Approximately $1 trillion of trade is done by measurement in this country and most of us take for granted that what we're getting is what we've paid for. But with the living costs soaring, can we be complacent?

Fear not, because there is a little known agency of the federal government moving quietly among us, checking, weighing and measuring everything we buy, from the beer at the pub, to petrol at the bowser.

The National Measurement Institute has been protecting the consumer from dodgy scales or incorrectly packaged goods since 2010, but they go largely under the radar.

"Lots of people in our own department don't even know we exist," said Sam Burgess, the trade measurement officer based in Wagga.

But, he said, he does one of the oldest jobs there is, going back to the earliest days of humans and markets.

"We're in the Bible," he said with a laugh.

Mr Burgess is one of 50 inspectors strategically placed across the nation who inspect any business that sells products by measurement.

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The trade measurement team also checks things such as train weighers for freight, roadside truck weighers and weighbridges.

A lone ranger, he covers a radius of about 500km, including the Riverina and the ACT, and performs two-to-three random spot checks on businesses per day.

"National Measurement Institute itself, we're responsible for biological, chemical, legal, physical and trade measurement around the country," said David Kendall, the manager at trade measurement services.

"Trade measurement is an important part of our work, it's to keep things fair, both for businesses and for customers."

The inspectors turn up at a business and flash their badge, informing the operator that they will be conducting an inspection, and then proceed to measure scales and goods against their own scientifically calibrated 'masses', a series of weights from 10mg to 15kg.

In 2020-21, NMI's measurement cops audited more than 4800 businesses, tested around 14,000 measuring instruments, inspected almost 600 weighbridges, and checked 26,000 lines of packaged goods for correct measurement.

In that year, 34.1 per cent of those businesses failed their random audit.

But not every failure is equal. If your pub over-pours your measure, that's classed as a failure.

Of the 6258 retail fuel dispensers measured last year, 221, or 3.5 per cent, actually gave away fuel, with 3.9 per cent shortchanging drivers.

"That comes back to us being here for correct measurement," said Mr Burgess. "And it protects the business, not just the consumer."

Inspectors like Mr Burgess will investigate any consumer complaint they get and businesses that fail an audit will first get a warning letter, but repeat offenders face much worse.

"Businesses found short measuring customers can be fined, by court order, up to $220,000," Mr Kendall said.

But he said that while his team is there to enforce the law, a lot of the failed audits can be accidental and part of their job is to educate businesses on how to maintain their measurement equipment.

"A large part of our job is to provide education and help traders to comply with our legislation," he said.

For Mr Burgess, the job is a good fit as he's the kind of person who likes things just so, but he admits it can be hard to switch off.

"I'm a perfectionist. I tend to make sure everything's right, everything's clean, organised," he said.

"But doing normal shopping I'm scanning things and making a mental note of things I need to come back and look at, that's just the nature of what we are ... you can't switch off.

"This particular job, we're dealing with business, we're potentially taking enforcement action, we need to make sure we do everything spot on and follow the letter of the law."

And in the end, the two men say they are there to protect and serve the community.

"We're there, and Sam's there, to ensure that everyone's getting a fair go," Mr Kendall said.

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