MASON COUNTY, Wash. -- Old style analog gas and fuel pumps are creating some new problems, thanks to the rapidly increasing prices for gas and diesel.

It's happening across the state, and Mason County is no exception. If you are out of diesel in places like Dayton or Matlock, you are also out of luck.

The problem is the pump itself. It's older than the owner and out of touch with today's prices and reality.

Yong Kim of the Dayton General Store tried to adjust the price of diesel. But the machine can only be set, at most, to $3.99. Diesel in Mason County is about 80 cents a gallon more expensive that that.

Kim ordered new computers three weeks ago. Those computers will be programmable to $9.99 per gallon. But they will be slow to come.

"The manufacturer says it will be back ordered, so probably four to six weeks," Kim said.

Until then his diesel pump will remain turned off, out of order. The next diesel stop is ten miles away in Matlock.

There we found Durk York who has parked his diesel truck and has been driving an old gas one instead.

"People out here who can't drive their diesel truck, can't get to work," he said.

There are service stations in Shelton some 20 miles away. Drivers can buy diesel there for $4.82 per gallon. But York said that doesn't do many in Matlock any good.

"What if they can't get to Shelton?" he said.

We wondered if that argument would work. Inside the Matlock General Store, KOMO Newsasked Lori Elliott what happens when someone gets stranded in Matlock.

"Well, you'll have to hitchhike," she said.

No diesel is currently available at the general store. But we noticed a book with a record of recent diesel purchases, and wondered who the lucky buyers were.

"The school and the fire department," Elliott said.

The price of medium-grade gas is currently $3.99 per gallon. A penny more and the store will run into the same problems Kim is now dealing with.

The store owners say new devices cost $1,000 each and that will severely strain their budget.

The state Department of Agriculture says if stations have new machines on order and will put up big signs, they may let them, on an interim basis, price gas by the half gallon.