Guest Article
For the Sake of Equity Ivan Hankins Iowa Department of Agriculture
That Equity Shall Prevail. It has been well documented that Weights and Measures “protects” the consumer. There are some who would say that this is the sole “duty” of Weights and Measures… well not really. The duty of Weights and Measures is to pay attention to both sides of the fence. We are the referee, or as described in articles from long ago, (and, not to take away from the ladies out there) “The Third Man”; the person who not only protects the buyer, but the seller as well. It all started in a small Iowa town not too long ago with a struggling propane business when the National Conference on Weights and Measures conducted a survey for tare weights on 20 lb grill bottles. Inspectors with the Iowa Department of Agriculture Weights and Measures Bureau carried out inspections on many of the 15 lb bottles at this location. It became evident most of the bottles being filled were as much as four lb over the target weight. Obviously, they were giving the product away which was a direct result of poor packing practices due to scales that were no longer accurate, correct, or up to code for commercial weighing. WIN Propane of Wever, Iowa realized they were fighting an uphill battle and decided to jump into the 21st century. With the help of Kosan-Crisplant, (a Denmark founded corporation, now owned by Makeen Energy) they completed a much-needed upgrade to their plant. The old, worn-out mechanical scales were replaced with new semi- automatic, intrinsically safe digital scales, a whole new way of filling grill bottles, they practically filled themselves! Within the first couple of months using the improved operation, the plant received a call from the home office that something was wrong with their inventory. It was showing a surplus! According to Daniel Bergquist, plant manager, “this was something we had never experienced.” He added, “shortly after the installation of the new scales, our profit margin improved 40%, which resulted in a record year! Bergquist stated “with the old scale system, we were overcompensating to meet the industry standard of 15 lb!”
After years of trying to stay competitive and provide products for the community, they were finally in the black! As things go, their growth caught the attention of Lettermen’s Energy Holdings LLC. They were impressed that the grill bottle output jumped from 70,000 units in 2022, to 75,000 units in 2023. Win continues to pick up new bottle exchange locations, with a target set for 80,000 for 2024. Next came new forklift scales. The bottle output for forklifts went from 26,000 in 2022, to 29,000 in 2023, with a goal of 35,000 in 2024. The result, Lettermen’s bought the company. Again, what does all this have to do with Equity!? If not for regular inspections, or the NCWM conducting their “Tare Weight” survey, this company could still be operating at a disadvantage. This is Equity across the board, the customer is confident that they are getting what they pay for because the industry is assuring accurate and correct measurements for their product. Fair and equal trade, the way it is supposed to work. All of this was due to “the third person.” The regulator, the inspector who is concerned about fairness. So inspectors, don’t think that your efforts go unnoticed. It’s worth it to do the right thing because that is what we do…For the Sake of Equity… that Equity Shall Prevail.
14 NCWM-News
2024 Issue 2
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