Checking scales with certified test weights is an important part of the overall service and calibration plan for both industrial and retail scales. The test weights used to check the scales are very accurate and are tested by the state laboratory at certain intervals to make certain the test weights are accurate and to make sure the scales that those weights are used on are tested and calibrated correctly. This scale check not only helps the company but also the consumer to make sure they are buying or selling the correct amounts of product. However, there are always going to be those who take shortcuts.

The most “stunning” revelation, according to the weights and measures department, came when a state investigator saw one of the worker’s go to the back of a Wal-Mart, grab some free weights from the sports department, and plunk them on a scale to test its accuracy.

That’s a mortal sin in the world of weights and measures, where a pound is not a pound unless it has been blessed by a metrology lab, which is kind of like the atomic clock of the weights and measures world.

“When you pick up weights from the Wal-Mart sports department, I can guarantee they don’t meet the standards,” said Judy Cardin, chief of the state’s weights and measures program.