Everyone Loves a Great Deal

Just about everybody considers “price” to be a very important part of their buying decision. We’ve actually discussed this concept of price versus quality on this blog many times over the years. The challenge is that sometimes the line is blurred between quality and low quality. Many of us frequent discount stores looking for deals whether it’s a great deal on a shirt, tools, exercise equipment etc… Bottom line, almost all of us look for ways to save money while still getting a great product!

Cheap Scales Sometimes Cost You More Money…

The digital scale that you find on Amazon or ebay for $75 can display weight. It might even be fairly accurate but the quality and durability of this item is often not in the same league as top scale brands like Avery Weigh-Tronix, Ohaus, or Rice Lake. And, often we hear stories of how certain scales are thrown out and replaced fairly often.  In this blog post, we will discuss a few of the areas of concern that can occur when shopping for scales on price alone.

Greater Long Term Costs

With many of these scales, the enticing part is the low up front cost.  Many of these “overseas manufacturers” cut corners in design and construction. This often leads to low quality, higher failure rates, and often scales that are just either inconsistent or non-reliable. 

Here’s the big point…. once these scales fail, these cheap components are often impossible or impractical to repair. So, you now have to buy another new scale. If you choose the same type of product, you will likely have the same result or perhaps you could run into stock issues with some of the overseas products. 

On the other hand, high-quality scale manufacturers design weighing equipment for relatively simple maintenance. Since scale service companies stock parts for most major scale brands, downtime typically lasts only a few hours. Generally speaking, when you purchase reputable brands of scale equipment, you often enjoy significantly lower lifetime costs (and less downtime) despite the initial higher price.

Accuracy?

The whole point behind purchasing a scale is to measure weight accurately, right?  The challenge is finding the right scale that will consistently display accurate weight at a price that you can afford. The truth is that cheap weighing equipment often can’t deliver consistently accurate results. Many of the cheap scales that you find online are not capable of passing a NTEP evaluation and earning a certificate of conformance (aka… legal for trade) often due to poor repeatability. 

What’s the point of weighing items if the numbers are inconsistent or incorrect entirely?  These errors can lead to things like bad batches and/or lost dollars. Now, factor in the benefit of having a reliable and accurate scale that produces accurate batches and consistent weights in buying & selling environments. 

Anytime that we do a blog post about this subject I always think about the Pennsylvania 7600 counting scale. Sure, you can buy a cheap counting scale online or in the shipping supplies catalog that’s priced anywhere from $100 and up.  The problem is that usually the lower cost counting scales are about 99% plastic and 1% aluminum.  And they typically don’t last too many years.  Or, you could just buy a Pennsylvania counting scale and feel fairly confident that it’s going to be around for at least a couple of decades.

Let Us Help You!

Did you know that you can work with experienced scale and weighing equipment sales staff from Central Carolina Scale for free? 

When we say “experienced”, we’re talking about sales people that have been in the scale industry for over two decades.  Now, we don’t know everything about scales, but we usually know a lot and if we don’t know… we often have contacts who would know the answer.  

Best of all, we don’t charge you anything to discuss your weighing needs. If you are looking to add a scale or replace a scale, contact us first to make sure you get the right scales for your particular project.