Motorists should be able to see pump settings

Is it just me? Am I starting to show my age? Do other people also find this annoying?

It used to be that when you pulled into a gas station, the hoses on the pumps were long enough that, as long as you didn't park in the next county, the attendant filled your vehicle with gas, you paid and you were on your way.

Now the hoses on the pumps are so short that if you don't stop with the fill pipe on your vehicle exactly lined up with the hose on the pump, the attendant will probably refuse to even try to put gas into your vehicle unless you move to where he wants it. Normally, if I have to restart my car, I'm out of there and I go to a gas station that wants my business.

The problem is that the fill pipe on my car is toward the rear on the passenger side. Therefore, if I stop where the attendannt demands that I stop, I often can't read the pump settings while the tank is being filled and I shouldn't have to get out of my car to do so. On my pickup, the fill pipe is just behind the door on the driver's side, therefore there is no similar problem.

It is my opinion that the driver (consumer) should be directly in front of the pump so that he/she can read the pump settings and that the hose, which is flexible, should be long enough to reach to the fill pipe on the vehicle.

As an aid to the consumer, would it really cost the gas station owners too much to equip all gas pumps with adequate length hoses thereby eliminating this annoyance.

William H. Gettler
Wantage