WASHINGTON — Have you ever wondered if your gas pump is really giving you the amount of fuel you’re paying for?
Here in Washington, the Weights and Measures program under the Department of Agriculture monitors that. Their job as inspectors is to check the accuracy, safety, and quality of each gas pump across the state.
Gas pumps are not their only task. They also check grocery store scales, highway weigh-stations, and any other commercial use scale in the state.
We found most gas stations in the Puget Sound area aren’t checked regularly due to a “shortage of pump inspectors,” according to Weights and Measures program manager, Tahis McQueen.
“Because we are short-staffed, we have not been able to make those inspections in that timely 18-month time frame,” McQueen said.
There are 1,055 gas stations across King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties. Those stations are supposed to be inspected every two years or less, per state law.
KIRO 7 requested the gas station inspection reports for 2023-2024. We received 75 reports.
Out of those 75 reports, 26 of them showed the pumps had an issue with useability and fill accuracy.
Summed up, only 7% of the county’s gas stations have been inspected in the past two years and 1/3 of the ones that have been inspected failed.
It’s easy to spot when a pump has been last inspected. Each pump at every station should have a sticker on it that has a hole-punched month and year.
KIRO 7 found many pumps across the three Puget Sound counties that had no sticker at all.
According to the reports, many stations have not been recently inspected. If the sticker date goes back more than a few years, it’s possible what’s on this screen doesn’t match what’s going into your tank. Pump errors are possible due to lack of accountability with few inspections happening.
Here in Western Washington, we know every penny matters when it comes to buying a full tank.
“If they’re above or below the zero marker, we have a tolerance of six cubic inches in either direction,” McQueen said.
Six cubic inches comes out to be a little less than half a cup of gas.
Reports show some pumps are giving up to two whole cups less than what the customer paid for.
At the same time, other gas stations are giving more gas than paid for.
Either way, what’s in your tank doesn’t match what’s coming out of your wallet.
75 stations were inspected from 2023-2024. 26 of them failed the test due to calibration accuracy requirements. Out of the 26, 14 stations were giving gas away, benefitting the consumer, while 12 of them were not giving people what they paid for.
McQueen tells us the gas station operators are likely not doing this on purpose.
“It’s usually a problem with the actual meter it’s not tampering or anything like that,” McQueen said.
But on the chance your favorite gas station fails an inspection, there are checks and balances.
“If there’s a problem with the accuracy of the meter, they will write the station up telling them what the issue was as far as accuracy goes and give them 30 days to get that fixed,” McQueen said.
After that deadline, the state is then required to go back to that station and make sure the issue was resolved.
Below is a list of each gas station that was inspected from 2023-2024 in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. This information was given to KIRO 7 via a request to the Washington Weights and Measures Department. We asked them for all reports from those two years in those three counties.
If the gas station had an issue with a pump, the inspector flagged the problem and often issues the station a fine and a charge to fix the problem within a month. The statistics below represent inspection results from specific days in 2023-2024, they do not represent if the gas station currently has a calibration or system issue.
Passed: Chevron, 11122 Steele Street S Lakewood WA 98499
Passed: 76, 2601 N Stevens St Tacoma WA 98407
Passed: Safeway, 11501 Canyon Rd E Puyallup WA 98373
Passed: Chevron, 1772 S 72nd St, Tacoma, WA 98408
Passed: Safeway, 2735 N Pearl St Tacoma WA 98407
Passed: Shell, 801 S Hill Park Dr, Puyallup, WA 98373
Passed: 76, 8817 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA 98444
Passed: ARCO, 401 Ellingson Rd, Pacific, WA 98047
Passed: Chevron, 2626 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA
Passed: Shell, 24821 NE Redmond Fall City Rd Redmond WA 98053
Passed: 7/11, 22422 83rd Ave Kent WA 98032
Passed: Pacific Pride, 22429 SE 231St Maple Valley WA 98038
Passed: ARCO, 1537 Duvall Ave NE Renton WA 98059
Passed: Chevron, 601 Stevens Pass Hwy Sultan WA 98294
Passed: Chevron, 502 W Stanley St Granite Falls WA 98252
Abnormal: Chevron, 19923 International Blvd SeaTac WA 98188
Abnormal: Shell, 24821 NE Redmond Fall City Rd Redmond WA 98053
Abnormal: ARCO, 13055 NE 70th Pl Kirkland WA 98033
Abnormal: Garry’s on Pearl, 4601 N Pearl St Tacoma WA 98407
Abnormal: Chevron, 6701 6th Ave Tacoma WA 98406
Abnormal: Fred Meyer, 33702 21st Ave SE Federal Way WA 98023
Abnormal: 76, 719 91st Ave NE Lake Stevens WA 98258
Abnormal: Shell, 6410 state route 92 lake Steven’s WA 98258
Abnormal: Shell, 6410 state route 92 lake Steven’s WA 98258
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