BOSTON – While other retailers have to switch to EMV payments next month, gas stations have an extension until October 1, 2020, because of additional challenges this industry has, Payments Source reports. “There isn’t a lot of movement right now based on the pushback of the deadline and the relatively low level of fraud occurring at the pump. There’s a wait-and-see mentality,” said Marci Gagnon, vice president of business development and operations at AVATAS Payment Solutions. “It’s really not a lot of time when you consider all the steps and processes it may take to implement the new technology.”

The bulk of gasoline stations are not owned by the major oil companies, so many are waiting until the bigger chains have converted to EMV payments before addressing their smaller chains or single location. But there is movement in this channel to upgrade to EMV. This summer, Gilbarco Veeder-Root registered the first EMV gas pump transaction and announced an agreement with retailers to update pumps for EMV payments.

Also, many retailers have decided to wait to make multiple updates at the same time to hold expenses to a minimum. For example, gas stations might want to incorporate mobile wallet payments along with EMV. Fraud rates at the pump have stayed consistently low—around 1.3% of total U.S. payment fraud—which, contrasted with the high cost of updating, has lulled retailers into a wait-and-see mentality.

“To me, this is more of a business issue than it is a technical issue. How expensive is it going to be to upgrade, and if I don’t upgrade, what will my fraud costs look like?” asks Jack Jania, senior vice president of strategic alliances for Gemalto.

Technology might be able to help keep costs lower. For instance, Wayne Fueling Systems’ Wayne Connect provides a shortcut to upgrading wiring with high-speed connectivity. “It’s a way to overcome significant cost to get EMV at your site,” said Tim Weston, technology solutions manager at Wayne Fueling Systems.

“I cannot think of a major brand or chain that is not deep into the process of bringing EMV to market.”  Said Gray Taylor, executive director of Conexxus.  “This is a huge project, and the fact that we see – one month out from the original deadline – few working EMV dispenser payment terminals, substantiates the significant technical challenges that surfaced in our work at the EMV Migration Forum over the past several years.  We will need every day of the 3-year deferment to get our network EMV compliant.”