So the country's in a flap again about rising inflation, and the price of fuel all but has a death grip on our wallets. In fact, the country was so unprepared for the rocketing rise of fuel, that around 18,000 diesel pumps nationwide can't even handle the hike into double digits. For the past month, motorists have had to do their own math to figure out what they owe the station - by multiplying the reflected figure by 10. As an example, SA Petrol Retailers Association (Sapra) chairman Wessel Strauss last month said "If petrol costs R13 a litre, the pump will only show R1.30. So it will have to be multiplied by 10 in the short term." So considering these pumps can't be set to a figure in their teens, I assume they also don't have the capacity to feature a number with 3 decimal places. Unfortunately the Petrol-Powers-That-Be (PPTB) haven't quite kept the increases to nice round numbers (Inland diesel now stands at R11.34 while at the coast expect to pay R11.30; outdated pumps should read R1.13) and so, I imagine, there's been some loss at these stations where that mere 4 cents has fallen off the board. Not to mention the fact that there's no apparent way to calculate that overflow between 1 - 9 cents. But let's backtrack a bit. Everyone has experienced a time where they've asked for say R100 in petrol, and when the pump jockey has finished, the figure has actually read R100.01. OK, so who's whining about 1 measly cent? But what happens now, when the pump can't register up to 9 cents per litre? Let's do some rudimentary math (and please feel free to correct me if my calculator is incorrect!). Take 18,000 diesel pumps servicing say, 68 vehicles a day (1 car every 15 minutes between 7am and 12am) - that's 1,224,000 vehicles. Now let's say each of those vehicles gets 7 cents free overflow - just because it can't be counted. That works out to be R85,680 loss per day nationwide; which equals a 30 day loss of R2,570,400. In the 7 months these stations have to update their pumps, this could lead to an overall loss of R17,992,800. Ouch. So, if this has indeed been considered by said PPTB, exactly whose pocket is this coming out of? Perhaps this is just another factor for the rise...? What do you think?

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor Photo courtesy of Allan Henderson