Naig: Weights and Measures Week Highlights Consumer Protection Efforts

Department inspectors ensure accuracy of scales and fuel pumps

DES MOINES, Iowa (March 1, 2019) – Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig today highlighted the important work of the Department’s Weights and Measures Bureau as part of Weights and Measures Week, which runs from March 1-7. This year’s theme from the National Conference on Weights and Measures (NCWM) is “Valued Traditions and New Innovations – Confidence in Every Transaction.”

“Our Weights and Measures Bureau inspectors are on the front line of consumer protection, ensuring the accuracy of small devices like gas pumps and counter scales, as well as large devices such as truck scales,” said Secretary Naig. “Customers can have confidence that they are getting what they pay for at the pump and in the checkout lane at the grocery store thanks in part to these inspections.”

There are more than 70,000 licensed commercial weighing and measuring devices in Iowa. This includes 43,000 gas pump meters and 20,000 scales, which include 5,500 truck, livestock, platform and railroad scales, as well as 14,500 small counter scales such as those at grocery stores, farmers markets and precious metal (gold) buyers. LP and fuel farm delivery bulk trucks are also licensed.

Weights and measures inspectors also test for fuel quality during gas pump inspections. In 2018, 5408 samples were field tested, and approximately 35 percent (1874) of those samples were also tested at the Department’s lab in Ankeny.

Inspectors conduct random inspections of packages for net contents, price verification (scanner checks), compressed natural gas dispensers, LP meters and LP cylinders for accuracy and labeling. They have also looked at motor oil label compliance to make sure they are following NIST HB 130 labeling requirements, as well as following the American Petroleum Institute requirements. 

The effects of small inaccuracies in transactions can be profound.  If every gas pump in Iowa was out of compliance by just one percent, the effect could be a $40 million loss for consumers. Also, if the large truck scales that are used for selling grain were off by one percent, the cost to Iowans could be $140 million.

Weights and Measures Week is celebrated March 1-7 each year to commemorate John Adams signing the first United States Weights and Measures law on March 2, 1799. Learn more about the Department’s Weights and Measures Bureau at: https://iowaagriculture.gov/weights-and-measures-bureau.