Bill's Blog

Coffee - good…… Exotic coffee - better

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the Fuel and Food trade show in Dallas….It had been a while since I had gone to one of the C store type trade shows and it was quite the eye opener.  I had the opportunity to meet with some old friends in the industry that I hadn’t seen in some time and was an excellent opportunity to see what was happening with the C store industry.  One thing that was very evident was the fact that a booth with an ATM in it was extremely ineffective and for the most part ignored by the attendees.  The trade show was busy… so I wandered around to see what the people were looking at and what they were interested in.  The most activity and excitement was at the “specialty coffee” booth…. And in fact – any booth that had upscale products was creating quite a stir.  Sorry to say that the excitement of the Retail cash dispensing ATM has greatly diminished over the years….. So now we have to get creative – we can no longer sell just coffee – we have to sell Latte and Cappuccino.  And I think that there is a key word here…. Sell – I noticed that in the busy booths the vendors were actually selling the benefits of spending more money for a product and getting more return. 

Tranax realized this some time back and made the move to the Self Service Terminal business….. And now the products are ready and these are the products that can create the buzz and put people back into the ATM booths…. Time to get on board – the C store industry is vibrant and has money to spend….. Give them something to create a little “Latte” in their store…..Isn’t it time that you started “selling” instead of just taking orders for cheap cash dispensing machines – why not be the guy getting the attention….. and getting the orders…..

My Trip to ATMIA East 2008

This year, ATMIA East was one of the best shows that I have ever attended.  If you were there you know what I mean. If you missed it you really missed a great show with a lot of buzz and excitement.

We at Tranax are proud to support ATMIA and would like to take this opportunity to thank them for all of the effort required on their part to make this a successful conference.  ATMIA East was a reflection of the health of the industry and the enthusiasm of the entire membership

The Penguins have jumped in….and they like the water

I have always likened the ATM distributors to a bunch of penguins, and not because they are snazzy dressers.  When it comes to new products, many of them sit on the edge and wait to see who will jump in first and see if they get eaten by the polar bear.  Then when they feel it is completely safe you will have some that will adopt, and eventually it’s off and running.  Well, here at Tranax we would like to thank the penguins that were early adopters and tell the rest that the polar bears have gone home.

We are done with beta on check cashing.  We are done with beta on gift cards.  We are done with beta on bill pay.  We have success stories on all of them, and now are looking for the next batch of swimmers. 

In check cashing, we have partnered with Valid Systems, and have machine up and running their solution.  In one case the store owner is cashing over 500 checks a month using Valid and a c4000.  In Gift Cards, we have partnered with CDS, and we have machines in malls in Texas that are picking up steam, dispensing cards and making some money.  In bill pay, we have partnered with TIO, and have many kiosks and Hybrid ATMs that are in major c-store chains all over the country.

We have done it, it’s not vapor ware, it’s not a dream, it’s a reality.  Now jump in the water, and splash around, because the swimming is profitable.

PCI is there to stay

Well as I was sitting here on New Years morning looking around at the Christmas gifts and thinking about the new year, one of the things that has been on my mind is the PCI certification issue – it snuck up on some of us like Christmas. Speaking of Christmas and some of the off gifts that turn up, did you ever see the picture of the 4 dogs sitting at the table playing poker?  That is what PCI reminds me of. All of the major networks sitting around a table with a fist full of cards ready to ante up our money into the pot – a pot that no one wins. It just gets bigger and bigger.

Did PCI sneak up on you?  Well, don’t feel alone.  There are actually manufacturers out there that according to the Visa website have let PCI certification sneak up on them (I guess they were too busy hanging that singing fish that uncle Farley gave them). Check your manufacturer. Make them be in compliance. 

By the way, Tranax is approved through September 2008 in case you are checking.

3DES Upgrade mandate by December 31, 2007 or not?

As the year starts drawing to a close, I wonder about those machines that were never upgraded to 3DES? They’re still lurking out there somewhere waiting for the axe to fall.  But, will the axe really fall?  Will they really have the guts to shut these machines off?  The last drop dead date has been mandated to December 31, 2007, will all these machines be upgraded to 3DES by then?

