LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Weights and Measures: United States
built 271 days ago
Amendments to Mexico's federal weights and measures law in 1994 were met with enthusiasm by U.S. truckers. The new law lowered Mexico's weight limit for trucks to just under 90,000 pounds for an 18-wheel tractor-trailer, only 10,000 pounds shy of U.S. limits. Trucks from Mexico had been weighing in excess of 140,000 to 160,000 pounds, an amount considered unsafe in the United States. Prior to the amendment, many Mexican vehicles weighing high amounts came across the border into the United States since resources to monitor all vehicles at border crossings were lacking.
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Weights and measures inspectors test all kinds of commercial weighing and measuring devices. They test scales used in grocery stores, grain elevators, livestock sale barns, pawn shops and other locations. They test gas pumps and meters used to sell chemicals or to sell propane to home owners. They check packages containing edible and inedible products to ensure that the consumer receives the quantity stated on the label. They even verify that in-store scanners scan the correct price. Essentially, all consumer goods are subject, in one way or another, to the weights and measures law.
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Weights and measures officials routinely check gasoline pumps for accuracy. Pumps found to be out of tolerance are sealed from use and ordered repaired and must be re-tested before they can be put back in use. New pump installations must be inspected and tested prior to being put into service. In many areas, they ... check gasoline storage tanks to be sure that stations are selling the octane level advertised. If violations are found, the seller can be fined and the product can be removed.
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Weights and measures is one of the oldest government functions. It is specifically mentioned in the Articles of Confederationand the United States Constitution. The global and United States economies depend on uniform standards of mass, volume and length. Thus, the Kansas Department of Agriculture's Weights and Measures program serves a very important role in consumer protection and in facilitating trade.
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In all countries the national standards of weights and measures are in the custody of the state, or of some authority administering the government of the country. The standards of the British Empire, so far as they relate to the imperial and metric systems, are in the custody of the Board of Trade. Scientific research is not, of course, bound by official standards.
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To assure accuracy in commercial transactions, State and local weights and measures officials annually inspect thousands of scales, gas pumps, and other types of devices. They ... inspect thousands of different packaged commodities including those packed at the retail store and those packed at factories both nationally and internationally. The Bureau operates several special programs for devices not tested by local officials.
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