As the price of gas approached $4 a gallon last month, thousands of
station owners across the nation were faced with another problem
besides just the high price. According to an article in the New York Times, many stations, most of them independently owned, have older pumps that are unable to go above $3.99 per gallon.
The
solution? According to the article, one station owner in Queens had to
price his gas by the half-gallon, just as station owners did when gas
prices skyrocketed a generation ago.
"Some people say I got the
cheapest prices in town" until they see the receipt, said Gary Staiano,
50, who has been pumping gas since he was a teenager and remembers when
it rose above $1 a gallon for the first time in the 1970s.
Gas stations must apply with their state's Department of Weights and
Measures for permission to sell in these volumes and must prove they
have ordered new pump computers that can handle prices up to $9.99 a
gallon.
According
to the article by Ken Belson, "The gauges in the older gas pumps are
computers but look more like the innards of an old adding machine or
cuckoo clock. Gears of different sizes spin at different speeds
depending on the digits they represent. Station attendants flick tabs
to change the digits, which are written on hard black rubber spools."
New
pump computers cost about $400 each and there is a backlog of up to 17
weeks for the replacement machines from various companies; the article
reports New York officials expect half-gallon pricing to be around for
about five months. "It's an interim fix to this problem," said Jessica
Chittenden, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of
Agriculture and Markets. "There is a national shortage of these
computing devices." It's still a cheaper fix than buying new pumps:
digital pumps that accept credit cards and sell multiple brands of fuel
can cost as much as $15,000 each.
So, if you're taking a
summer road trip and stumble across an independent station selling gas
at a price that appears too good to be true, double check the volume.
You might be buying half-gallons.
By Brandy Schaffels
AskPatty Editor
Creative commons images courtesy of baha1210 and sneddon via flickr.com
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