Aug 20, 2008 10:58 pm US/Pacific
You May Not Be Getting All You Pay For At The Pump
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
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California has some of the strictest gas pump standards in the country. But you could still get less gas than you paid for.
CBS
Want to know if you're really getting a gallon of gas? Ask the people who test the pumps. In this case, the guys from Alameda County's Weights and Measures Division, out every day to find out if you get a gallon, when you pay for a gallon.
"So the station isn't giving away more, and the consumer is not receiving less," said Inspector Ron Hasemeyer.
On a recent weekday, Senior Inspector Brent Faria took us on a tour, pump by pump by pump. Many of them, he said, were "perfect."
California's enforcement standards are among the toughest in the country.
"I think we're pretty close to the top -- if not the top. California has a stronger enforcement program to my understanding than many states," said Hasemeyer, a 25-year department veteran.
In fact, the state says across California 94% of all pumps pass inspection.
So if the pump you're at passed inspection, then you're guaranteed to get precisely a gallon of gas, right? Well, not necessarily. We discovered there's still a way you could be cheated.
It has to do with the way inspectors do their tests. The zero line on the gauge is exactly five gallons. But the law allows for a margin of error, plus or minus six cubic inches on either side of the line, which inspectors call falling within "tolerance." If it's on the plus side, you get a bit more than a gallon. On the minus side, a bit less.
"They're either giving gas away, or they're not giving enough fuel. They're not giving what you paid for," said Faria.
Inspectors here and statewide sometimes find most, or even all, of the pumps at a particular station will read on the minus side -- which means they're shorting consumers, and making more money.
"If all the dispensers are set at minus five, then no, they've set something so that it would be in their favor, and we don't allow that," said Hasemeyer.
Hasemeyer says it's possible to go to a gas pump, fill up your tank, and get less gas than you're supposed to.
So just how much gas could you really lose? For the answer to that question, we paid a visit to UC Berkeley Professor Michael Ranney, who did the math. For a 15-gallon fill-up, he estimates, you could be shorted a measuring cup's worth of gas.
Over a year's time, it doesn't add up to much money for the average driver -- he figures about $15 a year. But it could mean a lot to the people selling the gas.
"For the gasoline stations that are actually selling, it might be a significant profit. In California, if all the gas stations were just barely within tolerance, then it would be something in the order of a few hundred million dollars," said said Ranney. Perhaps over
$400,000,000.
But at least on this weekday, some consumers were getting a break. At one station we visited with the Alameda County inspectors, not only was one pump giving a bit more than a gallon, but so were a second and a third.
"They're gonna get a little bit extra, free," said Faria.
Enough to take those drivers maybe just a mile further down the road.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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