Time is rapidly running out – less than five months to be exact – for service gas stations in the United States to install EMV compliant systems at their pumps that allow their customers to make credit card transactions with the chip on their cards as opposed to magnetic swiping, which is significantly more vulnerable to fraud. The April 2021 deadline is no doubt causing sleepless nights for independent gas station owners who do not have corporate support to fund the enormous and onerous expense of outdoor EMV compliance.
Becoming EMV compliant can entail ripping out and replacing pumps altogether or employing manufacturer retrofitting methods. Both of these scenarios are enormously costly and time intensive. Replacing just one pump that is too old to be retrofitted can drain a merchant’s wallet between $10,000 and $20,000. Figuring a typical station has four pumps, plus the cost of ripping up concrete and lost business when the pumps are down, independent service station owners are looking at a $150,000 to $200,000 price per station- not counting the high monthly support and software fees.
Those “lucky enough” to retrofit can expect to spend upwards of $5,000 to $10,000 per pump. Add in the cost of new POS systems and the cost balloons to between $40,000 and $60,000. And don’t forget those pesky monthly software and support fees that run approximately $1,000 per month. An angina inducing process for sure.
But sky-high pump replacements or retrofits aren’t gas station owners’ only options. In fact, independent merchants can upgrade their pumps at a fraction of the cost without suffering business downtime or employing other expensive options to achieve EMV compliance.
When choosing vendors, station owners would be wise to select NRS Petro. NRS Petro, unlike the competition, offers a unique, highly approachable program that realizes tremendous savings for business owners, stems further bleeding of funds by preventing loss of business continuity, and safeguards customers’ sensitive personal data to prevent fraud and identify theft at the pumps.
NRS Petro’s stress-free, patented and affordable upgrade system is revolutionizing the gas station industry. It starts with the NRS EMV EZ Pump. The EMV-enabled reader allows for contactless payments – which have become extra important during the COVID-19 pandemic – reads credit card chips and accepts ever-increasing payment applications such as Google Pay and Apple Wallet. With contactless transactions, consumers no longer have to reveal their zip codes or sign a receipt.
The worry-free system applies to almost all existing gas pumps in the market – no pump is outdated for NRS Petro – except for mechanical ones which are far and few between and would need to be replaced regardless of NRS Petro – easily saving tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars. There’s no heavy construction work involved, can be phased in pump by pump, eliminating altogether the loss of business continuity and installation takes hours rather than days or weeks.
With NRS Petro, customers who go inside to the mini-mart or convenience store while filling their vehicles can pay for their gas purchase as well as their snacks inside. As part of its Petro program, NRS provides the NRS Petro POS system and NRS Forecourt Controller to offer a complete, end-to-end solution for stations that need to replace outdated equipment.
NRS Petro also offers confidence-building features for your patrons. Transactions are conducted at the register and at the pump. If tampered with, a unique, built-in trigger alert system in the NRS EMV EZ PUMP device at the pump will automatically disable the card-processing terminal. The extra layer goes a long way toward instilling trust in today’s ever-knowledgeable consumer.
Contact NRS Petro today to learn more and turn the EMV compliance process from a nightmare to a more than manageable scenario that in the long run will increase rather than drain profits.
