It would appear that the designers of the American old-style meter pumps never imagined gas would cost more than $3.99 a gallon (3.8 liters, roughly).

As many as 8,500 of the America's 170,000 service stations have old-style meters that need to be fixed - about 17,000 individual pumps, according to the Petroleum Equipment Institute of Tulsa, Okla.

With new pumps costing between $10,000 and $15,000 each, the expense is not worth it for many station owners who, because of the relatively small profit margin on gas, are not making enough money to replace the pumps with electronic ones.

To read the full article please go to:

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080512/ap_on_bi_ge/old_gas_pumps

May 13, 2008