Are you looking for a new POS system for your gas station? Excellent choice. You must keep your fuel pump and c-store updated to stay on top of the competition. However, you must pick the right POS for your business to reap the maximum benefits. The last thing you want is to shell out your hard-earning business money in the wrong solution. Here are some mistakes to avoid when choosing a POS system to ensure the best results.
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EVO™ 550 and EVO™ 5000 Automatic Tank Gauges shipped from Franklin Fueling Systems between the period of January 19, 2021 and April 23, 2021 with controller module firmware versions 2.23.2 and 2.23.3 require an immediate firmware update!!
If you purchased a unit manufacturer during this time, you will need to update to firmware version 2.23.4 ASAP!
For a list of affected serial numbers, please contact Franklin Fueling Support Center at 1.800.984.6266 or submit a ticket.
Download the Latest EVO™ 550 & EVO™ 5000 Firmware UpgradeBe sure to fill out the form to get the firmware upgrade as well as to unlock and receive the latest software updates! |
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 Upgrade Instructions |
 Release Notes |
Looking for EVO / INCON Equipment & Replacement Parts? Check out our online store!
…But we at the John W. Kennedy Company decided to expand on Henrik Ibsen’s 1913 roughly coined phrase by making a picture more than just a picture worth a thousand words. We decided to make them a shopping tool and informational resource with simple mouse clicks on one image.
May not sound like anything different you’ve seen until you’ve seen JWK’s SBI – Shop By Image feature!
The John W. Kennedy Company has been using image mapping to organize information and build quotes off of since the early 2000s for a few of our larger customers. So it was only natural when we launched our online store in 2016 to use them directly to shop from as well, allowing site visitors to add equipment and parts directly to their shopping carts from an image! We have simply kept this feature on the down-low, mentioning them here and there to get a feel as to whether they would be used and how often.
In late 2018, working with our eCommerce provider, we customized our site to integrate image mapping directly into our eCommerce solution to allow us to map images in-house and drop them on our site to create a powerful tool that is becoming more and more popular. There is no middle people involved; just us, an image and our site! From concept to reality in less time than it can take to get a quote most days.
Blue Hill Express, Canton, MA 2009 image map
Blue Hill Express, Canton MA Encore dispenser image mapped from 2009
We have mapped out everything from exploded view parts breakdowns to an entire gas station. Some of those early image maps are still being used many years later. One set of complex maps compared the customer’s current spec to their proposed upgrade and the associated costs. Unfortunately, we can not disclose them due to their proprietary nature and agreements made with the customers but the impact they made was powerful.
In the case of new products, it allows us to hit the ground running by building the new products with a high degree of consistency and accuracy with all pertinent resources in tow such as product images, literature and videos . Kennedy warehouse staff even use them to identify components they are unfamiliar with in various systems like pipeworks.
Fairfield SCM-5DS simple image map of exploded view
The early image maps (like the ones above and to the left of Blue Hill Express) were much more involved and required several expensive software apps to create over the span of a few days that didn’t look nearly as sharp or cool as what we can do now.
By the time we made our jump to eCommerce in 2016, we were able to create them with one piece of open source software that provided a much cleaner look to the finished map with even more functionality. With all the information at our fingertips and all products in our system, simple image maps can be created in less than an hour like the Fairfield Industries SCM-5DS you see pictured to the right, while more complex ones may take a half day or more.
This is really a bit of a downer we hope to figure a way around moving forward but not holding our breath at a quick and easy solution. While you can still use the image maps on tablets and smartphones, they don’t provide the same impact, functionality, nor are the images as big as they are on a desktop or laptop but again, they still work and can be used on such devices. And depending on the browser being used on tablets and smartphones, some will open with just a touch while others require you to touch and hold to open a new tab. Yeah, I agree, the inconsistency in web browsers from device to device and IO to IO is pretty bad as well. We are all still learning this new digital world, even those building it. This is why you will not find a direct link to any image maps on the mobile version of our site as we do not drive customers away by frustrating them with a feature that does not work the same on every device.
At this time, the most popular image maps are the Franklin Fueling FE Petro submersible pump exploded views.
