Picture the average evening at one of your truck stop locations. It’s 7pm. A wave of customers rolls in. They just drove 8 straight hours and landed at your busiest truck stop during its busiest time. How does your truck stop manage all of their payments?
We’ll compare, in two scenarios, how your truck stop would work with multiple terminals versus how your truck stop would work with a Point of Sale (POS) system. Read on to learn more.
How a Truck Stop Works With Multiple Terminals
Here’s the first scenario. Each counter at your stop has multiple terminals for each fleet card, including Comdata, EFS, TCH, T-Chek, Fleet One, and MultiService.
This cluttered method allows you to accept payment for any possible kind of credit card that your customer might bring through the door. They’re happy and always accommodated. The only issue: you’re bleeding the profit you’re making because you need to pay substantial monthly fees–and the processing fees are considerably higher on stand alone terminals.
How a Truck Stop Works with a POS System
Here’s a second scenario. Each counter at your stop has a single, fully integrated POS system. Any customer can come in, swipe any kind of card, and the payment processes seamlessly.
You pay for only one system. That systems effectively maintains EMV and PCI compliance, automates data entry, integrates with your truck stop’s back office inventory software, and runs financial reports. Ultimately, your POS system isn’t just a method for accepting credit cards. It’s a transformative tool that increases visibility into your business.
The upfront capital you put down goes toward the purchase of equipment, installation, and staff training. After that initial investment, there are fewer monthly fees.
What Financial Fuel Services Recommends
We’ve seen hundreds of small, medium, and independent truck stops make one of two mistakes: they refused to make the switch from multiple terminals to gas station POS systems, or they haven’t upgraded their current POS system. As an experienced boutique financial services firm, we highly recommend raising capital to purchase a best-in-class POS system. If you already have a Comdata POS (Trendar), we recommend upgrading to the latest hardware and software release to avoid system inefficiencies.
Learn more about how you can integrate multiple terminals into a single gas station POS system
Don’t waste money on monthly payments for several terminals at each station you own. Instead, streamline the way you accept credit card payments with a more complete gas station POS systems like Comdata Smartsite, SmartAuth, or SmartDesq. These cutting edge products work hand-in-hand with Comdata fleet cards and accommodate retail cards including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Debit, Wright Express and Voyager as well as all OTR Fleet cards including Comdata, EFS, TCH, T-Chek, MultiService, Fleet One, Fuelman and QuikQ.
Our business has extensive experience helping retail owners pick out, install, set up, and train staff on Comdata POS systems. We can also help guide you through the necessary upgrade to the Comdata POS system (Trendar). Contact us today to get started.
To learn more about POS systems and their benefits, review Financial Fuel Services’ Truck Stop page. Stay on top of trucking, oil & gas, and convenient store events and happenings by following our Industry News page.