Digital scales are wide in use for a variety of applications. Manufacturers use them to weigh large products, shipping companies weigh crates for transportation. Butcher shops and grocery stores use digital scales to weigh items for pricing per pound. Delis and restaurants weigh use them to weigh meats. Cooks and dieters use digital kitchen scales to provide precise measurements for ingredients and portions.

Press the “On/Off” button to the “On” position. Digital scales are battery powered. Pressing the “On” button activates the battery to power up the scale.

Place a container on the scale's weighing surface. You'll use the container to hold items you're weighing in place so they do not roll off the flat weighing surface.

Press the “Tare” button. This button will reset the digital weight of the scale to zero with the container on top of it.

Place the item to weigh in the container. Read the digital display. This produces the actual weight of the item without the container.

Tip

Digital bathroom scales reset to zero when pressing the “On” button.

Some digital scales have a “Reset” button instead of a “Tare” button.

The “Tare” button subtracts the weight of a container from the total weight on a digital scale.

Smaller digital scales weigh in accuracy to a tenth of a pound to calculate pounds and ounces.

Some digital scales have an automatic shutoff feature to turn the scale off when it's not used for several minutes.

Warning

Always reset a scale to zero before weighing any object for a correct weight measurement.

Turn off digital scales without an automatic shutoff feature to save the battery life.