Uh Oh, Pa. Bureau Of Weights & Measures May Go Private!

[Bravo Zulu]

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ― The Pennsylvania Bureau of Weights and Measures is looking at going private.

That would mean things like gas pumps and scales at the grocery store deli counter would become self-inspected.

A local consumer advocate, who is nationally-known, said this is a very bad idea, and she's headed to Harrisburg tomorrow to give lawmakers a piece of her mind.

In a time when everybody is trying to stretch every single dollar, Mary Bach said it's critical we get exactly what we say we are paying for.

"We as consumers can sometimes be ripped off because we as consumers don't really understand how some of these devices work," Bach said.

The state's budget crunch has the Department of Agriculture pushing for privatization of the Division of Weights and Measures.

It is the group that guarantees a gallon is a gallon and that a pound is a pound.

"They want your gas station to be able to inspect its own pumps. They want your grocery store to be able to calibrate its own deli scales or meat scales in the back room and I say that undermines basic consumer protections in Pennsylvania," Bach said.

Bach is one of three people who will testify and with a lengthy history of consumer advocacy there's little doubt what she'll say.

"We as consumers have to know what to look for and there is a real potential for fraud in the marketplace when you've got a genuine fox in the henhouse situation. When the fox goes into the henhouse, they usually enjoy eating the chickens," Bach said.

The issues of weights and measures in the marketplace are everywhere from the deli counter at the grocery store, even when you go to the liquor store, how much is in that bottle of wine that you buy?

Are the scales accurate when they weigh your package at the post office?

Bach will be testifying before the Senate Consumer Protection Committee.

That committee has jurisdiction over the State Department of Weights and Measures, which covers most of the state, except for a few counties, including Allegheny County, which have their own inspectors.

http://kdka.com/consumer/wights.and.measures.2.1629900.html

[Bluebear]

1. "self-inspected". Lovely.

[KansDem]

2. Haven't we learned?

We can't put the public trust in private hands. They'll screw us over every time!

[Ikonoklast]

3. That is a monumentally stupid idea.

Pennsylvania just might as well tell consumers that they will be getting short-weighted and short-measured on everything they buy from now on.

Hell, gas stations tamper with the pumps even when they ARE inspected.

Just think how much a grocery chain could defraud people if they short-weighted meat just 5% over the course of a year.

[DURHAM D]

4. Oh No! - Next you are going to tell me the International Screw Thread Org. -

is being disbanded.