Isn't it about time the US joined the world's metric system?

fuzzybuddy

fuzzybuddy

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In another thread, we are discussing gas prices. But gallons vs liters. Converting is a pain. The planet uses the metric system, with the exception of the US and two tiny nations. NASA lost a rocket due to converting errors. US products don't fit in a metric world. The US isn't the mega-market it used to be; if you want big bucks, you have to go global. Isn't it about time the US joined the world's metric system? The planet endured mass extinctions, so I think we could live through the trauma of asking for a kilo, rather than a pound, but just barely.
 

Britain adopted the Metric system only recently. I and my contemporaries grew up with the Imperial system and now there is a suggestion that we should return to it. I haven't been able to adjust to the Metric and still think in pounds and ounces, so I should welcome that. I can't think in pounds when it comes to human weight either....it's stones for me!
 

Lavinia said:
Britain adopted the Metric system only recently. I and my contemporaries grew up with the Imperial system and now there is a suggestion that we should return to it. I haven't been able to adjust to the Metric and still think in pounds and ounces, so I should welcome that. I can't think in pounds when it comes to human weight either....it's stones for me!
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This is one of those "learn something new every day" moments.. I'd thought the UK had always used the metric system!!
 
It was tried 50 years ago but Washington decided it was too much trouble.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metri... units have,means of weights and measurements.

"In 1968 Congress authorized the U.S. Metric Study, a three-year study of systems of measurement in the United States, with emphasis on the feasibility of metrication. The United States Department of Commerce conducted the study. A 45-member advisory panel consulted and took testimony from hundreds of consumers, business organizations, labor groups, manufacturers, and state and local officials. The final report of the study concluded that the U.S. would eventually join the rest of the world in the use of the metric system of measurement.[16] The study found that metric units were already implemented in many areas and that their use was increasing. The majority of study participants believed that conversion to the metric system was in the best interests of the United States, particularly in view of the importance of foreign trade and the increasing influence of technology in the United States.


This measuring cup, manufactured and sold in the United States circa 1980 at the height of the metrication effort, features graduations in both metric and United States customary units, with the metric graduations in front for right-handed users.
The U.S. Metric Study recommended that the United States implement a carefully planned transition to the principal use of the metric system over a decade. Congress passed the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 "to coordinate and plan the increasing use of the metric system in the United States". Voluntary conversion was initiated, and the United States Metric Board (USMB) was established for planning, coordination, and public education. The public education component led to public awareness of the metric system, but the public response included resistance, apathy, and confusion.[17] In 1981 the USMB reported to Congress that it lacked the clear Congressional mandate necessary to bring about national conversion. Because of this ineffectiveness and an effort of the Reagan administrationā€”particularly from Lyn Nofziger's efforts[18] as a White House advisor to the Reagan administration, to reduce federal spendingā€”the USMB was disbanded in the autumn of 1982."
 
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fuzzybuddy said:
In another thread, we are discussing gas prices. But gallons vs liters. Converting is a pain. The planet uses the metric system, with the exception of the US and two tiny nations. NASA lost a rocket due to converting errors. US products don't fit in a metric world. The US isn't the mega-market it used to be; if you want big bucks, you have to go global. Isn't it about time the US joined the world's metric system? The planet endured mass extinctions, so I think we could live through the trauma of asking for a kilo, rather than a pound, but just barely.
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The schools here teach both systems, but it's understood that almost all US measurements, i.e., in home construction and design, are given in inches and feet. This goes way, way back to ancient times when things were measured by hands, feet, and arms (i.e., arms-length).
 
fuzzybuddy said:
In another thread, we are discussing gas prices. But gallons vs liters. Converting is a pain. The planet uses the metric system, with the exception of the US and two tiny nations. NASA lost a rocket due to converting errors. US products don't fit in a metric world. The US isn't the mega-market it used to be; if you want big bucks, you have to go global. Isn't it about time the US joined the world's metric system? The planet endured mass extinctions, so I think we could live through the trauma of asking for a kilo, rather than a pound, but just barely.
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Shrug... I could adapt. I already use metric weights when baking.
 
helenbacque said:
It was tried 50 years ago but Washington decided it was too much trouble.

https://www.seniorforums.com/thread...the-us-joined-the-worlds-metric-system.72016/

"In 1968 Congress authorized the U.S. Metric Study, a three-year study of systems of measurement in the United States, with emphasis on the feasibility of metrication. The United States Department of Commerce conducted the study. A 45-member advisory panel consulted and took testimony from hundreds of consumers, business organizations, labor groups, manufacturers, and state and local officials. The final report of the study concluded that the U.S. would eventually join the rest of the world in the use of the metric system of measurement.[16] The study found that metric units were already implemented in many areas and that their use was increasing. The majority of study participants believed that conversion to the metric system was in the best interests of the United States, particularly in view of the importance of foreign trade and the increasing influence of technology in the United States.


