Where this idea comes from· NIST 2025 · Crimson 1973
The small price on the shelf
Unit pricing came in around the time the US Fair Packaging and Labeling Act passed in 1966. Lawmakers had argued about limiting how many package sizes could be sold; makers and shops opposed that and offered a unit price instead. Massachusetts made shelf unit prices the law, in effect from 1971; in 1973 The Harvard Crimson still found labels missing, wrong or hidden in local stores.
One thing to hold: The small print on a shelf tag: the price per ounce, per pound or per sheet, next to the big price for the whole pack.
Why it matters: The biggest box and the lowest sticker are not always the best deal. The price per unit is the one number that lets you compare. Sixteen US states have unit-pricing laws or rules today; where none applies, you work it out yourself.
Dates:
- 1966 the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act
- 1971 Massachusetts’ unit price law takes effect
- 1979 the first model unit-pricing rule states can copy