Is the U.S. the only country?

Question

That doesn't use the metric system? I remember back in the 70's there was a move to get the U.S. in line with the rest of the world regarding measurements.
Why have we not converted?

Answer 1

The UK hasn't fully implemented the metric system yet. We are stuck with miles, yards, inches and feet. It is absolutely stupid that we are still using imperial - metric is so much better.

Anyone whom uses imperial lives in the past...

Answer 2

It seems from the answers so far that the United States of America is the only country that is strickly on the OLD English system.
England is partially on the old imperial system but being next to the civilized world they can't help but use the metric system in some of the things they do.

I vividally remember the 70's and the so-called attempt to change to the metric system.
I remember speed limits being posted in both MPH & KPH so there was no confusion as to how fast you were to go. Also cars sold then had both the mph & kph on the speedometer.

I do not know why we did not change over after what seemed like a lot of effort but I do know that in the 80's the whole thing was dropped and forgotten about.

A lot of things that where started in the mid and late 70's where dropped in the 80's from better mass transit to renewable energy sources and the change to metric was just one of many things that the Regan and following republican administration stopped.

Again I do not know the reasoning behind the changed attitude but if the USA had changed back then things would be a lot easier now.

It is very easy to tell how many centimeters in a kilometer but how many inches are ther in a mile.
Same holds true for all dimmensions , how many square feet are ther in an acre, how many cups in a quart, if a 125 pound object has a 'foot print' of 15 square inches what is the force it exerts on the surface it rests on (in foot pound or newtons)

All around the metric system is easier,. Easier to learn & far far easier to use.
Go Metric ! ! !

Answer 3

As an American I feel that the reason we haven't converted is we are stubbornly entrenched in the system we have been using for a very long time.

That said there are some other consideration's economically the United States is a very large land mass and the cost of converting the road signs alone is rather large.

But you can see in many places where the distances are in both imperial and metric units. Also science education in the US is in metric, so some progress towards metric is happening.

Answer 4

I have been waiting for that change for 43 years...ever since I arrived here on 11-22-63. In talking with people I learned that ordinary Americans don't want to accept / realize / see the fact that the metric system is so much easier to understand and use. My husband is an engineer and uses the metric system in his profession daily. I give up - when sewing, I always use my metric tape measure because it gives me more accurate measurements.

I don't know if there are other countries who do not accept the metric system. It would be interesting to find out who and where they are.

***IN GOING OVER MY ANSWER/EXPLANATION I GAVE A FEW HOURS EARLIER, I IMMEDIATELY FOUND A THUMBS DOWN. THIS APPARENTLY WAS GIVEN BY SOMEONE WHO DOES NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE METRIC SYSTEM AND IS AGAINST CHANGE. EDUCATE YOURSELF, WILL YOU?

I AM FROM GERMANY AND AM THEREFORE ACQUAINTED WITH BOTH, THE UNIVERSAL AS WELL AS THE METRIC SYSTEM, AND WHAT I REPORTED WAS TRUE. IF YOU REMEMBER THAT THERE ARE 100 PENNIES IN A DOLLAR, YOU CAN ALSO LEARN THAT THERE 100 CENTIMETERS IN A METER...A METER IS CLOSEST TO THE MEASUREMENT OF A YARD. IT IS THAT EASY.

WHILE TAKING PART IN THE GERMAN FORUM FROM YAHOO, I ENCOUNTER THE SAME KIND OF TUNNEL-VISIONED INDIVIDUALS...YOU WOULD BE SURPRISED ON WHAT ISSUES I HAVE DEFENDED THE USA...

Very disappointed.

Answer 5

The U.S. is not the only country who is not fully metric, but it is the only developed industrial nation with no specific metric policy.

We have not converted for the simple reason that change is slow to come in the USA. Generally the only way to quickly implement a change is to have a real solid reason which is normally economic. Businesses are resistant to the change, saying that it will cost them significant amounts financially. Everything from engineering drawings to tooling to publications will need to change.

The curious thing is that the metric system is so easy to use, that it actually could save time, confusion and expensive conversion errors. It is taught in the schools and has been since I was a child. However, I find older generations, particularly Baby Boomers, highly resistant to this change. Those who resist the change are simply too comfortable to take a minimum amount of time to learn something new and EASY. I don't mean to be offensive to this generation since there are those who see the value, but I see more who do not.

I also see the younger generations pushing for change as they enter the workforce. Hopefully this force helps to get things moving. I see the value in metric and prefer to use it. Engineering calculations are greatly simplified. However, most US clients prefer the older system. Admittedly, whenever you deal with foreign sourcing of parts, you need to speak in terms of metric measures. Perhaps that will provide the economic reason to motivate the change too. If the US really wants to compete in the international market, we need to be more aggressive with the change.

Also, one thing to consider is the US auto manufacturing sector has been slowly moving to metric. I have two sets of wrenches to prove that. Since this is a big part of the US industrial machine, it will have a ripple affect, albeit very slowly.

Finally, our government is too busy making our country look like a heavy handed bully to care about a metric policy. I don't even think the president could spell metric. He probably thinks it actually reads "met Rick", like he's meeting a guy named Rick. LOL

Answer 6

It relates more to the costs/benefits of conversion than to national arrogance. The costs associated with staying with the inch/pound are mostly relating to intercompatibility with international products. While there is a small cost associated with the inefficiency of the non-decimal system, this is minute in the big scheme of things.
With the size of the US economy and US's large industrial base, especially in the 70's, most machine shops, engineering companies, system integrators were doing 95% of their work with other US firms, so there was not a large incentive to change to metric. The costs, on the other hand, are huge, in order to jettison the entire existing manufacturing base of machine tools, metrology equipment, and replace with metric, plus to then maintain the ability to continue to repair and support existing inch-based products.
The engineers in the US would likely vote for the change to metric, in order to marginally simplify their work, but the CFO's would likely vote against it based on cost/benefit.

Answer 7

The USA was scheduled to convert to metric by the year 2000. However, a publishing executive in Donelson, Tennessee (a suburb of Nashville) managed to distract the entire nation when he published his book, "The Millennium Bug" in 1998, wherein he predicted doom and destruction when the worlds embedded microprocessors failed to rollover to the new century in January 1st,2000.
The fly leaf of the cover for his book lists his (Impressive???) programming credentials: "he is fluent in Pascal and three dialects of BASIC" .
(BTW, I bought a copy of the book for 50 cents n a thrift store in 2005. It makse for amusing reading now.)
Any way, during the idiocy that followed, hyped heavily by the American media as the end of the world, Americans simply forgot about the conversion deadline. And no one has pressed the issuse since then.

Answer 8

The US Government does use the metric system (as one who deals in government contracts, I can attest to this) extensively, but not always (e.g. speed limits). However, the American public has resisted these changes, mostly because people tend to stick with things that they understand (laziness & comfort).

I am not sure if any other country has not converted to metric, but it would not surprise me if we were the only one who hasn't converted to the metric system.

Answer 9

World views on such issues are not adopted by the U.S. but as you examine various Hollywood movies and television about the future, they always talk using the metric system.As an older Canadian, it took me some time to grasp it, but now I am use to it and find it much better than the old imperial system.

Answer 10

There's one other country in Africa that doesn't use it... The US is stupid when it comes to that. We need to jump on the Metric bandwagon and convert... It would be so much easier for international commerce.