WinVRS from Cardinal Scale has been a popular vehicle recording system for truck scale weighing applications for many years. This software allows high-traffic applications fast, accurate collection of data on vehicles, accounts, orders, and materials. With nine models of WinVRS to select from, customers often have questions about which system is right for their particular application. To help explain in an easy-to-use format, we have created the WinVRS Models Comparison Guide, which is available in the link below. The chart helps specify the differences with each particular model. Programmed completely in-house by Cardinal software programmers, WinVRS is all-Cardinal and all-USA-made. WinVRS has been time-tested and a popular add-on to Cardinal truck scale orders for many years!

The WinVRS software from Cardinal Scale keeps traffic moving over your scale by providing fast, accurate collection of data on vehicles, accounts, orders, and materials. Unique, user-defined fields allow you to easily configure the system to meet your needs. A wide range of reports are available to provide period histories, material totals, customer information and more. WinVRS’s convenient file utilities menu allows data to be exported to other applications such as accounting and materials control. NTEP legal-for-trade certified. WinVRS-TOUCH offers all the same great features as WinVRS, but comes with larger fonts and buttons for convenient touchscreen navigation. When a user enters into any WinVRS window with input prompts, an on-screen keyboard appears.

Are you or someone you know looking to purchase a digital scale to buy gold from your customers? Below are some things to consider when you look around for the perfect digital scale or weighing balance. Many states require you to purchase a NTEP legal for trade scale and require you to have the scale inspected by a state inspector before conducting commerce. You probably need to contact your state before you do any research or make any purchases to make sure you buy  the digital scale you need for buying gold in order to comply with the applicable regulations.

Once you have the scale, make sure the weighing is done in a way that is transparent so everyone feels safe and no one is being cheated.  You want to weigh the items being sold in plain view of the seller. Check the scale every so often using a certified test weight. From the sellers viewpoint, they should look to see that the scale being used by the buyer has a state Weights & Measures sticker in plain view and a seal preventing the scale from being changed. The scale should have a date on the sticker. The scale should have been tested and or calibrated in the last 12 months and the seal on the scale should be secure and not broken. A broken seal could mean that a scale has been tampered with.

By following these simple rules, both the gold buyer and the person selling gold should be able to conduct a safe and rewarding transaction for both parties.

Being in the scale industry it's inevitable that we would eventually be asked about a scale that is listed on ebay. After taking a quick tour on the site recently it was amazing to see all the different scales that are listed on there for bid or sale. Equally interesting was the variety of sellers who were offering weighing equipment for purchase. Many obviously had no clue about scales and were simply selling them to make a dime and "move boxes".

So just for fun we figured it would be kind of fun to order one of these auction scales and see how well it worked, especially since the feedback ratings were pretty good. The order was pretty simple and we received our scale within a week. Unfortunately the scale arrived in a cardboard box with no packing material. It is very rare for a scale to ship with no packing. This allowed the scale to be dented and scratched. Once we put the scale together it weighed pretty good considering the ride it took during shipping. It was off several graduations and once we "deciphered" the operator manual, we were able to adjust and calibrate the scale. Fortunately the supplier provided us with the instructions, unlike others who don't.

So the main point we wanted to make from this entry is be careful out there folks. There are a ton of cheap (mostly chinese) scales out there in the marketplace.  This scale that we purchased for fun will probably last for awhile but we would never buy something like this to use in our core business because we don't have confidence in the product.  Our recommendations are to buy a brand name product from one of the top scale manufacturers in the industry, like Brecknell, Ohaus, and Rice Lake. There are plenty of relatively affordable choices out there that provide both durability and accuracy. Rememeber, you can always find a cheaper scale somewhere online. At some point you have to stop worrying about price and put more emphasis on durability and the actual total cost of ownership.

We just received some news on the Tree scales and balances that you have surely seen by now.  Tree now has European approval which conducts rigorous tests like consumer safety in materials and paints, power supply, chemical used, quality and etc...  Tree is also working on European Medical CE for wheelchair scales, handrail scales, physician scales, under-the-bed scales and stowaway wheelchair scales.

In the US one requirement that you often see is UL. However UL only applies to the transformers, and still we see lots of fake UL transformers or expired UL certificates. This can often be one reason why some of the cheap scales you see on the internet and auction sites are so cheap. Fake UL transformers which cost less than half the UL approved transformers.  Also upon further examination, we still are seeing some "kitchen scale electronics and load cells" used in "industrial scales".  These are just a few examples of why when purchasing digital scales, make sure you choose scales from reputable and brand name items.

