On Mon, 13 May 2013 13:51:53 -0700, Roy wrote:

Why would one need nine gas cans on one's property?...

Simple. Because nine is the most I can fit in my trunk.

Or perhaps a collector of stuff people threw away

I wish I got them for free. They're all less than a year old.
Bought them all at Lowes.

I've spilled more gas with these stupid things

Me too.

They are designed to only half the problem, which is to hold
the gas *in* the can; but they forgot the other half of the
basic requirement which is to allow the gas to come *out*!

Me?

I remove the cap altogether and simply siphon the 5 gallon cans
into a vehicle and pour the 2 gallon cans into a funnel for
the lawn equipment. I have a 1 gallon can for the two-stroke
tools.

All I need is a good flat one-piece gas cap for all of them.
If only I could find it...