It sounds like when I was a kid in Ohio. One oil company said they had a form of anti-freeze in their blend. The only problem was it didn't prevent fuel line freeze up. It cut your fuel milleage by 10%. Sounds like a re-run

How come these issues were not highlighted all these while? Consumers have the right to demand...

That's pretty funny. The gas companies are in favor of temperature adjusted fuel pumps where it's cold but not where it's hot. Coincidence? Never trust ANY corporations. They'll lie right through their teeth at any time it is profitable to do so.

What a shock! Oil companies say it's too expensive to retrofit pumps in the warmer climates, while requiring that Canadian pumps be retrofitted because it eats into their profit margins.

This from the same industry that took out ads when regular was $3 a gallon helpfully "explaining" the cost of a dollar's worth of gasoline but nowhere mentioning record profits. Costs of refining and shipping were illustrated while Gulfstream jets and vacation homes in the Hamptons for senior executives were not.

If it weren't for Dim Son in the White House these guys would be in very hot water...but now it's just business as usual, with consumers taking the hit.

Corporations cheat, lie and steal. Then someone acts like it's a surprise. They have a lawsuit, and when it's over, some lawyers make money and the companies raise prices to "pay for the lawsuit" (plus about a gazillion dollars each to their top executives and stockholders).

We could go with a solution from "Communist Manafesto", and suggest that working people revolt. Unfortunately, the working people usually turn out to be just as greedy and incompetent as the last set of dorks, so that usually backfires. (China is doing OK, but most other attempts at installing socialized economics by force resulted in even worse systems than those being replaced. Many have already collapsed under the weight of their own stupidity.)

The other solution is to just live with being cheated until a few rich people get all the money, and everyone else is back in the Stone Age. Economists call this a "recession". It happens faster during something called a "Bull Market", which is a period of time when people believe the bull that their governments and corporations put out.

Truth hurts.

what a rip-off

I know this smacks the face of capitalism but the sad fact is some things would be better off nationalized, that is, taken over by the government. Nationalizing the oil industry and banking would be a good thing for our country. If the profit were taken out of the finanicial industry we would all be able to get 3% home loans. Building would boom, all the necessary supplies for building houses would boom, everybody who wanted a job would have one. The same thing would happen if we nationalized the oil industry. Gas would be cheaper and the price would not spike. Cheaper gas would also mean more commerce because people wouldn't worry about shipping or vacation travel. Sometimes it makes sense to do things at the top rather than allow greedy rich people run the show.

Would be nice to see this story carried on the primetime news hours..as long as 75% of the population is in the dark, they win.

what a rip off, but where is the outrage, none,
because people like to get ripped off.

I think this story just highlights the way cooporations think. I don't see nationalizing coorporations as the way to go. I see having a government that regulates as the way to go. If you start digging it is amazing what these oil companies pay for.

Talk about "hot" gasoline! When I was a kid in Ohio in the way, way back when(I'm not telling exactly when, there was a brand called "Tank Car Gasoline."

The gas station consisted of an old railroad tank car posioned on a rail siding where a main road or highway ran beside it. Now, imagine the sun beating down on the silver painted tank caa full of gas! Did I Say air? It's a no wonder it was the cheapest gas in town.

Oldtimer Bill

I guess ripoofs have been there since Christ was a corporal....but it doesnt make any less disgusting

Obviously regulators could be much more diligent (they know what to look for)but Bush is soft on Oil companies in addition to illegal immigrants

I had no idea that fuel companies were doing this but it all makes sense now. Sometimes I would fill up and the mileage would reach 330 miles on a tank of gas and at other times it would only reach 260. Seventy miles and I didn't understand why. I hope they win this lawsuit against these companies, because in reality this is a dishonest practice, hence FRAUD.

Here is a way to help roll over this rip-off to your advantage. It's the same principle of this story, only applied to your car. Heat the cold gas stored in your tank right before it goes into the engine to burn. Do this by unhooking the line & putting a coiled extension line on the end, then wrap that around something in your engine that always runs hot, thereby sending more vapors ready to burn than just cold gas from your tank. It improves mileage by up to 50%. It works. This "secret" idea was about to patented by a local gas station/race car owner way back when gas was 36.9, but was quickly bought out by "big oil" & hushed up.

I guess the sun tax is at work again!

It is somewhat moronic to complain about how something costs more from one area to the next, it simply is what it is. I guess I should file a lawsuit against everyone who is charging more for a house on the coast, when the cost of the materials is the same as my place in the flyover zone.

Of course the corporations play the game, like we would not if we were in the same situation! If you don't like it, just fill your tank with vegetable oil and thumb your nose at every gas station you pass. Of course you have to deal with the craving for fries all the time....

People are sheep!! As long as they have some grass under their nose thier happy.

I seem to remember an attorney who was disbarred for lying to a grand jury, obstructing justice, and kept his job. It was Bill Clinton. And you liberals think he was a GOD. How quickly you turn on a man in uniform. At least this guy wore one, and didn't sneak off to smoke pot while others went to war. Now, this guy is a total dirt bag and deserves to spend the rest of his days pounding rocks, but the uneven application of criticism from the left further highlights the hypocracy that has become the staple of their ideology.

You've got to be kidding!

Yes, the corporation will require temp adjusted pumps when it helps their bottom line. DUH!

People complain about corporations and profits; but then demand better returns on their IRA's. Hello??? Where do you think that that money comes from. No conspiracy in my mind, just good capitalism.

BTW, nationalizing so "everyone that wants a job can have one" is silly. Unemployment is so low now, that everyone that wants a job HAS one. The only people on unemployment now, are there until their severance runs dry, then they'll get a job. And to want low interest for homes? We are at historically average interest rates. Go back to lame-brain Carter for 21, YES, 21% interest rates; now you complain about 9? Quit reading and./or stop using your credit cards. That's where your money is being wasted.

Oh, but that would require seeing that the problem is in the mirror.

Truth hurts.

Most fluids expand when hot and contract when cold. The fact that gasoline expands due to the ground heating up isn't the gas companies' fault.
What IS their fault is their failure to inform people about the effect of this phenomenon on your pocketbook. Obviously they are aware of it, since they want to keep Canadians from reaping the benefit of relatively condensed gasoline, while at the same time claiming it too expensive to keep people in warmer climates from being ripped off by less-dense fuel.
Until/unless something is done about the problem, if you live in a warm climate then try to buy your gasoline earlier in the day to reduce the effect of the "hot gas" phenomenon.

While this is outrageous (an not at all surprising), I am at a loss to find a suitable solution.

The problem with Howards' idea is that in order to maintain ANY industry, there HAS to be profit. Just to keep up with maintenace, structural upgrades and investing in technology. So, the government would also have to make a profit or we would face a huge tax hike at some point to fix the industry.

This would leave our elected leaders in a position to manage profit and loss. Take a look at our deficit and tell me that still sounds like a good idea!