The Grocery Price Tag America Standardized — Then Left Optional
In 1971, a national weights-and-measures conference standardized how grocery unit prices could appear, then left retailers free not to use them.
In 1971, the National Conference on Weights and Measures adopted a Model State Unit Pricing Regulation. It told stores which comparison unit to use for meat, cereal, coffee, detergent, toothpaste, and other everyday goods, then set a 90-day start and 120-day full-compliance schedule. 1
The decisive clause was already inside the model: it standardized the presentation only when a retailer chose to offer unit prices. The later Uniform Unit Pricing Regulation, adopted in 1979, also remained a model that states could adopt rather than a nationwide requirement. 2
That choice still shapes the grocery aisle. NIST currently lists 10 jurisdictions with mandatory unit-pricing provisions and 33 states with none. 3
References
- 1
- 2NIST Unit Pricing Guidegovinfo.gov
- 3
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