DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
10 comments:
I believe that most are inaccurate and need to be inspected on a more periodic basis by the Maryland Department of Agriculture's Weights and Measures inspectors.
joe, wanted to share an experience. i went to a local gas station in dec '10 and found that the amount of gas received did not jive with the listed cost per gallon. the price was listed at $3.09/gallon. i stopped the pump at $3.09 and saw that i had only received .0995 in gas.
My husband & I have stopped going to Wawa's because we quickly realized when paying inside telling them we want Regular gas we were being charged for Plus using the pump for Regular. Which I think is against the law. Most people don't pick up in that, but when you pay attention on how many gallons you should be getting and it comes up much less, do the math. The proof is in the pudding or should I say the math.
The price of gas always has an extra $0.009 tacked on to it, 10:10. They also take rounding into account. Nobody things about it, but it's how you ended up with 0.995 gallons.
I do wonder about pump accuracy, though. I track each and every fill up on my car (184 so far). Some gas stations give me lower mileage, and it's not really dependent on a brand but on location. An inaccurate pump would show better gas mileage on the last tank, and worse mileage on the new tank.
Another factor is the season. You will actually receive more fuel in colder times, as heat will rapidly cause evaporation while filling during the summer.
I know for a fact that a local Exxon dealer sends his son around to calibrate their store's pumps to short deliver the gasoline to customers but stay within the tolerance. A little over or under would balance out but this situation creates a money maker for the owner. Think about the thousands of transactions at a .005 shortage per gallon.
I know for a fact that some retailers will set their pumps to short the customer. This is because I calibrated pumps for 10 years. I could check a pump today, calibrate it, return the next week and it would be off again.
I checked the Tiger Mart in Delmar last Saturday....price was off by almost a penny....in their favor of course. And I wonder, whenever there is a price/gallon discrepancy, why is it ALWAYS in favor of the retailer? The law of averages says it should, once in a while, be in the consumers favor. That fact alone illustrates the REAL reason pump prices are inaccurate...hint: it ain't the machine.
That (9/10) next to the gas price accounts for that penny that it is off.
I used to be part owner of a pump & tank business. Did it for 15 years...I burnt out with all the hours on the road, sold out 7 years ago. My information and under standing of pump calibration is probably still current. I calibrated quite a few gas and/or diesel dispensers. Gilbarco, Dresser/Wayne { remember them }, Tokheim, and Gasboy. Newer dispensers use electronic calibration, which is accurate to within thousands of a gallon. Most equipment around here is of the older designs....you cut a seal, pull a pin,pump 5 gal into a prover can, and adjust a dial until you get it right, reseal with your company lead crimp. Some techs rush the job and the meter is either over or under buy several thousandths. The state will forgive some underage, as long as there's a like amount of overage. Nobody is foolin' with the pumps. Here's the way to get action if you feel you've been cheated...call Weights & Measures in Annapolis and politely state your case[ location, date , time, which dispenser, and your receipt}.... they will send an inspector to check that pump. The inspector will shut down the pump, or the whole station, if he feels like it. My company would to quickly to these problems...it was good money.
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