How an Ohio State Fair vendor was saved thousands

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- A routine inspection at the Ohio State Fair turned into sweet savings for one candy vendor.

"I'm appreciative that they come in and do it, and they make sure that our business is running correct for both sides, for the consumer and for the business itself," Bulk Candy Store owner Brian Shenkman said.

A costly error was discovered on multiple Bulk Candy Store scales, which could've added up to thousands of dollars in lost sales for the shop.

According to state officials, these inspections are crucial in protecting both business owners and consumers.

For 34 years, hundreds of thousands have purchased sweets from Bulk Candy Store at the Ohio State Fair. Customers can fill up a basket and when it comes time to pay, the items are weighed. The system isn't always foolproof, though.

"Sometimes during movement, the scale shakes, it gets out of adjustment, and stuff like that," Shenkman said. "And personally, I want to know either way, if it's on the customer side or our side. If it's on our side, I definitely want to fix it. If it's on the customer side, we have to get it fixed or get new ones in here right away."

This is why, each year before the fun begins, the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Division of Weights and Measures inspects all food scales. 

"When they come in, they test all parts of the scale," Shenkman said. "They don't just test the middle because the middle is the strongest part."

It's a good thing those scales got checked. ODA staff found errors in four of them, which were each off by 15 cents per pound -- 60 cents per pound total.

"That's money that we would have lost out of our pocket," Shenkman said. "We probably wouldn't have known about it but it's something that, you know, in this economy, it helps."

Shenkman said that throughout the duration of the fair, he'll sell about 14,000 pounds of candy. He estimates this annual inspection saved him about $8,400 in sales.

"But the scales could be the other way, too," Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Brian Baldridge said. "So, if they would have been off in favor of the person selling, then our consumers would have been shorted. So, it is just a win-win on both sides of commerce."

Baldridge said ODA's Division of Weights and Measures also inspects all livestock at the state fair, ensuring equity for business owners and consumers.

"Our shows here at the State Fair are shown by weight," Baldridge said. "So, we want those animals to be in the right class, weighed in at the right weight and it's a fair, even competition between the animals. But those animals are also sold after the fair, so we want to know exactly what that weight is."

Bulk Candy Store stops at multiple fairs throughout the year. While some states charge them to inspect their scales, Ohio does not.