We appreciate your loyal readership and we wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

One quick note to pass on to you that we heard about this week. A certain scale manufacturer (we won't name but it rhymes with Bonita) would not give a scale technician the calibration instructions to one of their scales. So the scale tech is out on the job site to re-calibrate one of their scales and the manufacturer refuses to provide the instructions. Their response was that the scale company would need to send the scale in to the factory for calibration. So a task that would take about two minutes to complete is now going to take several days to complete, not to mention the shipping costs. Meanwhile, the customer is without a scale. Words can not express how stupid this policy actually is.

The point in all this is to keep this in mind if you are looking to buy a scale. You might want to make sure that the scale you are looking to purchase can easily be worked on and calibrated in the field. This could have resulted in extended down time for the customer and bad customer service for the dealer. Fortunately, the dealer was able to find the calibration instructions from another source who was kind enough to share. The customer was very appreciative and will most likely not buy another product from that particular manufacturer.

This is a question that comes up every so often so today we thought it would be a good idea to mention a few choices to consider for weighing packages that you're going to ship. Basically it comes down to how big of an operation do you have and how sophisticated (and reliable) do your scales need to be?

If you ship a package once a month or a few times a year, then you can probably buy a cheap digital scale from your local scale company, your local big box office store, or online at a scale website. However, if you typically use your scale pretty much everyday we suggest you invest a little more money and buy a scale that can handle the day to day abuse that a shipping scale is bound to get.

Now we know a lot of folks are going to say they can't afford some of the high end shipping scales that they see online. That is probably true for many people but there are some pretty reliable scales that are built industrial tough that can actually provide you with a versatile and affordable option for weighing your packages. It doesn't matter if you're looking for the best scale for ebay shipping or maybe you're using your own site to sell products. If you're shipping with Federal Express or using the big brown truck, they are going to need an accurate weight.

A lot of the industrial customers that ship packages everyday typically use something like either a NCI scale or a Mettler Toledo PS60. The nice thing about these scales is, in addition to being pretty durable products they can also connect to your computer and display the weight in the shipping software. This is a neat and time saving feature. But before you pony up and buy one of these high end scales we encourage you to contact your software provider to obtain a list of compatible scales.

In conclusion, there are many different scales out there to choose from. You can always find something cheaper especially in today's "made in China" world. However, we encourage you to not just choose the cheapest product but actually go out and do some research and try to think long term when choosing a scale to weigh packages and boxes on.

The Brecknell DSB 4x4 5000 lb capacity floor scale is NTEP certified Class lll legal-for-trade and includes welded channels on the underside for outstanding durability and protection. Each corner of the deck includes a NTEP shear beam load cell and adjustable foot. The system comes complete with the SBI-505 digital indicator calibrated to the floor scale. The digital indicator features Time and Date, RS-232 serial port, easy to read LED display, count & total, check weigh function, and displays weight in pounds or kilograms. The scale includes a capacity of 2500 kg x 0.5 kg or 5000 lb x 1 lbs.  Click here for additional information.

The deck and the indicator are NTEP Legal for Trade certified at 5,000 divisions, Class lll. The versatile indicator is ideal for many applications including counting, totalizing and check weighing. The deck has a powder coat paint finish and four alloy steel potted load cells. The indicator features RS-232 standard serial string with time and date, check weighing, count, weight, total and print. This system includes a rugged construction thick safety tread top plate with heavy duty welded wide channel supports.

Lots of companies have a real need for some version of scale to weigh larger items like pallets. The need might be to weigh loaded pallets that are going to be shipped out to customers or perhaps to weigh inbound pallets to make sure they were not charged too much. Normally, a standard 48" x 48" floor scale with a 5000 pound capacity would be appropriate for that application.

There are many other examples of a business or warehouse that may utilize a floor scale. One popular example could be when trying to count large amounts of parts for parts inventory. In most cases a standard four foot wide by four foot long deck is the correct size for those applications. If you were to use something small like a eighteen inch wide deck it would probably not work in many cases.

The Brecknell DSB 4x4 5000 lb floor scale is NTEP legal for trade and includes heavy duty floor scale and easy to read digital weight indicator. Click here to learn more.