Another point: I see all the above remarks about locking spout handles disappearing and then re-appearing. This is true here in California, as already noted, and has been for a while.
I’m still wondering: Why? What was the science (or, more likely, politics) behind this? I am definitely glad that all the pumps I’ve used lately have those locks.
(I had always thought it might have to do with liability issues: Occasionally such a pump, unattended by the customer, would fail to shut off while the customer was washing his windows or going to the bathroom, and spill quite a lot of gas on the ground. [Remember that scene from Hitchcock’s The Birds?] )