, however, they'll have incentives to get Americans used to metric, and trial by fire will push Americans to adapt. There may be some bickering for a while, but people will get used to it.

Other problems with having both metric and customary, and why the European Union may soon require all packages sold inside its territory to have metric only (no other measurement system allowed), is that with multiple systems the consumer gets a lot more information that they have to process than if just one system is allowed (that would be metric). If the EU moves forward with this proposal, which it may do in 2018, then businesses would definitely have to create separate labeling for American and European markets, with America requiring customary and Europe prohibiting it. This would create some conflict, and through that we may finally see the FPLA amended over the objections of old fogey traditionalists who say we must be "fair" to both metric and customary units.

Not sure why it matters... personally Id like my standard measurements thank you very much... Not a big backer of globalism... Its ok for a country to have its own way of doing things... or should be...


It just seems like a needless change because many people in the US dont give a damn about how things are done elsewhere... nor should they be forced to... an independent spirit was at one time an American ideal...

Let businesses and consumers decide if they want to keep customary units. As it stands, they are currently forced to use them.

I wouldn't care if everything became metric, personally. I'm good at converting one to the other.

But I believe there is a certain "nationalistic feeling" when it comes to what are termed, ironically, "imperial" measurements, or "Avoirdupois" measurements.

Americans just love their quarts, pints, pecks, bushels, miles, ounces, pounds, etc. It makes them feel American.

I wouldn't touch the metric system with a ten-foot pole.

Metric is only really needed for science where it is already used and it's not like science can't get things done the old way as NASA got to the moon with it. Forcing metrication on Americans did not and will not work, people are not going to learn a whole new system of measurement with no benefit onto themselves and good luck teaching the children of this country two systems when they can barely learn one. People will never tolerate conversion, how could they be convinced otherwise? Changing the labeling to metric only would only make Americans less apt to understand the amounts packaged/labeled, an attempt at social engineering that would backfire. Our 'customary units' are superior for the layman's in daily life and there is no reason to change it for that.

We should have both systems side-by-side, even on the highways (they are side-by-side on the highways in New Hampshire and certain border areas).

Like Canada has everything in French and English.

Agreed. When I was reading through thread, it confused me because all of my rulers are both imperial and metric... one side meter stick, other side yard stick. My measuring cups are also two-fors. I thought this was common place, but it might just be due to my location. I live in Michigan and it's common where I am to have just as many Canadian quarters in your pocket as you have ones minted in the states. But already having moth systems of measurements all around me, I find a conversion to metric to be not a problem at all. I wish we had side by side signs on our highways here, but we do not.

There are more important things to spend money on than replacing every street sign in America, do you have any idea how much that would cost? The onus should be on foreigners to convert to our system when they visit our country and vice versa. It's not necessary and if the reason for forcing the issue is "everyone else is does it" then it's not a very good reason, there has to be a tangible benefit or incentive for people to want to learn a whole new system of weights and measurements. Most measuring instruments do have both and most Americans have some exposure to metric units but it doesn't matter, people don't want to do conversion and never gain any fluency in metric beyond what their specific use for it. The most common usage of metric in this country is probably legal/illegal drugs.

Guess what--a lot of imported stuff now has imported fasteners, so you need metric tools tools to assemble them.

I remember the old days when sending a new hire out for a metric adjustable wrench was a prank.

I have no idea how much it would cost. Probably a lot if it was done at once. Also, not every street would need to be replaced.

My city took to doing this thing several years ago where they replaced actual street signs (not speed limit ones, but the ones that named the street) when they became worn out and faded. But when they put a new one up, it had a logo type thing on it for the school that was near the street as a way to be cute or show school spirit or whatever. It was completely unnecessary, but neighborhood people loved it. It also did not impact our property taxes because it was only replacing the signs as needed so that was already in the local budget. I guess the added logo was insignificant enough to not change a thing for us. Perhaps I am being unrealistic and trying to place local understanding on a national level and it very well does not work that way. I have no idea.



My guess would have gone to shopping. A lot of online clothing stores provide metric measurements and maybe a size conversion chart for people who can't do their own conversions. But now that you mention it, drug dealers do use metric, don't they. I didn't think about that one.





Not trying to be difficult here, just trying to understand... So the point with not changing things up comes down to not only a problem with change in the way of like, if it's not broke don't fix it kinda thing? I mean, yeah, inches and feet, miles and whatever do work just fine. It's not as though there is some flaw with that system. It has been in place and used by not only many people, but many institutions for so long it's pervasive in our culture/environment/lives and all of that. Right? And it's also not as though there is some inherent reluctance to use the metric system when dealing with other countries, so why is the respect not reciprocated when they deal with us? Why make us change when we are not trying to make others change? Am I getting it?

From my point of view you're "getting it" just exactly right.

There are people who think our world would operate more efficiently if we all used metrics. At first glance this would seem to be so, but perhaps it's not true?

If we look at our country, using it's worn out Imperial system of measurement, and then at the other countries using metrics exclusively, we can see the differences in production and efficiency.

Or can we? I am not aware of any studies which show this to be the case, and suspect U.S. farmers and other business owners would be interested in anything capable of boosting their profits...and I don't see a landslide happening.

If some countries feel using metrics is better for them, let them double label; it's really not much of an issue.

I personally believe the training our kids get: How to convert fractions (i.e. 1/4 = 2/8 = 4/16 etc.) how to convert to metrics (1 kilogram = 2.2 pounds etc.) and ETC. provide valuable training for our school children that they can then apply to other math problems.

I think we'd be giving up more than we'd be gaining.

They have on and off since Jefferson been trying to do this. I remember the big push in the 1970's. All failed. Is now so different?

Not Giving an Inch ‘Whatever Happened to the Metric System?’

The Federal Government has no constitutional authority to compel private first to "go Metric". Congress can mint and coin money as it sees fit, but it cannot -mandate- a metric standard.

Every other country managed it...

Of course many old people will resist the change. Just stop teaching the old standards and ease them out as old people die.

In the 90s and early 00s, the weather forecast and recipes still included Fahrenheit. Now, nobody needs it, so the rusty old system has been thrown out and only Celsius (or Gas Mark) is given.

America deserves the metric system. It's a crying shame that previous generations have failed you by refusing to convert. Your children will laugh at the rickety imperial system and wonder why your grandparents clung onto measuring fuel efficiency in rods to the hogshead rather than km/L. It's like the QWERTY keyboard or base-10, except without the benefits. It's not the 19th century any more, use a sensible system that doesn't demand constant conversion between arbitrary units.

It's just a huge inconvenience and the costs to implement it would be a lot, it's been tried before and met with stiff resistance so I doubt a transition will ever work because there has to be a desire to change. That article brought up a good point about the post-WWII establishing this new order of weights and measurements, Europe was destroyed whereas America was untouched so it is correct that there is no desire to fix what is not broken to begin with. They've tried to sneak metric into things and Americans learned to use it in some hybrid fashion more times than not but they don't start applying it to everything else. Americans see the world in foots, yards, inches, pounds, ounces, gallons, etc so to actually change we would have to change our whole perception of the world. "The rest of the world did it" because they were building atop of rubble and were essentially starting over which is the same reason they really like trains and whatnot.