PITTSBURGH -- Team 4 has learned that Harrisburg is planning to privatize state inspections of gas pumps, cash registers and meat scales.
State employees currently do the annual inspections, but Team 4 investigator Jim Parsons reported that -- starting next year -- retailers will be able to do those inspections themselves.
"A grocery store could actually determine whether their scales are accurate to give a person a pound of potato salad when they're paying for a pound of potato salad, and I find it's a 'fox in the henhouse' scenario," AARP consumer advocate Mary Bach said.
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture inspectors check those pumps and registers at least once a year for accuracy, but change is on the way. Harrisburg is planning to allow retailers to use private inspectors -- even their own employees.
"We trust, as consumers, that when we pump that gallon of gas, we are actually getting what we pay for," Bach said.
Team 4 asked John Dillabaugh, director of the Bureau of Ride and Measurement Standards, about Bach's "fox in the henhouse" analogy.
"You're right, it can be perceived that way," Dillabaugh said. "That's why it's important to remember that the state is the farmer with the big shotgun standing over the fox. We have oversight and will ensure consumer confidence."
State representatives Tony DeLuca and Dom Costa said that isn't good enough.
"I can't see turning it over to individuals doing their own inspections would be beneficial to our consumers out there, so I'm totally against that," said DeLuca, D-Penn Hills.
"Privatization is good in some areas and bad in others, but when you're having your own personnel watching your own weights and scales, I have a problem with that. I'd rather have a government agency do that type of work," said Costa, D-Pittsburgh.
A bill that was enacted 10 years ago allows for private pump inspections. It's just now being implemented.
This does not apply to Allegheny County, which still conducts its own weights and measures inspections.
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