This reminds me of the Y2K scare, but this time I think it has more impact – more impact because the large number of machines out there that are not upgraded. How many machines are affected? My guess is that about 5,000 are still running without 3DES, and not to mention the thousands that are not currently using the Visa lab certified EPP.  This reminds me of my boyhood hero Don Meredith, who would sing this tune on Monday night’s football games, “turn out the lights – the party is over” … or is it?

Déjà vu…All Over Again.

Ahhh…Remember 1992. 

In 1992, the payphone business was doing a lot of people very well.  The internet hadn’t even made its way into mainstream America.  A payphone distributor was living high on the hog.  Put a machine in, split the revenue and all is well.  The only thing you had to sell was a few square feet, putting in a phone line, and split revenue with the location.

Then…..Remember 1994

In 1994, cell phones started to take off.  Instead of looking like a unit needed to call in troops to the front line, the designs became sleeker, smaller, and more attractive.  The payphone business had peaked and the decline was beginning.  Some people in the payphone business were smart enough to see this and realize they needed to do something.  Many of them looked to the ATM.  What the ATM did was leverage the relationship with the location, took advantage of the phone line that was already there, and it provided an income stream that they were familiar with.  The ATM, however, took more work.  There was the loading of cash, the programming of the machine, increased reporting, and definitely more work for the money.  Distributors that jumped on this are doing well today. Those that did business as usual, that didn’t look outside the box, went down like the Titanic.

We are sitting on the next 1994.  We can see transaction counts flattening out.  We can see interchange being reduced.  We can see the writing on the wall.  At Tranax we saw it long ago and aren’t waiting around to see our distributors sink. We aren’t just throwing them life supports either….Tranax is building a bigger and better platform for our distributors to continue to grow and flourish.

If you haven’t learned about CHECK CASHING, GIFT CARDS, BILL PAY, or other self service products, then you need to.  We have partnerships with industry leaders that will separate you from your competition, give you new lines of revenue, and continue to take you into the next century.

If you haven’t looked into it, you need to, before it’s too late. 

Now is the time to take advantage of the blue water that is self service.

What next - a $3.00 Bill?

Finally we have an uproar in our industry caused by someone other than the off premise retail ATM market.  Last week, when a leading “big bank” announced the $3.00 surcharge, you would have thought they were holding a gun to the head of the public.  Such an outcry. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the “big bank” for setting the standard for all of the other banks and helping us out by raising the bar.  Hey off premise – maybe you aren’t so bad after all. 

As an ISO, how do you take advantage? Raise your surcharge and point at “them”, or advertise a lower surcharge and try to increase your transaction volume.  We are in a transaction business and anything that the off premise industry can do to help the revenue stream is greatly appreciated. 

Thanks to compliance issues and eroding margins, the retail off premise side of the ATM industry has struggled in 2007.  I hope the surcharge increase on the “big bank” side is a positive factor for the off premise ATM industry in 2008. If nothing else, it’s great to see “big bank” ATMs on Dateline and 60 Minutes instead of the “lowly” off premise machines normally making the headlines. 

Compliance: Nightmare or Necessity?

As the end of another year approaches, we find that most machines have been upgraded to meet the 3DES compliance standard. It’s interesting to me that people are taking the handling of DES keys so lightly, especially on the manufacturing level. If you’re an ISO or ESO and you’re not following proper procedures in handling the master key injection, you’re putting the entire industry in jeopardy of yet another compliance upgrade.  Imagine what would happen if someone managed to get into the unit through the master keys and create a fraud situation.  I think the industry is very fragile right now and anything that creates bad press, undue trauma, or additional expense, would be devastating to the Retail ATM industry

Tranax has measures in place to ensure keys are loaded at the factory in compliance with the industry standard, which allowed Tranax to pass its VISA audit with flying colors. Make sure your “key loader” is handling your future with the respect it deserves. Avoid a possible 4DES upgrade or additional security measures created by sloppy handling of the “keys to the kingdom”.