… may include replacing some gas pumps.
I remember back in the Dark Ages when gas first ticked up over $0.99/gallon that a huge number of pumps — in particular of the mechanical variety — simply couldn’t handle the change, since they were designed (shades of Y2K) with the idea that gas would never rise that high.
Some Vermont gasoline retailers are unable to raise their pump prices above $3 because their pumps cannot be set that high. “I didn’t know until yesterday that my pumps wouldn’t go over $2.99,” said Warren Miller, owner of the Elmore Store. “It caught us by surprise.”
When he called a pump repair service, he learned others had the same problem. Replacement mechanisms will not be available immediately, so Miller had to close his pumps.
At least 60 of the 6,000 gasoline pumps across the state have the same problem, said Carl Cushing, director of food safety and consumer protection in the Agency of Agriculture. His office regulates gasoline pumps.
Not sure what those pump manufacturers were thinking, given precedent …
(via RISKS)
Oh no! This could be bigger than Y2K!!!!!!!
Funny thing is, I never thought about the dollar-a-gallon gas pump analogy to Y2K until just this minute. And it would have been a great way to explain to folks what the problem was.