UNDERSTANDING
THE CoC# LABEL ON YOUR
DIGITAL LEGAL FOR TRADE PRICE COMPUTING SCALE
Quite
often customers will contact us and ask questions about legal for
trade scales. So we thought that it would be a really good idea to
look at the side of a scale and show you what these numbers mean.
This should help you to make intelligent buying decisions in the future.
We also have other resources available like the top
5 things to consider when buying scales.
First, in order
for the scale to be legal for trade it needs to be NTEP approved.
When a scale is NTEP approved it will have a certificate of conformance
that is issued from NTEP. It is important to note that you won't receive
that certificate when you purchase the scale. But, you will see the
certificate number somewhere on the scale that you purchase. In this
example above, the certificate number is
06-046. So you can easily go the the NTEP database and confirm
if this scale is truly NTEP approved legal for trade.
You'll also notice
a logo that shows "III". In the label above it is in the
top left corner. This is refering to the approval which is for class
3. Weighing devices are separated into five accuracy classes according
to number of scale divisions (n) and the value of the scale division
(d). They are designated I, II, III, IIIL and IIII. Of greatest concern
to us are class III and IIIL which are described as follows in Table
7 (a) of Handbook 44: III: All commercial weighing not otherwise specified,
grain test scales, retail precious metals and semi-precious gem weighing,
animal scales, postal scales and scales used to determine laundry
charges.
In the same location
the capacity and readability should be mentioned. The capacity is
the maximum weight that the scale will handle before it overloads.
The readability is the graduations the scale increments up or down
in starting at 0.00 and going all the way to the capacity. In this
example above, the max capacity is 40 pounds and the readability is
0.01 pounds. That means the scale should start at 0.00 and then go
up in 0.01 pound increments until it reaches 40 pounds.
There are a few
other items you will also notice. The manufacturer of the product
is mentioned and the model number of the scale is listed. Also, the
serial number of that particular scale is provided.
Hopefully this
information was helpful and makes it easier to understand what all
the information is on the side of your digital scale that you take
to the farmers market. One last thing, it is also important to remember
that this information might be on the side of the scale, under the
scale or under the platter. It is generally on the side of the scale.
If you're in the market for one of these scales, please browse our
site for a wide variety of brands and economical pricing.