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why is the US not Metric
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bsfeechannel:

--- Quote from: Cubdriver on November 30, 2019, 06:23:35 am ---How?  By how much $$?
--- End quote ---

You might have missed this text from a link I posted six pages ago.

For example, total metric conversion costs for the 50 state highway departments are estimated to lie between $50 and $100 million. The states spend about $20 billion on highway construction every year so a 1 percent reduction in construction costs due to improved productivity and quality amounts to an annual savings of $200 million. At the 1 percent rate, the payoff for highway conversion takes 3 to 6 months with a savings of 100 to $150 million the first year and $200 million each succeeding year. Even at a tenth of this rate, the payback period is only 30 to 60 months with savings in each following year amounting to $20 million in perpetuity.


--- Quote ---If it made good economic sense, the transition would have happened already.
--- End quote ---

That's why threads like this pop up every year on the forum and elsewhere. It DOES make all the economic sense in the world, yet the transition has "inexplicably" not happened.


--- Quote from: KL27x on November 30, 2019, 06:37:30 am ---If this is you caring about Americans, then thanks for the concern. We will feel your prayers.
--- End quote ---

I feel a sympathetic cringe for the US every time I see this map showing the countries that use Fahrenheit:




--- Quote from: tooki on November 30, 2019, 01:57:02 pm ---Be honest to yourself and to us that this is just your own strong personal preference, nothing more.
--- End quote ---

Isn't exactly this the precise reason given for the use of imperial in the US? Has not The History Guy said that they use it because they chose to?

Why is the preference for metric a problem, but not for imperial?
KL27x:

--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on December 04, 2019, 12:15:58 am ---The states spend about $20 billion on highway construction every year so a 1 percent reduction in construction costs due to improved productivity and quality amounts to an annual savings of $200 million.
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That is a factual statement, but it is irrelevant. A 0.001% reduction in costs would be $200 thousand a year. Fact. But we won't get that, either. Changing to metric improves neither the productivity nor quality of highways nor the construction of, so it won't save any money that way. We pave our roads with asphalt, not with inches. Maybe we will save some big money on 911 calls by confused tourists? This sounds like every single dumbass's pitch on Shark Tank. "But it's a 10 billion dollar a year market. If we get just 1% of that, our valuation is a bargain!"

What's the source of this garbage propaganda? The United States Metric Association? And what's your angle? Tell me you have an angle. Family ties to US DOT or contractor of? Just want to watch the US waste billions of dollars?

Is this a cause to you? 

Are you just trying to win an internet argument?

You seem to think that measuring concrete and asphalt in imperial leaves leftover inches and oz's that get thrown away, like that last bit of toothpaste that's hard to get out of the tube. Can you please explain what is going on in your head? It can't be that hard for you to state where it is you think the magic money comes from. Saving batteries in calculators? Saving the brain power and global warming caused by mental conversions? Saving 0.002 kb of program memory on our soldering iron firmwares?

The list of US companies that changed to metric had real savings because of real reasons that don't necessarily apply to things like roads. Acceptance in foreign markets. Fitting design specs to make best use of materials that are cheaper in certain (say metric) sizes.

The real cost of imperials is a slight inefficiency in supply and demand. There will be foreign buyers who don't as easily connect with US sellers. But in any case where a US seller wants to sell overseas, he is going to list his product in metric. That foreign buyer who ignores a US listing in inches wasn't going to pay the shipping and/or the seller wasn't going to bother sending the thing to Zimbabwe, anyway. There's no export business in the US trying to get anyone else to use imperial.



--- Quote ---Why is the preference for metric a problem, but not for imperial?
--- End quote ---
You can prefer w/e you want. No one has a problem with your preference of measuring system. That's not what makes your arguments naive and senseless.
coppercone2:
can we get the bridges pre assembled and certified in china to lower costs? if we can get rid of the test and inspection phase after construction we can bring project costs WAY down
KL27x:
Tooki, yeah the problem with changing units is like changing directions on a mill and getting backlash.

As long as you stick to the same system, you will hide one kind of idiot. After you change to a new system, these idiots have "new problems."

I can't find a link, but I read about another Canadian conversion 'tard. An astronaut. The fuel gauge on the whatevermabob was broken, so he had to fill it by mass of fuel. And he filled it with lb's instead of kg's. You'd think that would get covered in training before we shot him into orbit. It may have been ground control that gave him the wrong instructions, of course. It was around the 80's or 90's? Nothing too bad happened. The satellite ran out of fuel too early, but it was not a major issue.
tooki:

--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on December 04, 2019, 12:15:58 am ---
--- Quote from: tooki on November 30, 2019, 01:57:02 pm ---Be honest to yourself and to us that this is just your own strong personal preference, nothing more.
--- End quote ---

Isn't exactly this the precise reason given for the use of imperial in the US? Has not The History Guy said that they use it because they chose to?

Why is the preference for metric a problem, but not for imperial?

--- End quote ---
Nothing wrong with having a personal preference. My gripe is with you pretending your personal preference is somehow empirically superior in all situations, which it isn’t. You’ve been provided with ample evidence that switching would involve significant costs, added risk, and in many situations for little or no benefit whatsoever. That you continue to reject those explanations even though they’re indisputable just shows that you’ve got a preference-based dogma. Hence why I said you should stop being dishonest and pretending that the arguments in favor of switching are crystal clear. You’d get a lot more respect from others if you showed that you understand nuance and context, but you don’t. Just dogma.
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