When the attention of the U.S payments industry was focused on the migration to EMV cards and merchant terminals, the cost was estimated to be $5 to $8 Billion, give or take a billion. An article in Digital Transactions reports that nearly as much will be spent again by gas stations to upgrade their pay-at-the-pump terminals. This aspect of commerce has a different liability shift date given the complexity of their business:
The U.S. petroleum industry has until October 2020 to comply with the card networks’ deadline to accept EMV chip cards. Will it make it? According to one expert observer, the odds aren’t good. “Some will not be ready,” Terry Mahoney, a partner who follows the industry at Chicago-based W. Capra Consulting Group, tells Digital Transactions News.
Recognizing the problem, some petroleum companies are offering financial incentives to their marketers to help them with the expense of compliance, Mahoney said. He estimated that, fully rolled out, the cost of the EMV pump conversion alone will total $4 billion to $6 billion.
Many of the large brands have completed their transition to EMV or are well on their way. For the small shops, the economics just don’t make sense:
Mahoney estimates that, for the bottom quarter of dealers ranked by profitability, the total cost of the EMV conversion exceeds their yearly profit. These stations may simply resort to sending customers inside the station to pay for their gas, Mahoney says.
Overview by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit and Alternative Products Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
Read the quoted story here
