This article is brought to you by Invenco. 
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—It’s been a year since convenience retailers were required to update their fuel pumps to accept chip card transactions to prevent fraud. The deadline to upgrade was April 17, 2021, and the conversation surrounding EMV compliance seems to have gone silent, but there are retailers who missed the deadline. If your business is among the approximately 25% that haven’t made the necessary changes, here’s why you need to.
“With gas prices hurting Americans’ wallets, fraud is increasing, theft amounts are increasing and convenience retailers are at risk,” said Courtney Johnson, senior manager, global marketing and business development, Invenco. “It’s not too late for retailers to upgrade their terminals. There are solutions out there that make a seemingly daunting endeavor affordable and easy.”
Gasoline prices are at record highs and so is the price of fraud liability at the pump. Credit companies are implementing higher swipe fees and also cracking down on payments fraud.
EMV payment at the pump also has grown sharply since the April 2021 liability shift, according to the U.S. Payments Forum. Mastercard reported 75% of its automated fuel dispenser transactions in December 2021 processed as EMV chip transactions.
Johnson says that a good solution strategy for a retailer to get on the right path with EMV upgrades is using retrofit pay-at-pump equipment, which can save each business thousands of dollars compared to repumping a site, or retrofitting with pump manufacturer kits.
“Retrofit kitted outdoor payment terminals are a fantastic, cost-effective solution to protecting each fuel site against outdoor EMV fraud. In today’s market, there are several retrofit terminal solutions available at a range of price points,” said Johnson.
“It’s important that retailers look at the quality and ongoing value delivery when they choose which retrofit solution to go with,” Johnson said. “Features like contactless payments, touchscreens and cloud connection will ensure a positive customer engagement and are important long-term investments.”
Invenco’s outdoor payment terminals are developed internally, from the ground up to deliver secure, future-proof technology at the pump. The cost effective, and high-quality solutions can be purchased or rented on a monthly contract. Since 2004, Invenco has been delivering outdoor EMV solutions, which are installed in over 6,000 sites throughout the U.S.
This is the first installment of a two-part series about EMV compliance using retrofitted, third-party software and hardware instead of replacing or purchasing from fuel pump providers. Look for the second installment next week. For more information visit Invenco.com or email i2sales@invenco.com.