 Franklin Fueling Systems FE Petro Variable & Fixed Length Submersible Pump Replacement Parts |
 Franklin Fueling Systems FE Petro STP Discharge Manifold Assembly Replacement Parts |
These very popular maps are used multiple times a day to find parts and provide much needed information in a format not found anywhere else and that’s where the John W. Kennedy Company excels over all others; provide much need information in a timely manner. We know who’s looking, who’s buying and when. We know vendors and our competition use our site for information from not just our analytics but from the horse’s mouth. What does it say about the competition when they use our site over their own or the vendors to get information from?
Pretty telling to say the least!
That tells us what we’ve known for nearly a century, information is still king! And that’s the best way we know how to win a customer’s loyalty; it’s not just about price but the support network and the timeliness of that support. This can also be seen with our trade shows we’ve hosted since the 90s and our daily efforts since 1930. And now, we are just trying to carry that effort forward to the digital world wide web.
So by all means, please click on the image below to explore our Shop By Image page that features mapped images from Fairfield Industries, Franklin Fueling Systems’ brands (Corrosion Control, Cable Tight, EBW, EVO, FE Petro and UPP), Morrison Brothers, NUPI, Omntec and OPW with more to follow!If you have any suggestions for image maps you would like to see, please feel free to email
Shop By Image Suggeston
and if the resources are available, we will do our best to make it happen!
Can’t find what you are looking for on our site or have questions? Feel free to call us at 1.800.451.4021 or EMAIL US
Summer is a busy season for many gas stations and convenience stores. During the warmer weather, people plan road trips and travel more, which results in a higher demand for fuel and snacks. While some patrons make random stops, others are picky about the gas stations and c-stores they go to. It’s important to prepare your gas station and c-store to improve your summer potential. Here are some tips for setting you up for a busy, profitable season:
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The deadline for gas stations and c-stores in the United States to become EMV-compliant has finally passed. The first deadline was proposed in 2015, which was revised multiple times until October 1, 2020. This was supposed to be the final deadline, but the outbreak of COVID-19 gave another lifeline to gas stations as it was further delayed to April 17, 2021. Now that we’re past the deadline, the liability for fraudulent transactions will be shifted to merchants.
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As of midnight on April 17th, 2021, convenience store operators are responsible for fraud that happens on their forecourts.
Prior to the liability shift, most pay-at-the-pump dispensers used magstripe technology to verify credit card payments. The problem is, data from magstripe cards can be easily stolen and duplicated using devices called “skimmers,” creating an enormous black market for identify theft.
EMV “chip” technology encrypts customers’ financial data, making it much more difficult for criminals to steal credit card information. EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard, and Visa, the founders of the encrypted chip technology.
Until now, those banks have assumed liability for fraud occurring at fuel dispensers.
Now that the liability shift has occurred, the retailers now own the fallout from fraud. In other words, c-store retailers are now on the hook for fees and legal issues related to fraud that occurs at their stores.
On the other hand, retailers with outdoor EMV technology don’t have to worry about liability.
EMV regulations have been in place in Canada and much of the world for the last decade with great success. U.S. retailers have been slower to make the move, causing deadline delays. But as we know now, the deadline is sticking and the “chargebacks” are now your problem.
You can learn all about chargebacks here, but we’ll do the cliff notes now.
There are two types:
Lost and Stolen – Like you might expect, a card can be either lost or stolen. The fraud occurs when it’s used by someone to run up charges before the victim notices.
Counterfeit Fraud – This is where the liability shift is happening between the card networks and retailers. In this scenario, a criminal uses low-cost equipment to create brand new magstripe cards with stolen, but valid data.
The data is typically purchased on the dark web from other criminals who skimmed it from other unprotected gas pumps. In some cases, organized crime syndicates both skim the card data and create the fake (but very usable) cards.
Now that fraud liability has shifted, it has created two buckets of convenience stores: EMV have’s and EMV have not’s.
Many retailers have already taken the steps to install EMV on their forecourts well ahead of the deadline.
Maplefields, a c-store retailer in Northern New England, has been 100% EMV compliant since January 2021.
“If you’re not EMV-compliant by the deadline, then it all falls back on you. Breaches, chargebacks, those are 100% yours,” says Maplefields’ IT Director, Skip Potter. “You own those. And I’ll tell you, one breach? That could destroy your company.”
