Your comments: Spiking gas prices have inspectors making surprise visits Staff By Staff The Star-Ledger
on March 09, 2011 at 11:25 AM

New Jersey gas prices are up an average of 14 cents in the last week and 33 cents in the last month. Those kinds of jumps have consumers worried about scams and other less nefarious oddities at the pumps, and state and county weights and measures inspectors have stepped up surprise inspections, The Star-Ledger reports. Some pumps have been closed, but inspectors are sure to point out that not all inaccuracy is due to intentional manipulation - some inaccuracy is accidental, and some might even be in the consumer's favor.

The community is commenting on this article from a variety of perspectives. user neonrat responds to a commenter questioning government involvement and saying the free market itself will weed out the bad operators:

The Office of Weights and Measures is a very important and often under [appreciated] part of the state. Rampart, I doubt you take your receipts and check them do you? And it's not just Gas - it's the scales at the airport, truck weigh stations, even at the supermarket. Those scales (butcher, produce, checkout) are checked and inspected to make sure that people like you and me aren't being ripped off. Next time you're there look for the round brightly colored sticker.
Unless you like to be ripped off? And sorry, but the "invisible hand of the market" is a myth business owners tell people to let them think that they actually have a chance or choices in this world... In reality, it's just a matter of who the bigger guy is, and it's not the people user ddseven responds to that comment from the position of a business operator:

I have to disagree with you NeonRat. The office of weights and measures is a joke.They charge me $150.00 a year for two scales, one of which they cannot certify. When they come to my business to certify one scale they carry a small weight in a brown bag and put it on the scale. And why does it take two poeple to do this? Our local airport just filled up a new plane with a 26 gallon tank (which was empty) and it took 28 gallons of fuel. The pump was certified the day before. State Weights and measures may be efficient, but The County Weights and Measures are a joke and they are the ones who make rounds to certify devices.

And user sexyshorty ties the discussion to the current broader discussion about government:

I find it interesting that everyone wants to run to the county and the state to complain about these gas stations, but in the next breath, will proclaim that state workers are lazy and incompetent and we don't need them.
People always claim they don't need or want government services/intervention, but when something goes wrong, the government is the FIRST place everyone turns.
