Case Study
Why Resilience Matters This Summer Vacation: TNS’ Payments Infrastructure Delivers Under Pressure
Summer Surge, Zero Margin: Why Fuel Retailers Must Get Payments Right This Season
For millions of Americans, summer means hitting the road, but for fuel retailers, it means something else entirely: preparing for a sudden, massive surge in payment volume, with zero margin for error. During the busiest travel periods - like the Fourth of July, Labor Day or Thanksgiving- fuel stations across the country face a pressure test of both customer service and infrastructure.
With more vehicles on the road than ever before, fuel retailers must ask themselves: is our payments infrastructure ready?
When Uptime Isn’t Enough
Fuel retailing is unforgiving when it comes to payments. If a customer can’t complete their transaction because of connectivity problems, they’ll simply drive somewhere else where their needs can be met. Worse, that lost sale may turn into a lost customer. It’s not just about uptime - it’s about consistently delivering secure, fast, seamless transactions, even when demand peaks far above normal levels. Resilience means more than system redundancy. It means the ability to absorb spikes, protect sensitive data, and support consistent service at scale, all without adding operational overhead for retailers. There’s an example of how we achieved this earlier this year, processing nearly 6 million fuel transactions in a single 24-hour period without a single disruption for a single fuel retailer. There were no switching delays, no service degradation, and no lost transactions. At the same time, the network securely generated more than 400,000 new payment tokens, reflecting the growing role of tokenization in modern payments. We were able to achieve this because our fully integrated payments infrastructure is designed from the ground up to handle surges, eliminate integration complexity, and mitigate risk - not just during peak demand, but every day.
The Summer Surge: High Stakes for Fuel Retailers
The demand spike around holidays can be expected - but that doesn’t make it easier to manage. According to the US Energy Information Administration, gasoline consumption during the July 4th weekend regularly reaches some of the highest levels of the year. The American Automobile Association projected over 44 million Americans would drive over Memorial Day weekend alone in 2024, and AAA predicted that 61.6 million Americans would travel by car for the Fourth of July holiday this year, a 2.2% increase from 2024. With such large volumes, even a brief period of payment disruption can result in tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue - and possibly years of reputational damage. A system that simply doesn’t go down isn’t enough. It must be able to scale instantly, protect against fraud attempts, and maintain latency performance under pressure.
Tokenization at Scale: What It Means and Why It Matters
Tokenization works by replacing sensitive data, like a card’s Primary Account Number (PAN), with a random, unique value known as a token. This token is encrypted and cannot be used by bad actors even if intercepted. Only the tokenization provider - can map it back to the original data, and even then, only under strict security protocols. There are two types of tokens: Network Tokens are issued by credit card payment networks and are used across multiple networks and multiple transactions. Gateway tokens are, as their name suggests, issued by a single gateway such as TNS, or companies that look to offer secure and convenient payments without sharing financial details directly with sellers. They are used in a single payment ecosystem. However they are used, tokenization can reduce the impact of data breaches, limits PCI DSS scope, and makes point-of-sale (POS) systems more secure - particularly in unattended fuel environments where card-present fraud risks are higher.
No Switching Delays. No Lost Transactions. No Excuses.
Many payment providers operate via patchwork APIs, where tokenization, routing, and switching are provided by different vendors. This creates risk at every point of handoff - and introduces real performance and reliability concerns during surges.
Opting for a fully managed, private network where transaction data flows securely from the pump to the processor gives the best chance for success. This architecture not only eliminates integration risk but also can help provide end-to-end visibility, control and performance optimization.
Key outcomes during the 2025 peak period included zero downtime, zero transaction loss, consistent response times regardless of volume and full compliance with PCI DSS, EMV and all relevant regulatory frameworks.
The infrastructure is supported by TNS’ Global Service Support Centers (GSSC) that provide real-time monitoring and immediate response to anomalies. This is resilience as a service, embedded directly into the payment stack.
Fuel Stations Can’t Afford Uncertainty
For fuel retailers, the cost of disruption is more than financial. Delays or declines at the pump cause long queues, frustrated drivers and reputational damage that can spread fast on social media. That makes payments performance a business-critical differentiator.
No business should allow their payments systems to fail, and many may lose some level of customer loyalty if they can’t take a payment, but fuel vendors have an extra incentive. Not being able to take payments would mean that drivers would have to find the next nearest gas station, and if they’re low on fuel this might not be possible. This would have serious consequences in terms of customer loyalty, especially during peak travel seasons.
What’s Next: Resilient Infrastructure for a Changing Industry
Payments infrastructure must evolve with consumer expectations and technology. Forward-looking companies are already investing in innovations that will shape the future of fuel payments:
- Edge computing to help reduce latency and localize transaction processing
- AI-driven monitoring to help predict and pre-empt service degradation before it affects end users · Integration with connected vehicle ecosystems, enabling drivers to pay directly from the dashboard
- Expanded support for EV charging, loyalty integrations and mobile app-based payments
- As mobility changes, so too will the way consumers interact with fuel stations. But one thing remains constant: the expectation that payments will work - fast, securely, and every single time.
Fuel Retail Solutions
Network Connectivity
Payment Orchestration
Complete Commerce
What You Gain
Stop Revenue Leakage
Future Proofing the Customer Experience
Optimizing Operations and Costs
Case Studies
Resilient Fuel Payments
Fuel Payment Modernization
High-volume Fuel Payments