Egg sellers around the world will soon be peddling their produce in metric. After centuries of following the misguided (albeit traditional) ‘twelvic’ system, in which eggs were sold by the ‘dozen’, they are finally falling in line with the rest of the modern world1, and will begin selling eggs by the Metric Dozen.
Rather than the confusing twelve (12) eggs found in the old-fashioned dozen, the metric dozen has an even ten (10) eggs, i.e., two (2) fewer than the original dozen and three (3) fewer than a baker’s dozen.2
The metric dozen presents several advantages: it takes up less space, stacks better, ships better, causes less waste and light pollution, is easier to divide by ten, and has an even ten to it. It will be approximately 1/6 (that’s 0.16666667 in metric) lighter in weight than the standard dozen, so it will save you energy when lifting and carrying and cut down on fuel costs for driving home from the grocer.
Provisions will be made for customers so as to avoid confusion when purchasing eggs in the metric system. As explained by Ian Eagan, president of the Eggsellers Association of England:
Metric dozen cartons will still be the same size. This way, customers won’t need to rearrange their refrigerators, home organisation systems (aka shelves), and wardrobes. And lest they think they are missing two eggs, signs will be placed conspicuously close to the egg section of the supermarket reading “1 Metric Dozen = 10 Eggs = Same Great Deal.”
Moreover, the price will remain unchanged. That is, one metric dozen will cost no more than one standard dozen, so customers will never need to adjust their budgets.3
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Yes, eggs should be sold in sets of ten, but “metric dozen” needs a better name. How about dec-egg?