This measuring cup, manufactured and sold in the United States circa 1980 at the height of the metrication effort, features graduations in both metric and United States customary units, with the metric graduations in front for right-handed users.
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Those measuring cups are still available all over the place, because millions of immigrated residents need them.
 
Don M. said:
Over the years, I've had to buy sets of Metric wrenches and sockets, etc., as many of the items today use Metric nuts/bolts/screws, etc. It's a tossup today, when working on cars, etc., as to which "system" is being used.
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Yeah, used to be if the engine was American, you didn't need metric tools. These days, you have a lot of foreign components in American engines, and you might need both sets of tools.
 
Altho' the metric system was passed many years before Britain legally went metric when Decimal Currency was introduced in 1971... It was chaotic changing from Pounds shillings and pence.. we'd just learned that at school, and now at 16 I was being told I had to relearn a whole new system, while I was working in retail.. Today that would be so much easier for Americans because hardly anyone uses cash now..

In 1974 Teaching the metric system in maths class became the norm..altho' science had been taught in Metric since 1900...
Clothing sizes and shoes went metric the following year '75...

By the early 80's Measurements, had become metric, and legally Fahrenheit, Ton, Inch ,Horsepower, Square foot etc all changed and were no longer recognised in packaging..
Prices on pumps at the forecourts were allowed to show Litres..

By 2000, Supermarkets, butchers, fishmongers, grocers, greengrocers and corner shops had to complete their preparations for the switch to weighing and pricing in metric.
Fluid ounces , and imperial measurements were no loner allowed to be used..

Customers are still able to ask for pounds and ounces, and supplementary pricing in imperial is also allowed, but it got really messy when several traders still sold their goods in pounds and ounces (market traders).. so a greengrocer for example still showed his fruit & veg in pounds, and allowed his customers who couldn't grasp metric to request their good in Imperial.. and so the traders were fined and then jailed.. ..it was a horrible time..

Weirdly however, we have never changed road signs to metric..we still work in MPG... and MPH.. so road signs still say 30 MPH... and we still talk of having 60 miles to the gallon.. ( we just never say 60 miles to the 4.5 litre )
 
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JaniceM said:
This is one of those "learn something new every day" moments.. I'd thought the UK had always used the metric system!!
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No.. and neither did many other European countries... and all European countries changed from their own individual currencies in 2002.. to much hand wringing and wailing because prices rose dramatically, .. In Spain they took it hard where they loved the Peseta and even now the old ones deal in pesetas in their minds..

Here in the UK we'd already gone through a deimal sytem in '71 but kept our Poud, although lost shillings, half crowns and crowns.. and the 10 shilling note became a 50pence coin.. instead of our pennies, shillings and crowns we got pence.. 1p 2p 5p 10p 20p 50p Ā£1 coin.. Ā£2 coin.. so we were not going to agree to the Euro..and we didn't.. so in Europe we stand alone as the country who doesn't deal in Euros..
 
We went from 12 pennies in a shilling.. to 10 pence in a 10p... from 240 pennies in Ā£1... to 100 pence in a pound.. and other changes


In the USA 100 cents already equals one dollar so if you changed to Euros.. you would hardly notice any difference..One hundred cents in a Euro...
 
hollydolly said:
We went from 12 pennies in a shilling.. to 10 pence in a 10p... from 240 pennies in Ā£1... to 100 pence in a pound.. and other changes


In the USA 100 cents already equals one dollar so if you changed to Euros.. you would hardly notice any difference..One hundred cents in a Euro...
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I can't imagine the US moving to Euros. As you said, American currency is already based on 1, 10, 100. Same as the metric system.
 
I already use metric at work but it would still be an adjustment if we changed over in the U.S. How much would an equivalent be for one yard of fabric? Must think!

Just like military time. I love it and have been more than unhappy with work places that didn't use it. I don't want 8am and 8pm. 0800 and 2000 makes so much more sense to me. Once I got used to it years ago. And is more error free.
 

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