Old-Fashioned Gas Pumps Are Topping Out

Thousands Of Service Station Pumps Have Mechanical Dials That Only Go To $3.999

(AP)  Mom-and-pop service stations are running into a problem as gasoline marches toward $4 a gallon: Thousands of old-fashioned pumps can't register more than $3.99 on their spinning mechanical dials.

The pumps, throwbacks to a bygone era on the American road, are difficult and expensive to upgrade, and replacing them is often out of the question for station owners who are still just scraping by.

Many of the same pumps can only count up to $99.99 for the total sale, preventing owners of some SUVs, vans, trucks and tractor-trailers to fill their tanks all the way.

As many as 8,500 of the nation's 170,000 service stations have old-style meters that need to be fixed - about 17,000 individual pumps, said Bob Renkes, executive vice president of the Petroleum Equipment Institute of Tulsa, Okla.

At Chip Colville's Chevron station in this eastern Washington town, where men in the family have pumped gas since 1919, three stubby, gray pumps were installed when gas was less than $1 a gallon. They top out at $3.999, only 30 cents above the price of regular gas at Colville's station.

"In small towns, where you don't have the volume, there's no way you can afford to pay for the replacements for these old pumps," Colville said. "It's just not economically feasible."

The problem is worse in extremely rural areas, where "this might be the only pump in town that people can access," said Mike Rud, director of the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association.

Demand for replacements has caused a months-long backlog for companies that make or rebuild the mechanical meters - and that's just for stations that can afford the upgrade.

For many station owners - who, because of relatively small profit margins on gas, aren't raking in money even though gas prices are marching higher - replacing the pumps altogether with electronic ones is just not an option.

"The new ones run between $10,000 and $15,000 apiece," Colville said. "It's an expense that's not worth it."

Mechanical meters can be retrofitted with higher numbers when pump prices climb another dollar. The last time that happened was in late 2005, when gas went over $3 a gallon, and owners of the older pumps installed kits that went to $3.999.

This time around, owners of the old pumps will need to install another kit that can handle prices up to $4.999, and possibly higher. Industry experts say those changes could cost as much as $650 per pump.

The price of fixing the meters jumped in the past three years because old pumps are being phased out for new electronic pumps and demand for refurbished meters is down, Al Eichorn, vice president of PMP Corp., which makes the mechanical meters.

The Avon, Conn., company has hired extra employees who are working overtime but still has a 14-week backlog of orders, Eichorn said.

To deal with the problem, some state regulators are allowing half-pricing - displaying the price for a half-gallon of gas, then doubling the price shown on the meter.

In North Dakota, regulators recently told service stations their mechanical pumps could use half-pricing, provided they use signs to alert costumers and find a permanent solution by April 2009.


South Dakota is preparing similar rules, officials say. And in Minnesota, rural service station owners whose pumps cannot display the right price are being told to cover up the incorrect numbers.

"The consumer can only see the gallons turning," said Bill Walsh, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Commerce. "Then they just have to settle up with a calculator, basically." Colville and about a dozen other service station owners in Washington have received temporary variances from the state to allow them to half-price fuel.

Stations granted variances are required to post signs telling customers that the final price they will pay is twice what the pump meter indicates.

"No, that don't bother me. The price does," said Jim Puls, a third-generation rancher who pulled up to Colville's diesel pump to fill up his flatbed truck at $4.41 a gallon. "I can understand what they have to do."

Nationally, the average price for a gallon of gasoline rose past $3.70 Sunday, while diesel was selling for an average of $4.33 a gallon, according to AAA and the Oil Price Information Service.

Small stations are struggling to make a profit on gas, even as the price rises. Its small profit margin makes it less lucrative that snacks and other products the stores sell inside.

"If gas is the profit driver and you are one of those guys with the old pumps, you're either evolving or getting out," said Jeff Lenard, spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, a trade group that represents about 115,000 stores that sell gasoline.

"If you're just that kind of image of the '50s gas station where you have a conversation, fill up and have a cup of coffee, that's in the movies."

[eggy1620]

The infrastructure and technology already exist in this country for a completely oil-free transportation system. Nuclear powered water electrolysis plants producing hydrogen for fuel cell propelled vehicles. That is our only sustainable solution.

[andylance1]

The price of gasoline is so high because the Democrats are preventing the oil companies from exploring for gas and oil and drilling in off shore waters.

Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said yesterday: "Republicans must abandon their shortsighted strategy of ''''drill, drill, drill.''''

