Publix to start losing iconic green scales

That big historic-looking green scale at the front of your neighborhood Publix could be a thing of the past when the last one breaks.

Driving the news: The Lakeland Ledger reports that while Polk County-based Publix bought enough parts for the Model 2381 People Weighers and can repair the current fleet for a while, manufacturer Mettler Toledo stopped making the scales in 2015.

The intrigue: New Publix opening across the South — including at least one in Florida so far — don't have a lollipop-shaped scale up front, a curiosity for tourists but an icon for Floridians.

• So when the old ones are gone, they're gone.

Flashback: There was a scale in Publix founder George Jenkins' new "food palace" in 1940 because in those days, the only other place to weigh yourself was at the doctor and Jenkins saw it as a lure.

Ben's thought bubble: Quick, take a #scalefie before it's too late.