Consumers today are more environmentally conscious than ever. The “Go Green” movement is in full effect and its impact has raised environmental sustainability awareness among independently owned businesses as well. Customers are quick to praise, and pledge their loyalty to, convenience stores and mini-marts that have banned plastic bags or the local deli shop that no longer serves your coffee in a Styrofoam cup. Gas station owners can join the ranks of the environmentally friendly and boost customer appreciation when they meet the April deadline for becoming EMV compliant. One of the benefits of the new regulations that come into play is that EMV compliant credit card processing machines offer digital receipts. Paperless transactions help to save untold number of trees while reducing annoying clutter in drivers; wallets and saving paper from heading to a landfill. Paper receipts account for a mind boggling 1.5 billion pounds of environmental waste a year in the United States. Statistics show that customers want digital receipts as an option. A recent poll by the advocacy group Green American found that 9 out of 10 respondents desire digital receipts as an option, especially millennials and young consumers that are increasingly becoming the main demographic for service stations. According to retailcustomerexperience.com, the same survey found that almost 40% of respondents have already signed up for digital receipts of some kind and that 70% of those who prefer digital receipts said it’s in part because they’re better for the environment. We realize, of course, that going green may not be much consolation to independent gas station owners that are facing unprecedented costs due to the pandemic and the April EMV compliance deadline. The previously unbudgeted costs of sanitizing the pumps and mini-marts and providing personal protective equipment to employees and the extraordinary expense of purchasing new pumps or retrofitting existing infrastructure to meet the new regulations is first and foremost on merchant’s minds, not paper
savings. But in the long run, raising your businesses environmental profile attracts customers. To the contrary, sticking with outdated technology can turn away patrons that are either annoyed at the lack of convenience offered by your service station, turned off by its environmental wastefulness, or both. Luckily, National Retail Solutions (NRS) recognizes these problems and offers innovative an innovative path to greatly reducing the financial stress of meeting the EMV regulations while helping to promote gas stations’ pro- environment operations. Through its NRS Petro program, the company provides independent service stations owners an easy and affordable program through which they can enable EMV at the pumps. The NRS Petro system, unlike the competitors, retrofits all pumps, regardless of age or brand, saving service stations tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars in pump replacements and upgrades. Plus, the upgrade process takes hours, not days or weeks. There’s no need to stress about lost business while pumps are dug up and new ones installed. NRS Petro, by eliminating the need for digging, is a good example of the perception of environmentally conscious service stations. Customers will not only drive past gas stations with long lines due to pumps being down, but will also perceive that something is wrong at your business. Most consumers won’t know you’re working to become EMV compliant. Instead, they see digging and may think there’s an environmental issue that you’ve ignored that needs to be fixed. Plus, service stations under construction are just plain ugly and uninviting. Using NRS Petro, independent gas station owners save money while boosting their public perception. NRS will provide stations with stickers that certify your pro- environment stance that can be prominently displayed at the pumps and in the mini-mart. Going green means earning green. Let NRS Petro help your service station see the tremendous benefits of being environmentally conscious while realizing significant savings and increased profits through the most approachable EMV-enabling system in the industry.
