Method of sale

Who has to be present

On this page11

The wording Read the first clause carefully Which is the opposite of what people assume What the ticket would have required Several of those are worth doing anyway And the director can still specify other bulk sales A delivery changes the answer Which is a real consideration for a subscription model The customer should be able to see the number Give them a receipt that shows the working References

At a refill counter you both watched it. That is why the ticket rule does not reach you.

The wording

The delivery-ticket requirement applies to "all bulk sales in which the buyer and seller are not both present to witness the measurement", to bulk deliveries of heating fuel, and to other bulk sales the director specifies by rule.

Read the first clause carefully

Not both present to witness the measurement. At a refill counter the customer is standing there watching the scale or the meter, so the condition that triggers the ticket is not met.

Which is the opposite of what people assume

"Sale from bulk" sounds like it was written for refill shops. It was written for heating oil and for deliveries where the buyer is not there to see the quantity measured.

What the ticket would have required

Buyer and seller name and address, the date, the quantity delivered and the quantity priced if they differ, the unit price, the identity of the commodity in the most descriptive terms commercially practicable, and the count of packages where a bulk purchase is delivered packaged.

Several of those are worth doing anyway

Quantity, unit price and a clear identity on a receipt are what let a customer check the arithmetic, which is also the comparability requirement from the method of sale section.

And the director can still specify other bulk sales

"All other bulk sales specified by rule or regulation of the director." A state can bring a transaction in that the model text does not. Another reason the local text is the one that governs.

A delivery changes the answer

A shop that delivers refills to a customer's door has a buyer who did not witness the measurement. That is the situation the section describes, and the ticket requirement is live.

Which is a real consideration for a subscription model

Refill-by-delivery is a growing format and it moves the transaction from the counter case to the delivery case. Worth knowing before building the route rather than after.

The customer should be able to see the number

Which is the principle under all of this. A scale facing away from the customer is lawful in most places and it is the wrong choice in a shop built on trust.

Give them a receipt that shows the working

Gross, tare, net, unit price, total. Five lines, and it makes every question at the counter answerable without an argument.

References

NIST Handbook 130, 2023, Uniform Weights and Measures Law, Section 16, Method of Sale: "Except as otherwise provided by the Director or by firmly established trade custom and practice, (a) commodities in liquid form shall be sold by liquid measure or by weight; and (b) commodities not in liquid form shall be sold by weight, by measure, or by count. The method of sale shall provide accurate and adequate quantity information that permits the buyer to make price and quantity comparisons." Section 17, Sale from Bulk, applies its delivery-ticket requirement to "all bulk sales in which the buyer and seller are not both present to witness the measurement", to bulk heating fuel deliveries, and to other bulk sales specified by the director. nist.gov

NIST Handbook 130, 2023, Uniform Weights and Measures Law. Section 1.2: "The term 'weight' as used in connection with any commodity or service means net weight. When a commodity is sold by drained weight, the term means net drained weight." Section 1.8 defines net mass or net weight as "the weight of a commodity excluding any materials, substances, or items not considered to be part of the commodity. Materials, substances, or items not considered to be part of the commodity include, but are not limited to, containers, conveyances, bags, wrappers, packaging materials, labels, individual piece coverings, decorative accompaniments, and coupons, except that, depending on the type of service rendered, packaging materials may be considered to be part of the service." nist.gov

Written from NIST Handbook 130, 2023 edition, and from the catalog as it stood on 19 October 2026. Handbook 130 is a compilation of model laws rather than federal law, and states adopt it in different forms, from different years, or not at all; the binding text is your state's. Nothing here concerns whether a scale is legal for trade, which is Handbook 44 and a state device approval, or the retail food rules for refilling a customer's food container, which belong to whoever licenses the shop.