5 ms·

In the US it’s not mandatory, and most supermarkets do it anyway.

by abtinf 7y ago

pikma 7y ago
But in the US it is frequent that the price per weight (or per volume) is not displayed consistently in the same units, for example $/oz for some items versus $/lb, and it's much harder to do conversions than with the metric system.
- xmprt 7y ago
  Unless you're comparing the price of apples to the price of yogurt, I've never seen that. Items of the same kind are displayed in the same units.
- taejo 7y ago
  As you say the metric system makes it less egregious, but it also happens in the EU that one item will be shown as €/100g and another as €/kg
  - hnarn 7y ago
    > it also happens in the EU that one item will be shown as €/100g and another as €/kg In my experience this difference is decided by what a "normal" amount of the good tends to be. For example, €/kg is usually used for meat, flour etc, but for something like spices or herbs a price of €/kg would seem silly since you rarely buy, and it's rarely sold in, a kilo. Still, a luxury of the metric system is that even if it's listed as €/100g, all you have to do is multiply by ten (aka move the decimal one step).
    - walshemj 7y ago
      in the UK I have seen products in the same category next to each other on the shelves use different units.
      - taejo 7y ago
        It happens in Germany too, and that's what I was referring to.
DrJokepu 7y ago
Nine states have mandatory unit pricing laws: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont. Also DC.
- colanderman 7y ago
  I had no clue that was primarily a Northeast Corridor thing. I wonder if this stems from being the region that invented the price tag in the first place. [1] Curiously Pennsylvania (primary concentration of religious group that invented the price tag, the Quakers) doesn't make that list. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_tag#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_tag#History

In the US it’s not mandatory, and most supermarkets do it anyway.

by abtinf 7y ago

In the US it’s not mandatory, and most supermarkets do it anyway.

But in the US it is frequent that the price per weight (or per volume) is not displayed consistently in the same units, for example $/oz for some items versus $/lb, and it's much harder to do conversions than with the metric system.

xmprt 7y ago
Unless you're comparing the price of apples to the price of yogurt, I've never seen that. Items of the same kind are displayed in the same units.
taejo 7y ago
As you say the metric system makes it less egregious, but it also happens in the EU that one item will be shown as €/100g and another as €/kg
- hnarn 7y ago
  > it also happens in the EU that one item will be shown as €/100g and another as €/kg In my experience this difference is decided by what a "normal" amount of the good tends to be. For example, €/kg is usually used for meat, flour etc, but for something like spices or herbs a price of €/kg would seem silly since you rarely buy, and it's rarely sold in, a kilo. Still, a luxury of the metric system is that even if it's listed as €/100g, all you have to do is multiply by ten (aka move the decimal one step).
  - walshemj 7y ago
    in the UK I have seen products in the same category next to each other on the shelves use different units.
    - taejo 7y ago
      It happens in Germany too, and that's what I was referring to.

DrJokepu 7y ago

Nine states have mandatory unit pricing laws: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont. Also DC.

colanderman 7y ago
I had no clue that was primarily a Northeast Corridor thing. I wonder if this stems from being the region that invented the price tag in the first place. [1] Curiously Pennsylvania (primary concentration of religious group that invented the price tag, the Quakers) doesn't make that list. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_tag#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_tag#History