Agency worth its weight

When I was a child, my watchful mother demanded a butcher cut off the thumb he was pressing on the scale to add weight and place it in our meat order. He didn’t sell us his thumb but instead reweighed our order with his hands away from the scale. Our order was lighter!

Over the years, I have caught many thumbs on scales. Once, I was shown how an air bleed worked on a gas pump, which allowed a little air into a gas purchase. Taxes are still collected on the phantom ounces of your deli purchase, as well as the phantom quarts of gas that were not dispensed to your gas tank on your fuel fill-up. Only Weights and Measures protects us from these outright thefts.

The untold reason for the city of Spokane’s removal of the Weights and Measures Department is to increase tax revenue through undelivered goods.

Earl Gibbs

Spokane Valley