Ag Marke ng
NEWS UPDATE ‐ JULY 2012
Ginger S. Myers
Marke ng Specialist
University of Maryland
Extension
Director, Maryland
Rural Enterprise
Development Center
gsmyers@umd.edu
301‐432‐2767 x338
To Weigh or Not to Weigh
I recently took a call from a vegetable produc‐
er who operates a roadside stand. He was
selling very large tomatoes and was having
trouble pricing them. His standard sales meth‐
od was to fill a quart container with tomatoes
and price them by the container. But he found
these large tomatoes didn’t work well in his
model. I suggested selling them by the piece
or be er yet, by the pound. He was reluctant
to use a scale because it took me to weigh
the veggies and then calculate the price. Also,
he didn’t want to have to make exact change.
Retail sale of fruits, vegetables, and other
items is regulated by the Maryland COMAR.
Vendors may erroneously believe that they are
exempt from these regula ons because they
sell rela vely li le compared to a supermarket
or because they only sell for a few months of
the year. Most businesses are to some degree
affected by weights and measures laws. This
will vary on the type of business. In general, if
you will be using any type of weighing and
measuring device (scale, gas pump, and meter)
you will be directly affected. If you will be
packaging commodi es you will need to
know packaging, labeling, and net quan ty
requirements. The regula on was established
to ensure that buyers receive sufficient and
accurate informa on with which to compare
quan ty and price. Even if you sell by count,
“three ears of corn for $1,” for example,
compliance with the Weights and Measures
is necessary. As a vendor, complying with the
regula ons protects you from percep ons of
shortchanging customers or misrepresen ng
your product.
Selling by Weight Where Prac cal
You may have seen fruits and vegetables
made available using several different types
of containers or measures. These container
sizes may not convert directly to common
household units used in freezing or canning
produce. However, legal weights and
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University of Maryland Extension programs are open to all ciƟzens without regard to race, color, gender, disability, religion, age, sexual orientaƟon, marital or parental status, or naƟonal origin.
To Weigh or Not to Weigh con nued from page 1 ...
measures are required at all mes when selling to
consumers at farmers’ markets, roadside stands,
or other commercial outlets. Produce may be sold
by weight, count, or measure. For example:
Direct sale by weight: Apples: 50¢ per pound
By weight in prepackaged form: 2‐pound package
for $2 per package
By count: Apples: 6 for $1; Watermelon: $3 each
By measure: Strawberries: $2 per dry quart
and 4.61 pounds respec vely for a total of 22.50
pounds. Priced at $3.75 per pound, the net sale
would be $84.38.
Purchasing and Maintaining Legal Trade
Produce Scales:
Maryland Weights and Measures guidelines for
small scales and their opera on:
 Scales must be made for legal trade and for
While selling at a farmers’ market, it’s o en more
expedient to price items so that when people pay,
making change is quick and easy to deal with the
rapid flow of customers. But if you’re not using a
scale in your roadside stand or farm market, you
may be leaving money on the table. For example:
You sell a quart container of tomatoes for $4.00.
But if you sell those same tomatoes for $1.49/
pound and the container weighs 3.00lb, that’s
$4.47, or rounded to $4.50, for the same volume
of product. Scales are par cularly important
when selling meat and poultry products by the cut
or package. If you market your free‐range broilers
by the package for $15 each, five chickens will add
$75 to your cash box. But, most meat cuts and
chickens vary in weight per package. Those same
five chickens might weigh 4.33, 4.10, 4.48, 4.98,
commercial use.
 A legal for trade scale will be marked with:
 A serial number
 A model number
 Class III designa on on the ID plate
 NTEP cer ficate of conformance
 It is the responsibility of the owner to have the
scale inspected and maintain the accuracy.
 Inspectors can shut down a vendor for using
unapproved scales.
 An alterna ve to using scales is to sell by
volume. Using a traceable measure—peck,
quart, labeled boxes or berry baskets. Another
method of sale is by the count. A few items
such as parsley may be sold by the bunch.
How to Register Your Weighing Device
Maryland Department of Agriculture Commercial
Weighing Measuring Device Registra on
The Department of Agriculture registers
commercial weighing and measuring devices
used throughout Maryland to ensure that
consumers receive the correct amounts of
products they purchase. All scales and meters
used during sales transac ons where products
are bought or sold must be registered each year.
Types of businesses that may need to have
devices registered include gasoline sta ons,
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grocery stores, meat markets, candy stores, package shipping stores, quarries, hardware stores, petrole‐
um distributors and other businesses that buy or sell commodi es by weight, measure, or count.
APPLICATION PROCESS
An applicant submits the applica on form provided by the Department of Agriculture and pays the
appropriate fee. Upon receipt of the applica on and fee, a cer ficate of registra on is mailed to the
applicant. Applica ons are available on line at h p://www.mda.state.md.us/pdf/device_reg.pdf
PROCESSING TIME
AVERAGE: 10 days
FEE
Ranges from $15 to $300 depending on the type and number of devices. For example, the fee to register
scales for weighing items up to 100 pounds is $20 per scale, up to a maximum of $325 per loca on.
Registra ons are renewed annually by May 31.
DEPARTMENT CONTACT NAME
Kenneth Ramsburg
Weights and Measures Sec on
50 Harry S. Truman Parkway
Annapolis, MD 21401
(410) 841‐5790