The Day The U.S. Goes Metric

In the U.S., many products, public thermometers, etc. currently list measurements in both the old foot-pound units and in the new metric units. It was hoped that this dual-unit system would help people become comfortable with metric units; but in practice, everybody looks at the familiar foot-pound units and ignores the metric units. American schoolchildren have been taught the metric system since the 1970's, but since metric units are not widely used in public in the U.S., there is no drive to actually think in metric. The American public will probably not come to think in metric until the current dual system is simply dropped and all measures are expressed in metric.

By comparison, there was a period of several years where British television stations announced the temperature in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Nobody paid attention to the Celsius temperature. When the Fahrenheit measures ceased to be announced, there was a brief puzzlement, but everybody started paying attention to the Celsius temperatures and soon became comfortable with them. Rather than mentally converting to Fahrenheit, everyone came to know what 22 degrees Celsius feels like (22 degrees Celsius is room temperature).

In the U.S., the Metric Conversion Act of 1975 requested the voluntary cooperation of industry in the conversion of American trade to the metric system. At least in the short term, it is fair to describe this Act as a failure. One of the reasons for this poor outcome was that the Act established no timetable for conversion to the metric system. For example, a few gas stations began selling gas in liters; but since many gas stations continued selling gas in gallons, consumers went to the stations using the units they were familiar with, and the conversion effort in gas stations collapsed. If a uniform date had been established for all gas stations to convert to liters, the conversion effort for gas stations in the 1970's might have been a success.

By comparison, manufacturers of wines and distilled alcoholic beverages asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms to set a deadline for industry-wide conversion to the metric system. The Bureau did so, and by 1979, all alcoholic beverages in the U.S. were being manufactures and sold in metric units. The moral seems to be this: metrication is a success when the government sets a deadline.

Even without much-needed government guidance, the metric system has come to be more widely embraced by American industry over the last 20 years than most of the public is aware. For example, all automobile manufacturing in the U.S. has been conducted in the metric system for over a decade; and by 1996, all but two or four states had completely converted their departments of transportation to the metric system, except for the figures on road signs. But the metric system has found few inroads into public life; in general, Americans have not yet come to think metric. Manufacturers and retailers are reluctant to sell products in metric units for fear of alienating their customers; but the customers will never become comfortable with the metric system until the have the opportunity to use it in daily life.

The answer which some countries have taken is to designate a specific "M-Day" on which all retailers and institutions are to simultaneously switch to metric units. In Australia, this conversion was very successful; after a few weeks of mentally converting metric figures to the old figures, everybody got a feel for the new system and threw away their conversion charts. It soon became natural to buy, say, a half kilo of beef.

"M-Day" in Britain occurred on 1 October 1995. There was resistance to M-Day from some quarters, rooted in long-standing national rivalry with France, where the metric system originated. From some of the more crackpot quarters, there were even societies established to "preserve" the foot-pound system. But M-Day successfully went forward, and with a few exceptions, all commerce in Britain is now conducted in the metric system.

The experience of countries which have converted to the metric system is that conversion is far less painful or expensive than anyone expected (this has been the experience of American industries as well; for example, when General Motors converted to the metric system, the conversion cost was 1% of the original estimate). A gradual conversion drags out the process and makes it more uncomfortable, since there is a period where one doesn't know which system to use. I believe that a clean, immediate conversion on a designated "M-Day" is the most effective strategy for metrication of the public sector in the U.S. "M-Day" is sure to meet resistance from some quarters, but for the most part, the public will probably become comfortable with the new units as soon as hands-on experience becomes necessary.

Following is my own personal proposal for an "M-Day" timetable for the U.S. I've chosen to divide the American "M-Day" into several different events: one M-Day for conversion of temperatures; one M-Day for conversion of weights, etc. However, all of these events fall of the 10th of October; the tenth day of the tenth month is chosen in honor of the number 10 on which the metric system is based. I've optimistically set the dates for the first few years of the coming decade.

