Lynch Oil Pilots Heartland-Pinnacle EMV POS System

BURLEY, Idaho — Heartland Payments Systems and The Pinnacle Corp. have teamed up to launch the first integrated point-of-sale (POS) system specifically for petroleum retailers that is compliant with EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) standards.

Burley-based Lynch Oil will be the first convenience store retailer to implement the new Palm POS solution at six Mr. Gas locations in Southern Idaho.

“We do our best to be the first to offer the most effective advancements in card payments and point-of-sale systems, especially when it enhances our customers’ experiences at our Mr. Gas locations and protects their card data from hackers,” said Nick Lynch, owner of Lynch Oil and president of Mr. Gas. “Pinnacle and Heartland help enable us to be the first petroleum retailer to have a POS system for EMV acceptance in the United States.”

Convenience store retailers faced a liability shift deadline of Oct. 1 at the POS. If they have not yet upgraded their in-store payment acceptance terminals to be EMV compliant, retailers face the possibility of being held financially responsible for fraud at the POS. C-store operators also face a liability shift deadline of Oct. 1, 2017 for transactions taking place at the pump.

“Our collaboration with Pinnacle has resulted in us being the first to offer an integrated point-of-sale system compliant with EMV for petroleum retailers,” said Michael Lawler, president of the Strategic Markets Group for Heartland. “Petro and convenience store merchants will want to be viewed as a safe place to shop and will be influenced by the growing awareness of their customers. Those that do implement an EMV POS solution, like Lynch Oil, may benefit from a reduction in card fraud, decreased requests for copies in relation to chargebacks, fewer disputes and the opportunity to update terminals for other capabilities like near-field communication contactless acceptance.”

Drew Mize, chief operating officer at Pinnacle, added that the Palm POS exemplifies his company's commitment to its clients to be the best technology partner option available.

“EMV has been a tough road for every technology supplier in our space and it’s far from over, but to be the first retail convenience specific point-of-sale platform to achieve a fully integrated EMV certification from the card brands demonstrates our nimbleness and ability to keep our clients on the leading edge competitively, whether that’s adding to the top-line or reducing potential fraud liability expenses,” he said.