Front Page
THE GREAT LAKE GENEVA RIPOFF!
The front page photo you are looking at should graphically explain itself rather pointedly, without much in the way of further description other than to say the substance in the one gallon bottle is gasoline, and it was pumped from a local Lake Geneva gas station. The gas pumped by one of the Geneva Shore Report’s X-files investigators came from a pump designated regular. The amount pumped was one full gallon, except, as suspected, the machine did not pump a full gallon. It pumped six percent less than a gallon, or about one cup less (of 16 in a gallon). Six percent does not seem like much until you start doing the math. Six point two five percent deducted from the $3.49 charge at the station results in 22.8 cents. The normal gas station in the United States pumps about fifteen thousand gallons of gas a day. Assuming that all the pumps at the station are set the same way then a station overcharging only 6.25% would profit an additional $3400 a day. Until the Geneva Shore Report investigates further, it is not yet known if this kind of behavior is going on at all the stations around the lake. Only one station and one pump at that station was tested. You are looking at the results.
Do not go out and attempt to repeat this test at your local gas station. Putting gas in a container not specifically approved to hold it (there are no approved containers you can see through) is illegal in Wisconsin, and almost all other states. Is it a coincidence that approved containers are constructed so the purchaser can’t see through the container walls? The name of the gas station the GSR X-Files investigators tested will not be published until all the stations around the lake are tested in the same backyard “Mr. Wizard” manner.
At one time all gas pumps were made of glass. Gas was pumped from underground tanks into the clear glass containers so the customer could see that indeed the amount paid for was in the clear tubular container. At that point the pump was stopped, and the gas was allowed to flow down into the customer’s automobile tank using gravity. This problem of gas station owners shorting customers is as old as the automobile itself. Only in modern times are electronic and advanced mechanical systems accepted as being one hundred percent accurate, allowing for the removal of all tubular glass tanks. All gas station pumps in Wisconsin are tested twice a year for accuracy, but apparently the machines can be reset following inspection. It was a tip about such resetting that caused the Geneva Shore Report to physically test and confirm the shortage in the pump tested.
Over the course of the next month the GSR will be out testing every station and pump located around Geneva Lake. The results of those tests will be published in December’s first issue, and will include the names and locations of stations found to be shorting customers.
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