Watch more here:
The rush to install has created a backlog, causing late-to-the-game retailers to wait in line for their upgrade appointment. Then, there are retailers who haven’t made plans to upgrade at all. Most believe they won’t become a victims of fraud, but experts believe differently.
Via Digital Transactions:
In an example offered by Mercator, an operator with 12 locations spread evenly among areas deemed be low-, medium-, and high-risk, would face fraud liability totaling $17,315 per store over 12 months, or $207,783 overall. “This could change dramatically depending on the risk position of each station, and it should be noted that Mercator’s calculation takes a decidedly conservative approach,” said Tim Sloane, vice president of payments innovation at Marlborough, Mass.-based Mercator, in a statement.
Bottom Line
Despite the delays and COVID-19, one fact remains: the demand for payment technology is ever-increasing and ever-changing.
No one wants to shop on a website that is vulnerable to hacking, so why expect your fuel customers to shop at a vulnerable dispenser?
If you are a retailer who hasn’t started your EMV plans, you need to begin as soon as possible.
Contact our expert payment team today to begin the outdoor EMV process.
Feel free to call us at 1.800.451.4021 or email us using the link below to
GET A FREE QUOTE
The John W. Kennedy Company appreciates your business and continued support!
Gas station owners have had a big deadline looming over their heads for many years. By April 2021, the liability for fraudulent transactions perpetrated at fuel pumps and convenience stores will fall on merchants who don’t use EMV-compliant systems for card transactions.
The date was recently shifted from October 2020, providing merchants more time to become EMV-compliant. Gas station owners must protect themselves. Why do EMV compliance deadlines keep changing? Let’s find out.
The first EMV deadline for gas stations and convenience stores was 2015. More precisely, card issues put a liability shift deadline in place for October 1, 2015. However, many merchants experienced difficulty in shifting to EMV-compliant systems due to financial constraints and many technical factors.
The new deadline was shifted to October 1, 2017. However, as the deadline date approached, many gas station and c-store owners continued to face difficulties meeting it for various reasons. Therefore, they extended the deadline for three additional years.
The revised deadline was October 1, 2020, which was supposed to be the final deadline. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 presented numerous financial and logistical issues, making it extremely challenging for gas station owners to meet the deadline. After several weeks of consideration, VIAS reset the deadline to April 17, 2021.
To avoid any confusion, the timeline of the EMV deadline is as follows:
The EMV technology makes it virtually impossible for scammers to carry out fraudulent transactions. The EMV chip encrypts the card information sent to the issuer and automates card verification. Unlike magnetic-stripe cards, EMV cards don’t contain static data that can be stolen through card skimming devices.
As EMV chips uniquely encrypt the data at every transaction, the chances of fraudulent transactions drop significantly, protecting customers and financial institutions that suffered billions in losses due to card fraud.
Gas station and c-store owners have the final opportunity to upgrade to an EMV-enabled system to avoid exposing themselves to financial liability. Merchants that continue using old systems will be responsible for fraudulent transactions that take place in their facility, which could seriously hurt their profitability.
READ: EMV – What Happens When A Station Isn’t Updated
Please do not hesitate to contact us with any of your EMV questions, concerns or to place an order. Calling 1.800.451.4021 or visit us online at www.johnwkennedyco.com for all your petroleum equipment needs. The John W. Kennedy Company appreciates your business and continued support!
ALSO READ: “Think Beyond the Deadline”: 5 Tips for Retailers Navigating the New EMV Deadline
Gas stations, as we know them, have come a long way and evolved into modern hubs with c-stores where you can add fuel to your vehicle and buy groceries, snacks, and soda. But if you go back to the early 1900s, things weren’t quite the same. As automobiles become more mainstream in the United States, more gas stations popped up.
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Do you know what separates a successful gas station from an unsuccessful one? A lot of things, to be honest. But the biggest factor that comes into play is adaptability. In light of uncertain times, changes to the gas station industry are already in motion, mainly driven by consumer expectations and technology. It’s crucial for businesses to adapt and evolve to find success.
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The main aim of every retail outlet is to enhance the shopping experience and attract customers, and convenience stores and gas stations are no exception.
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