SECRETARY KAWAMURA RECOGNIZES ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES DIVISION

National Weights and Measures Week from March 1-7

SACRAMENTO – CDFA Secretary A.G. Kawamura is joining agricultural officials across the country in recognizing the week of March 1-7 as National Weights and Measures Week.
CDFA’s Division of Weights and Measures works with California’s 58 agricultural commissioners to ensure that consumers get what they pay for.
“The people who work in our weights and measures program are unsung heroes,” said Secretary Kawamura. “They ensure accuracy of measurement for everything from produce in the market to fuel at the gas station. I think one of our first presidents, John Quincy Adams, said it best when he declared weights and measures to be among the necessities of life to every individual of human society.”
Nearly everything purchased or sold is by weight, volume, length, area or count.  While most people take for granted that they are getting what they pay for, they fail to realize that the cumulative costs of even tiny measurement inaccuracies can be enormous.

With over $495 billion in goods and services traded over devices regulated by the Division of Weights and Measures in California, a mere 1 percent shift in their accuracy would compute to $4.95 billion of additional costs to California consumers.  And this protection is a bargain for Californians, costing a mere 55 cents per person per year. Consumers pay more for a single grapefruit than for an entire year of weights and measures protection.
 

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