Hey everyone. Just wanted to let you know that gometricamerica is now on Pinterest @ Pinterest.com/gometricamerica

For awhile lately, there has not been much coverage of the importance of metric conversion in America. You occasionally get the news article which tries to humorously poke fun at SI, but not much in terms of informative articles. The petition on White House.gov has not received a response, which seems as if people just want metrication to hide under the floor and die off. Despite this, metrication is an issue that will never disappear. The benefits of going metric are here. Lower costs, better efficient packaging, harmonisation of US and international measurement standards, etc. Companies are continuing metric conversion, and a good example I often bring up is Proctor&Gamble. As long as people, no matter the number, and companies know of the metrication benefits, going metric will never be an issue that will disappear. It will likely get to a point where metricated US companies will hit a barrier in US labeling laws where they will feel restricted. By this I am referring to the current Fair Packaging and Labeling Act which at the moment doesn't allow metric only labels. As more companies and individuals go metric, the more the federal government will have to listen. Metrication is not a dead issue. It is very much alive

The term "sell American" is something that I came across a while back while doing research on metric websites. What I seem to notice at stores, is that alot of homemade American products such as food, including meat, milk, potatoes, etc, seem to emphasize US Customary Units rather then metric units. Often many of these companies tend to be local based, and seem to assume that being local, metric units are not needed. This is not true for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons is that because the local companies emphasise only Customary Units, they cannot sell outside the US. If metric units were used and emphasized on home grown products, we could increase imports of our products across the globe, allowing small companies to gain an international advantage over companies that sell only in America. Another reason why metric units are important to local American companies is that using SI allows for more efficient and cheaper packaging and sizing, thus cutting costs. Lower costs plus international trade combined would make for a very profitable situation for local, and small companies.

Hey everyone. Each Saturday I am going to post metric related cartoons on the blog, just as a way to bring humor into metric advocacy. Just as a note, I do not take credit for the cartoons, I'm only re posting them

The Uniform Packaging and Labelling Regulation has allowed for metric only label displays for quite some time now, (since 2000, in fact). However, I have yet to see items which take advantage of using the metric only option. Motor oil companies, such as Mobile 1 are allowed to use liters vs quarts for oil package sizes. However, labels still display "1 US Quart, 946 mL". In Canada, this bottle is merely stripped of the quart label, leaving the 946 mL label intact. The extra costs of dual labelling and removing labels, I find to be unnecessary especially since this particular item is allowed to use metric only in the US. A suggestion I have for manufacturers who label UPLR covered goods in rounded imperial and unrounded metric units is to understand consumers knowledge of metric. Liters and grams are commonly understood SI units in America, and thus it would be beneficial to both the consumer, and to the manufacturer in terms of cost and understanding to use metric only.  I also recommend writing to companies who do not take advantage of the UPLR metric only option, to politely encourage them to use SI only. Something as simple as a nice letter can make a big impact. It does not hurt to try.