Meet the faulty check valve, a little gremlin that lives inside the gas pump. It could be pilfering your pennies. Or it could be pilfering the gas station’s. It really doesn’t care. According to an AP article, a faulty check valve inside a gas pump is difficult to diagnose and often goes ignored. The pricing errors it produces could either be in favor of the gas station or the consumer. How does this work?
gasoline
Retail Gas Prices Hit Record, $4 A Gallon Coming
By 3.11.08
Average regular gasoline prices touched an all-time high of $3.227 per gallon, up 27 cents in a month and surpassing the previous peak hit in May 2007, AAA said in its daily survey of more than 85,000 self-serve filling stations.
Two Georgia Gas Stations Closed For Shorting Customers
By 2.19.08
Georgia state inspectors closed two large Cisco gas stations just across the state line from Florida last week in what the Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture described as “one of the worst cases of shorting gas customers he’s seen since he took office back in 1969.” (Why Ag? Why not?) An inspector found that a five gallon test pump turned up over a quart short at the Cisco Travel Plaza off Interstate 95’s Exit 6, and a similar test revealed a suspiciously similar shortage at another Cisco Travel Plaza off Exit 1.
"Help, I've Been Ripped Off By A Gas Station!"
By 1.24.08
My wife and I stopped at the Sunoco that is located on Route 1 in Stonington the other night, because they had their lighted sign showing a price of $3.35 a gallon for premium fuel. It was night time and we did not notice until we were halfway thru pumping that the digital readout on the pump read $3.47 a gallon, which is obviously $.12 cents a gallon different.
Great News! Higher Gas Prices "Good" For You!
By 9.12.07
A new study from Washington University claims that “the 13 percent rise in obesity between 1979 and 2004 can be attributed to falling pump prices,” and that if gas prices were raised by $1 more, obesity levels would drop by 15% over the next 5 years. Apparently the closer the cost of a gallon of gas comes to a monthly gym membership fee, the more gym-like qualities it magically takes on.
It's Gas Boycott Email Season, Again
By 5.8.07
Howdy folks. It’s that time of year when your friends, or in our case, readers, encourage you to boycott gasoline for 24 hours on a specific day.
Is Everybody Ready For $4 Gas?
By 5.8.07
“I think it’s going to happen,” said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago. “Unless things change dramatically, I think we’re going to see $4 a gallon.”
U-Haul Keel-Hauled Over Gas Charges
By 10.9.06
Everyone hates U-Haul lately. From booking appointments and then not honoring them to charging you for canceling bookings that you didn’t want, the company tops our long list of scummy corporations.
Stephen Colbert Versus High Gas Prices
By 10.3.06
This is a couple years old, but we’re posting it for two reasons: one, it’s Stephen Colbert interviewing his daughter, demonically possessed by Getty Oil. It’s adorable and worth a chuckle.Two, the point the segment makes is as pertinent as ever: if gas stations can lower their prics by thirty cents and find business and profit booming, exactly why aren’t gas prices thirty cents lower per gallon? Oh wait… greed. Right.
Get a Hummer With Your Happy Meal!
By 8.17.06
To the spittle-spraying vehemence of environmental groups, McDonald’s is giving away a free Hummer with every Happy Meal.
Toyota Prius Confuses, Confounds, Calls Your Wife A Whore
By 7.18.06
If you buy a Toyota Prius, your wife’s name and phone number will instantly find itself on many online escort websites. This we know. But it sucks for money in ways your wife doesn’t. In fact, the car’s so confusing that Consumer Affairs couldn’t even figure out how to turn one on:
Gordon Gekko to Blame for High Gas Prices
By 5.16.06
Looking for someone to blame for high gas prices? An editorial on the Arizona Republic claims it isn’t fat-cat oil barons taking enemas of sweet crude whilst squatting over solid gold bidets in their fancy European palaces that are jacking up the price of oil: it’s Michael Douglas from Wall Street, trading in hedge funds over his torso-sized army field phone.
Hawaiian Gas Cap Bleeds Customers Even Drier
By 5.15.06
Now that we are all paying for gas not with money (who can afford it?) but priceless, non-inflationary currencies like our daughter’s virginities and healthy human livers, you might start thinking that the government should get involved. “They should regulate, control and cap gasoline prices for our nation’s motorists!” you might cry.
