Unknowingly, Cab company weighs in close to standard

Saturday, Feb. 7, 1998 | 4:57 a.m.

While companies that sell gasoline are supposed to inform the Nevada Weights and Measures Section that they are opening a new retail outlet -- and, for the most part, they do -- sometimes a situation occurs that differs from the norm.

Recently, Las Vegas cab drivers contacted Weights and Measures to say that their taxi company was charging them for fuel from its pumps, and that those devices were not being regularly inspected by the state. Indeed, the business was not on the list of those that are regularly inspected by the agency.

"What happened in this case was that they (cab company officials) were selling only to their drivers, not to the general public," said Michael George, a deputy state sealer for Weights and Measures, who conducted the inspection.

"There was no intent by the company to avoid being inspected. They just didn't know they were required to have their pumps inspected. They are not like the major oil companies who do this (open service stations) all of the time."

In early December, a SUN reporter accompanied George on the inspection of the cab company's eight regular unleaded pumps.

As with all inspections, the agency did not call the business prior to its inspection. An official at the cab company appeared surprised to see the inspector, but made no effort to prevent him from checking the pumps.

George, who has been in the weights and measures business for 30 years as both an inspector and scale repairman, discovered something he did not expect when he unlocked the pumps to look at the lead wire seals.

"I was surprised to see they had factory seals on them," he said. "That means they were not calibrated at the time they were installed."

Had they been calibrated -- or tampered with as some more cynical cab drivers alleged -- the factory seal would have been broken and either the seal of the individual who worked on them or no seal would have been found.

At the end of the inspection, George put his state seal on the pumps. To recalibrate the devices, the state seals would have to be broken and replaced with a repairman's seal -- an exercise that keeps things honest, George said.

Following his inspection, George was able to slap a purple "approved" sticker on just one pump that had a reading of minus-2 cubic inches per 5 gallons.

Six of the pumps had tolerance readings ranging from minus-4 to minus-8 cubic inches per 5 gallons (off in favor of the company) and one had a reading of plus-12 cubic inches (off in favor of the drivers) -- all unacceptable.

"That was not too bad -- I've seen them in the 20s both ways," George said. "No one was being ripped off here.

"Still, if this were my business, I'd call the people who installed the pumps and tell them to fix them like they should have done the first time and not charge me for the work."

The seven pumps that failed were not malfunctioning seriously enough to warrant the state to "red tag" them -- Weights and Measures jargon for shut them down.

Instead, the pumps that failed were "blue tagged," allowing for business to be conducted as usual while the repairs and reinspection were pending.

George estimated that the miscalibrated pumps produced at worst a shot glassful for every 10 gallons -- not even enough to turn a cab engine over one time.

And, he said, the company did not profit a whole lot from the situation, given that it was charging the drivers just $1 a gallon -- far below the going retail rate.

George also noted that had this been a subsequent annual inspection instead of an initial inspection, five of the seven pumps that failed would have passed because they would have had to meet a less-restrictive tolerance range.

About three weeks after his initial inspection, George returned to the cab company and retested the pumps. Two measured zero tolerance while the other five had tolerance levels of plus-2 cubic inches. All were approved.