Why is America the only country in the World that does NOT use the Metric system?

Question

I am Canadian

Answer 1

The US had (has) such a tremendous amount of manufacturing that involves all sorts of machinery. In orther to use metrics all those machines would have to have the calibrationg and driving parts replaced. Every mill, every lathe, router, anything thing you can think of that uses calibrated controls would have to change.

OK - say you, go out and buy new lead screws. OK, what about the dials, saddles and yokes. How about all the milling bits, cutters and all the toher parts that go with such equipment - That too would have to be reground or replaced.

You can say that is easy as well, just trot on sown to your local machine supply store and by it. It is in stock. You are right.

Here is the BUT ( ther eis always a But). Who is going to pay for all of this equipment and the down time necessary to convert and recalibrate all the machinery. The independant shop owner has spent years and many thousands of $$ to equip his shop. How can he take the sudden financial shock of replacements of all this eauipment, inclusing some entire machines like chuckers, He can't. There is not enough money in his purse and he does not want to go into debt again to refit his shop which is quite capable of producing any parts you want, thank you.

Remember that when this fad of metric came rampaging around, the USA was the biggest producer of machinery and machine made products in the world. Other countries that had far less inventory in corporate or private industry could conver easily with govt support. It was affordable and France was already there. England was not. Germany was. It was scattered. Basically, like all other things - The US has stayed for the most part, on Imperial measure because it was too costly to convert.

Now - however, new machines and tooling are being made and used in metric system. Foreign cars made in the US are metric. Tooling for metrics are readily available in stores and supply houses. Follow the money trial for the ultimate answer. Too damned expensive.

Answer 2

Technically we do use the metric system just not as extensivly. For example how many running events in track use feet and yards? None, they use meters. Look at a bottle of water it's .5 Liters. The problem America has is that we don't want to go through all the work of switching to Metric. Sure it'll be hard when we go to Mexico and Canada but we spend most of our time in the US where we like our cups and feet. Besides Great Britain, Liberia and Burma are dragging their feet too as far as converting to Metric.

Answer 3

That is one of the most annoying things i have about America. I mean if your going to go against the metric system then at least your method should be easier and more logical right,,,,?

I like counting in tens. Its easier to remember, its easier to convert and most countries around the world use it for the sake universal uniformity and even with my poor mathmatical abilities it was easier to learn this concept in school. The American system just doesnt make sense its difficult to calculate mentaliy and its a heck of a headache trying to convert inches to centimeters.

I guess Americans want to be different from everyone else for some strange reason,,but that difference should be easy and logically effective in some way but it isnt.

Answer 4

It isn't.

American scientists DO use the metric system. The American public doesn't often, but are doing so more frequently.

British still measure their weight in stones, as do many commonwealth countries.

Perhaps the greatest visible difference is in the measurment of temperature. Perhaps as time passes, we'll get more comfortable with the idea of using Celsius, but at the moment, most consumer devices are calibrated in Fahrenheit.

Americans do purchase liquor in the Metric system. Bottles are typically 750 mL. Soda is now commonly sold in liter bottles.

It is changing, albeit slowly.

Answer 5

Because just like everything else we want it our own way! American's are non-conformists.

It's funny -- we were just talking about this at dinner a couple of nights ago at my French teacher's house. Children started learning about the metric system in the 60's & 70's, with the idea that by the time they grew up we would have converted. I don't know why that conversion never happened fully. There are a lot of things that did convert -- for instance doctors order medicine in cc's, soft drinks come in 1-litre, 2-litre, and 3-litre bottles, etc.

Answer 6

Tradition.

It's not easy to get 300 million people who are used to our system to go metric.

There are more countries that the US who do not use the metric system.

Take Great Britian, for example. While they use metric for many things, they also still use the MPH instead of KPH.

It's not easy to change over 300+ million people used to a single system when it's not that critical. All our cars have had mph and kph for decades now. And those who travel can easily adjust to metric, it's not that tough.

Answer 7

As an American scientist I've always found that really annoying though. I hate having to remember all those weird conversion numbers like 5280 feet in a mile. The Metric System rocks!

Answer 8

cuz they like to be different... and i suppose the cost of overhauling everything would be billions maybe even trillions.. think about it... all the signs, books, instructions, laws, educational programs... parts of the economy... how much would need to be changed. i suppose it is why fix something that is working... my argument would be to make something better i would do it but their economy can definately not afford it right now

i am canadian too and i think in this era it is weird to use anything but metric cuz of the simplicity and logic within it.. many scientists and scholars in usa us metric for their research..

Answer 9

omg im french and i was wondering the same thing since im forced to live in america i had to learn all that but i guess that it would be too much work to start using the metric system in america since so many ppl are used to the other one allready

Answer 10

Canadian? What is a Canadian?