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Dear PEI Member: Early yesterday, Dec. 1, Visa
announced on its website that it was
extending by three years the deadline for retailers to add EMV processing
capability to their fuel dispenser payment systems. Rather than Oct. 1,
2017, retailers now have until Oct. 1, 2020, to avoid the liability shift
that will take place if their dispenser payment systems are not upgraded to
be chip-card ready. Shortly after Visa’s announcement,
Mastercard followed suit, also
delaying its chip-card liability shift to Oct. 1, 2020.
In its announcement, Visa noted that when the original 2017 deadline was
set, the basic challenges related to dispenser payment systems were well-known:
extremely specialized technology, the inability
to upgrade some older dispensers, and the fact that some fuel marketers
would have to break concrete to install high-bandwidth cabling.
Yesterday’s extension was
based on additional, unforeseen factors. According to Visa, “[F]ive years
after announcing our liability shift, there are still issues with a
sufficient supply of regulatory-compliant EMV hardware and software to
enable most upgrades by 2017.”
Visa also noted that its
recent analyses have shown that “fraud rates at fuel pumps are relatively
low—approximately 1.3 percent of total U.S. payment fraud.”
News of the extension was
quickly welcomed by major retailers, fuel retailer groups and their
technology partners.
“I
believe that the card brands have come to understand that these challenges
are not of retailer creation, but a result of late specifications,
certification complexity and supply chain constraints, rather than a lack of
resolve to adopt EMV," said Gray Taylor, executive director of Conexxus,
in
a statement posted on the NACS website.
With the original deadline
looming, PEI distributors and service contractors have been in the
unenviable position of trying to balance an unprecedented amount of work, an
unachievable industry deadline, hardware and software that were not quite
ready, and an industry-wide shortage of qualified service technicians. No
wonder, then, that in a survey presented at the 2016 PEI Convention, members
labeled EMV work as both their greatest area of opportunity and their
greatest frustration (see Oct. 28, 2016, TL).
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It will take some time to
sort out the near- and long-term effects of the deadline extension on PEI
members, but observations gathered from PEI officers and directors during
the past 24 hours show a mostly positive outlook. Here’s a sampling:
- “I believe this will help our industry and most PEI members. Our
customers missed the October 2015 inside-the-store deadline due to the lack
of necessary software—and there was no way the industry could meet the
October 2017 dispenser payment system deadline. The software required to
accept EMV cards at the dispenser still is not completely ready.”
- “This extension will slow many purchasing decisions, but it also will
protect our customers from the liability they otherwise would have incurred
when they missed the 2017 deadline.”
- “I believe the rollback will free up cash for ‘new-to-the-industry’
builds and remodeling projects that retailers had been forced to put on hold
so they could fund the 2017 EMV rollout.”
- “Canada also had an 11th-hour postponement of liability shift at the
pump by Visa and Mastercard—although for only two years, not three. As in
the U.S., dispenser hardware was mostly EMV-ready, but equipment and
acquirer network software were not. The delay did not cause implementation
to come to a halt. At the time, only 21 percent of sites had installed
chip-card reader hardware on dispensers. In the first year following the
postponement, about 14 percent more were completed. That was followed by
another 14 percent in year two and 18 percent more in year three. Although
many sites still missed the second deadline, more than 90 percent of fuel
retailers eventually became fully EMV-enabled at the dispenser.”
- “Our larger customers have been planning around the original
deadline, knowing that at least some of their sites would not be ready by
October 2017. Despite the extension, I expect installation of equipment
already delivered or soon to be shipped will stay on schedule. However,
there will likely be a slowdown with other upgrades.”
- “I believe this will be good news for the industry, overall.
Operators will have more breathing room, and the scramble by PEI
distributors and contractors to bring in qualified technicians to meet the
crunch will ease a bit.”
- “I wonder if the EMV delay will give e-pay technologies a
chance to gain a stronger foothold in the pay-at-the-pump space. From my
personal perspective, as well as that of my Millennial kids and their
friends, any smartphone or Bluetooth payment solution that means I don’t
need a physical credit card is preferable. Having said that, it probably
isn’t an either/or situation but, rather both/and.”
As a result of yesterday’s announcements,
the EMV world looks a little different today. We will continue to track all
the important developments and keep PEI members informed.
2017 SERVICE & CONSTRUCTION MANAGERS
CONFERENCE ANNOUNCED
The 2017 PEI
Service & Construction Managers Conference will be held May 11-13, 2017, at
The Westin Indianapolis hotel in Indianapolis, Indiana. If you are
responsible for your firm's service or construction department, mark your
calendar and save the dates! This is always one of PEI’s most popular and
most highly rated events. Conference registration, sponsorship details and
hotel reservation information will be available soon.
ENVIRONMENTAL NOTES
Rhode Island has sued 34 oil companies, alleging that their
prior use of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) has resulted in groundwater
contamination at various locations in the state. The complaint alleges that
although Rhode Island banned the use of MTBE in 2007, testing and monitoring
over the past five years has revealed the presence of MTBE in groundwater.
“Sultan Petroleum of Illinois and its company president have been
ordered to pay over $1.3 million in civil fines and penalties for failing to
remove four abandoned underground storage tanks (USTs) from an abandoned gas
station in the town of DeKalb, according to an August 16 announcement from
the office of the state fire marshal for Illinois.”—Underground Storage
Tank newsletter (November 2016)
APPOINTMENTS AND
PROMOTIONS
Tait Environmental Services
has promoted Erin
Langford to director of operations for Southern California. Langford has
been with Tait for 12 years, working on testing programs and repair
projects. Eric Hammer also has been appointed senior project manager for
fueling and repair jobs at the company’s Richardson, Texas, office. Hammer
brings more than 20 years of industry experience to the Tait team.
Bennett Pump Company has appointed George Slater director of
clean fueling products. He will be responsible for managing the global sales
effort for Bennett’s hydrogen and natural gas dispensing products. The
company also has named Nels Walker regional sales manager for the
southeastern U.S. Walker, who has long been involved in the petroleum
industry, will be working with distributors and other customers.
MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS
Indiana installation contractor. Ridge Petroleum Contractors Inc., P.
O. Box 2249, Muncie, IN 47307, has applied for service and construction
division membership. Amanda Ridge is office administrator for the firm,
which was established in 1990. The company installs underground storage tank
systems. Sponsored for PEI membership by Glen Corkill, SourceIL, Addison,
Illinois.
www.ridgecorporation.com
ADMITTED TO PEI
- Jason
Cole, Ed Staub and Sons Petroleum, Klamath Falls, OR (O&E)
- Alex
Dodard, Hertz Corporation, Estero, FL
(O&E)
- Eric R.
Jones, Rio Colorado Development, San Luis, AZ
(O&E)
- Rajesh
Khwakhali, Twin Star Energy, LLC,
Denver, CO (O&E)
- Chris
Ogonowski, Cumberland Farms, Westborough, MA (O&E)
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