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High-Volume C-Store Boosts Fuel/POS Efficiency with the ECRS Open Fuel Server™
A Testimonial by Sean Harrell, IT Administrator at Southland Trade
We are seeing a number of distinct benefits since we installed
the Open Fuel Server (OFS). For starters, our cashiers are now
processing transactions much faster than before. The OFS
displays all the pumps on the POS touch screen in all of their
different states so that cashiers can easily monitor and interact
with them as needed. The fuel system we replaced had limited
screen real estate and only allowed us to monitor individual pumps
separately. Catapult and OFS helps our cashiers keep a much closer
watch on customers both inside and outside the store.
One of the biggest benefits for us has been the IP-based credit
and debit processing at the pump. Transactions now average 2-3
seconds, as opposed to roughly 15 seconds with our old system.
We have a very high percentage of PAP sales vs Inside Sales.
The Inside/Outside Sales report from OFS is by far the best fuel
report I’ve ever seen, especially since it includes “averages.” I now
know that we run about 60% PAP (Pay at the Pump) and 40% inside sales.
I’ve learned from our fuel distributor that a large majority of his customers
have an even 50/50 split between inside and outside sales. Before installing
OFS, I never had a way to report on this, so I automatically assumed that
Southland Trade probably adhered to this
general percentage split. But now that
OFS is showing me how important PAP
is to a large majority of our customers,
the increased transaction speed at the
pump is a huge plus for us in terms of
serving our customers more effectively.
We use all of the OFS reports on a regular
basis. The Fuel Dispenser Volume report
is one that I run frequently to find out
which dispensers are doing the most volume. And believe it or not, the reports often
run counter to our assumptions. Having accurate dispenser volume data is crucial
when we’re making “flow” decisions that deal with parking and access to the pumps.
The Credit Batch Summary report is used daily by our office managers. In fact, they
must have it to determine our PAP breakdown in terms of Visa/MC/AMEX/Disc so that our bank gets the right information.
We use the Fuel Sales Price Breakdown report to get an accurate per-day fuel sales breakdown for our books. The
extra nice thing on this report is that drive-offs and tests are tracked separately from normal sales. That allows us
the flexibility to treat drive-offs as true losses of inventory, which works out better for us tax-wise than treating them as
“shortages” with sales.
Being able to re-print any PAP receipt, no matter how far back in the
transaction log, has aided us well in helping settle charge-back disputes. The
OFS’s feature of “stacking” multiple sales on a single pump has eliminated the
need for cashiers to clear out pump transactions before customers are actually
ready to pay in order to make room for more customers, which used to create a
lot of confusion, but which is no longer an issue thanks to Catapult and the Open
Fuel Server.
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