Flaws at gas pumps cost state's motorists

One in 10 found to have problems in Star analysis; many shut down

By Enric Volante Arizona Daily Star

Beware as you fill the tank for Memorial Day travel: Hundreds of gas station pumps in Arizona give you less than you pay for.

Regulators shut down about one in 10 pumps for dispensing too little fuel or for other problems, according to an Arizona Daily Star analysis of more than 25,000 inspection records since 1998.

Last year they also issued a record number of fines and briefly shut down 344 pumps across Arizona after finding a gallon was less than a gallon. This was more than twice the number of pumps that were "red-tagged" for the problem in each of the previous four years.

Inspectors last year also found a record number of pumps, 254, where one or more meters gave motorists more fuel than they paid for. But pumps that fail to measure up favor the gas retailer more often than they favor the motorist.

Getting shorted - even when the amount is small - takes on new urgency now in Arizona. According to the daily report Friday by the AAA-Arizona auto club, the average price of regular unleaded gasoline jumped to $2.04 per gallon -17 cents above the national average.

Motorists can take steps to avoid a rip-off, including checking to see that a pump has the Arizona inspection sticker with the month and year punched - or even just checking to make sure the meter starts at zero.

For the state's purposes, a "pump" is a single box - from a solo-hose machine at a convenience store to a multi-hose array at a high-volume truck stop.

However they look, most pumps are rarely inspected for accuracy, the Star investigation showed. The state shoots for only once every three years.

State inspectors say the pump problems are poor maintenance, not rigged machines.

"We haven't seen any indication for a very long time that anybody is going in there and doing it on purpose," said Shawn Marquez, a supervisor with the Arizona Department of Weights and Measures who has conducted or overseen inspections for 17 years.

Fuel pumps have a series of gears that wear out, gradually causing the dispenser to give too much or too little. The state allows most pumps for cars to be about one shot-glass short on 5 gallons. Any more, and they get shut down until fixed.

As the number of Arizona motorists has grown with the state's population, at a rate second only to Nevada's, so has wear and tear on many gas dispensers. The population nearly doubled to 5.1 million in the 20 years that ended with Census 2000, fueling the construction of super gas stations with dozens of pumps packed with multiple meters and nozzles.

"We feel a lot of the retailers are cutting back on their maintenance programs because of cost, and it has an effect on the accuracy," said Dee Ann Deaton, a Weights and Measures spokeswoman.

Sometimes the pumps fail inspections for reasons other than calibration, like a faulty dispenser that leaks gas on the ground instead of putting it in the vehicle's tank.

If a gas station is slightly shorting customers at the pump, the problem can persist.

That's because Weights and Measures is hard pressed to inspect pumps even once every three years. Inspectors also test a pump when a motorist complains, usually within a few days but sometimes not for three weeks.

Since 1993, when a state Auditor General report concluded that annual inspections were not necessary, more than half the Weights and Measures inspection staff has been cut. Today, 16 full-time and three part-time officers are spread thin checking gas pumps as well as other measuring devices throughout the state.

"That's a license to steal right there," said SaddleBrooke resident Lee Sack, a former truck stop owner who complained to the state that he came up short while buying gas for his golf cart.

Motorists would have to know the precise capacity of their gas tanks and be alert to detect a rigged or faulty pump, Sack said.

"Most people just put gas in until it clicks, put the cap on and drive away," he said. "We're just like sitting ducks."

Marquez said that when the state began revisiting stations that hadn't been inspected for years, "compliance rates in the stations were just lousy. It was just awful."

The department shifted inspectors from other tasks and ordered them to start recommending fines for violations that in the past would have brought only a shutdown and a fix.

Last year, proposed fines totaled $164,300 - more than five times the amount in each of the previous two years. In many cases, the state waived or reduced the fines when operators agreed to improve regular maintenance.

Those targeted by some of the state's biggest fines said they welcome the state's scrutiny.

"We always work hard to stay in compliance," said Cameron Smyth, a spokesman for Shell Oil Products, which operates St. Mary's Texaco at 880 W. St. Mary's Road.

The station drew the state's biggest fine since the start of last year, $5,000, after a routine inspection found pumps with 10 meters that were out of compliance by more than twice the allowed tolerance.

Six other meters at the station were giving away too much gas. Smyth said the calibrations were quickly fixed.

Jack Dowell, general manager of the Triple T, a Southeast Side Interstate 10 truck stop known for its deep-dish apple pie, also accepts the idea of more fines.

"It's something that's absolutely needed to protect the consumer - you and me," Dowell said.

Last year, Triple T was fined $4,000 after an inspector tested 12 high-volume diesel dispensers and found that eight came up short by more than twice the allowed tolerance.

Dowell said managers had wrongly assumed the pumps had been calibrated when previous managers installed them.

He said he did think the fine was a little stiff for the truck stop's first pump shutdown in nearly 50 years of operation. Besides the 12 diesel dispensers for big rigs, Dowell runs 14 pumps for cars and pickups, and they have never failed an inspection, he said. Dowell said he resumed checks every six months by a private technician.

No pump has been as far off the mark as one at a convenience store in Nogales, the Gas N Go Market on Grande Avenue, where two meters on one of eight pumps came up short on gas at about 15 times the allowed tolerance. In October, officials fined the store $1,000.

Manager Mauricio Chavez said his repairman blamed a fuel-grade blender that malfunctioned despite regular maintenance every six months.

Chavez agreed that more fines is a good idea because it protects the consumer.

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