Weights and Measures: Keeping Pace for the Future

March 1-7 is Weights and Measures Week

ANNAPOLIS, MD (Feb. 17, 2010) – Every day, Marylanders decide what to buy – groceries or gas, home heating oil or a piece of jewelry, firewood or mulch.  These diverse purchasing decisions have one common thread: Maryland Department of Agriculture staff inspects the accuracy of weighing and measuring devices. This year’s observance of Weights and Measures Week will commemorate the 211th anniversary of the signing of the first weights and measures law in the United States on March 2, 1799.
“Governor Martin O’Malley has issued a proclamation for Weights and Measures Week to raise awareness about the important role state government officials at the Department of Agriculture have in assuring that consumers and businesses have a level playing field in the marketplace,” said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. “People should be aware that there are regulations we are trying to maintain and protect that ensure fairness in commercial transactions involving anything sold by weight, measure or count.”
MDA’s Weights and Measures inspectors test many different types of weighing and measuring devices including scales, price scanning equipment, gasoline pumps, meters to measure home fuel oil deliveries and highway truck scales. An important part of their job is to randomly check packaged goods to make sure they contain the quantity printed on the label. Inspectors also investigate consumer complaints that have ranged from common gas pump grievances to the number of BBs in a box of ammunition.
Our inspectors keep pace with rapidly advancing technologies to ensure fairness in the marketplace. Business sectors currently use the most recent advancements in technology to determine quantities. Cutting-edge weighing and measuring equipment is also used by everyday places such as supermarkets and gasoline stations. “New innovations are being used more than ever, so it’s extremely important that consumers and businesses are protected,” said Weights and Measures Acting Program Manager Ken Ramsburg.
In Fiscal Year 2008, field staff conducted more than 38,000 inspections of commercial weighing and measuring devices, inspected and tested more than 12,800 individual lots of prepackaged commodities (representing approximately 126,000 packages) offered for sale, and investigated more than 700 consumer complaints.
For more information on the Weights and Measures Program in Maryland, or if you think the
“cord” of firewood delivered to your home is a short measure, the gasoline pump at the corner station is incorrect, or the weight or measure of any product you purchased is incorrect and you cannot get the seller to resolve the problem, contact the Maryland Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures Section, 50 Harry S Truman Parkway, Annapolis, MD  21401, (410) 841-5790.  Click here for more information about Maryland Weights and Measures.
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