Peabody official keeps a measured eye on retail sales tools used by city’s merchants

PEABODY – The city will be participating in Weights and Measures Week, a national event that promotes trust and honesty in the marketplace, beginning March 1.John Quincy Adams signed the first weights and measures law into place just over 210 years ago on March 2, 1799. He spent years prior looking into the accuracy of traded goods and found that many times, consumers were not getting what they bargained for.Cities and towns have Weights and Measures inspectors to ensure customer safety. Their job entails testing the accuracy of all retailers using measuring tools or scanners, such as pharmaceutical scales, gas station pumps, grocery store bar code scanners or even yard sticks.With over 5 million square feet of retail space in Peabody, testing each and every site can be rather daunting, said Peabody’s Sealer of Weights and Measures Jeanne Burbridge, one of Massachusetts’s five female inspectors.”Weights and Measures Week is an opportunity to express appreciation for the value that our society receives a very small investment in Weights and Measures inspection programs,” she said. According to a release from the city’s department, the cost of a regulatory presence is less than $1 per person per year. However, if a gas pump or a butcher scale, for example, is off by just the slightest of amounts, the collective cost to consumers would be much greater.”We need to recognize the role that Weights and Measures officials across the nation play in all commercial transactions,” said Burbridge. “These men and women are an invisible third party in every transaction.”Burbridge and her staff visit each site, outfitted with their state certified measuring kits, and measure for themselves. With gas, for example, she pumps five gallons from each pump and makes sure she gets every drop. At supermarkets, they scan over 200 items to ensure the right price shows up at the register. Inaccuracies could result in substantial fines if the merchant doesn’t correct the problem. However, Burbridge said 9 out of 10 times, the error is in favor of the consumer.Last year, Peabody voted to increase the fees of such services to reflect the cost associated with completing inspections. Drug store scales, which had a current fee of $15 jumped to $30, just slightly above the state average of $27.74; fuel tank pumps went up from $15 to $35; and oil trucks increased from $30 to $65. Several other devices saw increases as well, totaling revenue of approximately $44,365.