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| why is the US not Metric |
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| KL27x:
I disagree that arrogance is a valid reason. It's not arrogance, it's size/scale. France created metric because they didn't have any standard. "In France alone, it was estimated at that time that at least 250,000 different units of weights and measures were in use during the Ancien Régime." They also converted to metric during a revolution. So they had a complete mess of different standards, they had the power to simply kill tens of thousands of dissident voices. When the new regime takes property and business away from the old regime and hands it to the winning side, "here ya go, all this is now yours, but please use metric." That is easy; and they still had a massive backlash. We can't just kill and take stuff away from people in a peaceful transition. We have to pay these people. This spread through the EU, and it makes sense. There were similar problems in some of those countries. The French metric system was the first standard to gain enough traction (through blood) for all these other little countries to be able to agree... ok, let's all use that. And Europe has highly connected, relatively small countries with a lot of trade and travel. If half the continent uses metric, and there are 10 other countries left that had an actual standard to begin with, they are now the odd man out. When you can ride your horse through 3-4 different measuring systems in a day, that can cause problems. There is no logical reason for the US to ever change to metric. This is like expecting US to change language to Spanish. It costs money to change to metric. All of the imperial standards are defined and derived from metric, and we have calculators, so there's almost no reason to do that or for anyone in or outside of the US to care. Road signs. Car odometers. Gas station pumps. Measuring equipment. Mill beds. Lathe gearing for cutting threads. Websites and product descriptions. US is big enough where it doesn't make sense to change all this stuff. Why bother? After you have done all that, what did you achieve that makes you so happy? And this doesn't even include the mess of special interest groups/industries that are unequally affected and are now in line to receive compensation for their greater burden/cost. I'm sure nothing will go wrong, there. |
| tooki:
Not sure if you were commenting on my comment, but when I said “arrogance”, I was giving it as the explanation why people attack the US over its lack of metrication, but expressly rejecting it as a valid reason. |
| soldar:
--- Quote from: KL27x on November 01, 2019, 10:01:49 pm ---I disagree that arrogance is a valid reason. France created metric because they didn't have any standard. "In France alone, it was estimated at that time that at least 250,000 different units of weights and measures were in use during the Ancien Régime." They also converted to metric during a revolution. This spread through the EU, and it makes sense. There were similar problems in some of those countries. And Europe has highly connected, relatively small countries with a lot of trade and travel. If half the continent uses metric, and there are 10 other countries left that had an actual standard to begin with, they are now the odd man out. When you can ride your horse through 3-4 different measuring systems in a day, that can cause problems. There is no logical reason for the US to ever change to metric. This is like expecting US to change language to Spanish. It costs money to change to metric. All of the imperial standards are defined and derived from metric, and we have calculators, so there's almost no reason to do that or for anyone in or outside of the US to care. Road signs. Car odometers. Gas station pumps. Measuring equipment. Mill beds. Lathe gearing for cutting threads. Websites and product descriptions. US is big enough where it doesn't make sense to change all this stuff. Why bother? After you have done all that, what did you achieve that makes you so happy? --- End quote --- Now America is the odd man out and the world is smaller and more connected by trade than it ever was. Any American industrial manufacturer using American units is at a disadvantage with a competitor using metric units. American companies that want to remain competitive in the world will have to go metric. they are, in fact, already going metric. And this means having two standards and that costs money. Which means being less competitive. People, companies, countries, become wealthy not by sticking to the past but by adapting to the future. America is big but it is part of the world and cannot shut itself from the world without suffering serious damage. Believing otherwise is seriously arrogant and seriously ignorant. |
| KL27x:
^By that argument we should all adopt the Spanish language and use one currency. America's trade problems have little to nothing to do with units of measurement, IMO. --- Quote ---Now America is the odd man out --- End quote --- We know that, and we're fine with doing conversions to do business with other nations. We will buy Chinese steel by the ton or metric ton or however else you want to measure stuff. |
| tooki:
--- Quote from: soldar on November 01, 2019, 10:52:51 pm ---Now America is the odd man out and the world is smaller and more connected by trade than it ever was. Any American industrial manufacturer using American units is at a disadvantage with a competitor using metric units. American companies that want to remain competitive in the world will have to go metric. they are, in fact, already going metric. And this means having two standards and that costs money. Which means being less competitive. People, companies, countries, become wealthy not by sticking to the past but by adapting to the future. America is big but it is part of the world and cannot shut itself from the world without suffering serious damage. Believing otherwise is seriously arrogant and seriously ignorant. --- End quote --- And as people have said in this thread umpteen times: everywhere it makes sense to switch, USA has switched, or is in the process. Not every industry, and not every company, imports or exports. But the ones that do are mostly moving to metric, because it makes sense for them. What is arrogant is for metric fans to think that metric is ALWAYS what makes sense. It’s not. For many items, the US market is so huge that the Chinese factories need dedicated production lines anyway, so setting them up to make US-unit products incurs no significant cost. (And they likely did it decades ago.) Or the customary units have to be maintained for compatibility. For example, we couldn’t just change the screws used to attach the cover plates to wall switches and outlets, because of compatibility. But since we don’t export those to metric countries anyway, there is literally zero incentive to change them to metric. (Even in Central America, which uses NEMA outlets and 120V, they don’t use US brands of switches, they have their own. So US companies aren’t selling to them, whether made in USA or China.) --- Quote from: KL27x on November 01, 2019, 11:23:10 pm ---^By that argument we should all adopt the Spanish language and use one currency. America's trade problems have little to nothing to do with units of measurement, IMO. --- End quote --- Absolutely. |
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