Is filling up your tank driving you crazy? Vote against idiots like Harry Reid.

[guest173]

$10-15,000 it seems like they should be able to get loans for upgrades. businesses have to keep up with reality, having ancient machines is of course going to hinder you

[nothappyatall]

I think their claim they only make a couple of pennies or so a gallon is BULLCHIT, lets see those INVOICES!!

[noloyalisti]

Forthepeopl1: maybe it is because the US has only its own interests in mind (case in point, invading Iraq to steal the oil). Maybe we have shown we are state sponsors of terrorism (war), don''t care about human, civil or women''s rights while blaming others for what we do. Oh, those are just opinions right?

Anyway, no one should complain about oil prices, after all we voted in the oil companies to run the government in 2000.

[forthepeopl1]

DISGUSTING ISN%u2019T IT ??????????

ARABIC/ISLAMIC STATES VOTING RECORDS IN THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT AND UNITED NATIONS RECORDS, AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

PERHAPS IT IS TIME TO GET OUT OF THE UNITED NATIONS, AND GIVE THE TAX SAVINGS BACK TO THE AMERICAN WORKERS WHO ARE HAVING TO SKIMP AND SACRIFICE TO PAY TAXES AND BUY GASOLINE AND THE HIGHEST PRICES OF FOOD THIS COUNTRY HAS SEEN IN CENTERY.

KUWAIT %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 67 % OF THE TIME
QATAR - VOTES AGAINST 67 % OF THE TIME
MOROCCO %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 70 % OF THE TIME
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES %u2013 70 % OF THE TIME
JORDAN - VOTE AGAINST 71 % OF THE TIME
TUNISIA %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 71 % OF THE TIME
SAUDI ARABIA %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 73 % OF THE TIME
YEMEN %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 74 % OF THE TIME
ALGERIA - VOTES AGAINST 74 % OF THE TIME
OMAN %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 74 % OF THE TIME
SUDAN - VOTES AGAINST 75 % OF THE TIME
PAKISTAN %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 75 % OF THE TIME
LIBYA - VOTES AGAINST 76 % OF THE TIME
EGYPT - VOTES AGAINST 79 % OF THE TIME
LEBANON %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 80 % OF THE TIME
INDIA %u2013 VOTES AGAINST 81 % OF THE TIME
SYRIA - VOTES AGAINST 84 % OF THE TIME
MAURITANIA - VOTES AGAINST 87 % OF THE TIME

SO WHY DOES OUR CONGRESS GIVE THESE COUNTRYS OUR TAX DOLLARS IN THE AMOUNT OF
OVER 50 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR, IN FOREIGN AID,

[e-mail]
David a belanger,veteran u.s. army

[timetrips1]

simpsonman19:

You are not living Oil free. Evan if you use no Gasoline, oil is used in something like 90% of the products you use/buy on a daily basis.

[missingamerica]

Yet another example of how Bush, Cheney & The Republicans, LLP are great for business...that is, if you are a great BIG Business with a capital "B".

I can''t help but get a chuckle when I think of all of the die-hard, "I hate liberals!"-spouting Republican small- and medium-sized business owners who are now feeling the true meaning of "Regulation is bad for Business.".

lolll...too bad you are simply not big enough to be a "Business"! Grab your ankles like the rest of us!

[simpsonman19]

You are absolutly right edamos54, I cannot wait for the day when we are free of our need for oil and we can tell OPEC, the oil companies and the speculators to eat their oil cause it''ll be worthless!

That''ll prolly never happen though, because most people are just so dependent on the system (sounds like the Matrix to me lol) that any change is scary to them. Oh no, so my new car which I will use to get to work won''t have over 300 horses? And it won''t be 7 feet tall?! Give me a break! I bought my first car ever in Aug 06 and it was a Yaris (great gas mileage btw) and in December I moved to the city and gave the car to my parents (they needed a new car so they just took over the payments) and I''ve been living fairly oil free since then. I probably use the car about 5 or 6 weekends out of the entire year.

I used it last weekend and when the gas pump asked me if I wanted a receipt I was like, no I don''t need to see the damage lol.

[mbburch06]

This is what economists refer to as "menu costs" -- the unseen costs associated with raising prices. It''s just another drag on our economy caused by inflation, and we have the Federal Reserve to thank for it. Constant inflation is not the natural course for a strong economy; if the Fed would stop printing money out of thin air and bailing out troubled banks, we might still be enjoying the prices of the late 90s. Abolish the Fed and let markets determine interest rates, not govt beaurocrats!