Inflation and low supplies are driving up consumer prices. It has gotten to the point that you’re making lifestyle changes. Instead of buying a name brand coffee you’re buying the store brand to save a few cents. You’re buying ground beef instead of a roast or steak because even at $6 per pound you’re again saving a few cents.
Normally, this small amount of savings wouldn’t matter to many of you, but with ever rising prices of everything, they now do. But suppose that effort and sacrifice was stolen from you? How would you feel?
Manufacturers and retail stores are getting hit hard by inflation, supply shortages, and must look for savings too. Staff and periodic equipment maintenance are reduced. And while not intentional, the accuracy of weighing and measuring equipment wanes and packages filled or weighed properly resulting in shortages and over charges to the consumer.
The pennies you pinched in making lifestyle changes was for naught because the equipment used to fill the coffee bag put less than the stated net weight into the bag; a small amount and undetectable to the human eye.
The ground beef you bought wasn’t a pound; it was less because the scale had not been serviced for over a year to save on maintenance cost and was inaccurate.
And the little satisfaction you had by saving 2 cents a gallon through the rewards program, it too was wiped out for the same reason – cutbacks in maintenance and quality control.
Now you’re thinking there ought to be a law against this! There should be someone checking these scales, gas pumps and packages to make sure the consumer gets what they pay for!
Well, there is. It is almost like a secret, but each state and in some, at the county and city level you have Weights and Measures agencies who are charged with protecting the consumer and ensuring equity in the marketplace by inspecting scales, gas pumps, packages and much more.
Weights and Measures programs conduct 10’s of thousands of inspections each year of scales, gas pumps and packages to ensure they are accurate. The list of devices they inspect is long. In fact, weights and measures are inspecting propane bottles to determine if the bottles that consumers purchase at propane exchanges contain the correct amount of propane for which the consumer has paid. This is a joint effort between the National Conference on Weights and Measures, the National Institute of Standards and Technology and state and local weights and measures programs.
Once the survey is completed, the results will be analyzed to determine if there is a problem with the current method of filling and selling propane in an effort to protect the consumer.
A similar survey was conducted many years ago on packaged catsup. Yes, not very glamorous I know, but still important. The results found, as I recall, that one manufacturer's packing process had a systematic error resulting in about a ¼ tablespoon of catsup being short in each bottle. Yes, not very much, but I plugged the numbers into my calculator and based on the number of bottles sold each year, I estimated the unearned profit gained by the company was approximately $3 million dollars per year.
So, while each individual consumer wasn’t severely harmed, there wasn’t “equity in the marketplace.” This company, due to its manufacturing practices had an unfair advantage over its competitors that invested in equipment, process controls and staff to ensure their bottles were properly filled. I recall this situation because, for me, it clearly defined the role of weights and measures inspectors – to protect consumers and ensure a level playing field for businesses.
Times are challenging right now, but it is good to know that there are women and men who are committed to ensuring you receive the amount of food, toiletries, paper goods, gasoline, and on and on for which you have paid and ensuring that there is equity in the marketplace for businesses.