• Liz@midwest.social
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    6 months ago

    I mean, you’re just going to have to take my word on it about Australia saving 10% until I can dig up that proper article, but here’s another article that references American businesses saving money when they switched to metric.

    Also, dude, you learned imperial in elementary school. You learned it so early it doesn’t feel like you did any learning, but you absolutely spent time on it. I still remember learning all about feet and inches and how to estimate sizes using your body parts (which is a little absurd, considering we were children).

    • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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      6 months ago

      Again that article doesn’t actually cite anything and is very opinionated and vague. Basically saying “trust me bro”. Even if those big businesses are saving I very much doubt those savings are going to pass on to the little guy. They breeze right past this part.

      What kinds of costs were considered? They included out-of-pocket payments for physical changes in things: for example, modifying scales or buying new ones, altering gasoline pumps, adjusting or replacing machinery, repainting highway signs, rewriting plans and specifications. They also involved intangibles, such as having to learn new words and how to use them, having to work more slowly for a while in order to avoid mistakes, and having to do arithmetic in order to understand an item in the newspaper.

      Every tradesman would have to buy all new tools for the metric standard. They’d have to account for mistakes when doing conversions between the new metric stuff when working with an existing construction or carry two sets of tools with them. A corporation might be able to absorb those costs easily enough but for an individual that’s going to take a much larger bite out of them.

      • Liz@midwest.social
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        6 months ago

        I dunno what to tell you man, there’s a pile of good reasons everyone else has switched to metric, and you’re too hung up on climbing over the fence to get to the actual greener grass.

        • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
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          6 months ago

          Yea, because it would cost me $1000s of dollars for very little benefit for me or others in the same boat. It might save government and big corporations money but for the little guy it’s just a bunch of extra work. I’d be interested to know what massive inconvenience not switching is causing the average person.