Metric Measurements

How long would it be possible for the world (particularly Britain and the USA) to use mostly measurements other than metric, such as Imperial for example?

How would this affect each country? How would this affect campaigns to convert fully or in part to Metric?
 
They could go on indefinitely, not using metric. The difference is only that it makes calculations more cumbersome, and if others use other measurements, you will have a lot of additional conversions to make.

Metric is not absolutely necessary, but it is a logical step in the standardisation of measurements.
 
Much to my anoyance the US construction industry still uses 'English' measurements. Everything in the residential sector and much of the industrial or commercial building is engineered & specified in inches/feet. I use metrics when I can, usually when working alone and when doing complex work like trim and cabinets. It is simpler and faster to record & merge measurements or arithimitic. It is also amusing when another worker gets ahold of one of my metric measuring tools :rolleyes:

When serving in the US military I worked almost exclusively in metrics, in the artillery we never used the English system. In automotive work and industrial production metrics are used alongside english.
 
The housing industry was the reason that metrification failed in the US. Not because of new construction but because of the replacement market. The idea that hardware and building supply stores would have to stock both metric and traditional supplies (Everything from bricks to 2x4s to 4x8 sheets of plywood) caused the industry to organize against it. Go back and look in Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, etc from the era there were articles about it and the problems it would cause.
 
Very little made now matches that of 1920, or 1940 anyway. I do a lot of renovation of old residences and it is a rare day I dont have to rework the new piece to fit the old. The trick would have been to make the change before the construction industry was 'industrialized'. Possiblly before or during the late 19th Century when industrialization was picking up in that sector. By the 1920s the expense is becoming enourmous. However I still have to wonder how much pigheadded conservatism entered into it. Back in the 1990s i saw one of our customers lose out because he was too stubborn to invest a few thousand dollars in metric tools so his family business could pick up some contracts with the local car factory.

I do notice that for items like bolts the building supply stores do stock both metric and english system items and some other items come labeled in both metric and english.
 
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