Like the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, the following proposal calls for voluntary rather than compulsory conversion by non-government-funded entities. Unlike the 1975 Act, it calls for specific dates for conversion. It is my hope that something resembling the following proposal will come to be officially adopted by Congress, and that an intensive period of publicity and education lead up to each of the M-Day events.

Celsius Day: 10 October 2002

What happens on Celsius Day?

• All banks and other institutions publically displaying thermometers are asked to voluntarily switch their thermometers to display only Celsius.
• Television stations, radio stations, and newspapers are asked to voluntarily switch to expressing weather temperature solely in Celsius.
• The National Weather Service and Federal Aviation Administration* are required by law to discontinue the use of Fahrenheit and to express temperatures in Celsius.
  *Update (6 April 1998): I later learned that the FAA plans to complete metrication by 2010.
• Hill-Burton hospitals, public schools, and other institutions receiving federal funding are required by law to record and report human body temperature solely in Celsius. Private clinics are requested to voluntarily do likewise.
• Private retailers are asked to prominently market Celsius body thermometers and indoor and outdoor air thermometers in the weeks leading up to Celsius Day. Stores are requested to discontinue sale of Fahrenheit thermometers after Celsius Day.
• Manufacturers of thermostats, ovens, etc. are asked to voluntarily phase out the manufacture and sale of Fahrenheit products on or around Celsius Day.
• On Celsius Day, schoolchildren are given literature to take to their parents explaining body temperature in Celsius (37 degrees = normal body temperature; 38 degrees = low grade fever; 39 degrees = high fever; 40 degrees = serious health emergency requiring immediate medical attention).

Kilogram Day: 10 October 2003

What happens on Kilogram Day?

• Grocery stores voluntarily switch over all of their scales to measure in kilograms instead of pounds. All prices for produce, meat, bulk items, unpackaged coffee, and other loose items are labelled in kilograms.
• Retail stores are asked to voluntarily market kilogram bathroom scales in a conspicuous manner in the weeks preceding Kilogram Day.
• All federally funded institutions, including public schools, Hill-Burton funded hospitals, etc., are required by law to acquire metric scales and to record the weight of students/patients/etc. in kilograms in all of their records.

Metric Road Day: 10 October 2005

What happens on Metric Road Day?

• Gas stations are requested to begin selling gasoline solely in liters starting on Metric Road Day.
• Starting on Metric Road Day, all signs on federally funded highways are required by law to express distance solely in kilometers, and speed solely in kilometers per hour. States and local governments are requested to change their signage on Metric Road Day as well. (It would be a good idea for transportation authorities to have all replacement signs ready so that an efficient changeover can be made on this single day. Distances and speed limits should be expressed in even metric figures; e.g., the speed limit on many interstate highways might be set to 110 km/h.)
• Federal figures for travel reimbursement, etc. go into effect on Metric Road Day expressed solely in kilometers. Corporations are requested to adopt metric figures for their own travel reimbursement tables.
• Manufacturers of maps are asked to voluntarily reprint all maps to express distances in kilometers, and to discontinue the sale of non-metric maps after Metric Road Day.
• Auto manufacturers are requested to volutarily cease the manufacture of odometers and speedometers using the old system, and to use kilometers and kilometers per hour instead. (Such parts are already manufactured for American cars sold outside the U.S., so the cost of this change will be minimal-- and, of course, there will be the savings from no longer having to manufacture two sets of parts.)
• Law enforcement officials are asked not to accept ignorance of the metric system as an excuse for violating the speed limit.

References

• Whatever happened to the metric system? Coal, July 1993 (Figures about GM's conversion cost being 1% of the original estimate)
• Marketing. Industry Week, November 30, 1981 (Information about deadline for conversion of alcoholic beverages)
• The Metric System; It's inching its way into our lives. St Louis Post-Dispatch, March 7, 1994. (Information about Australia's conversion, which was much easier than anyone expected.)
• Metrication inches ounces out for grams. Super Marketing, October 6, 1995. (Information about Britain's M-Day.)
• I haven't been able to verify the information about conversion of air temperature in Britain; I saw this in an article somewhere, but I haven't been able to find the citation a second time.

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