Fuel POS Experience

Overview

Toshiba's Fuel POS system is the touchscreen that gas station cashiers use all day, every day. It handles pump monitoring, prepay transactions, in-store sales, loyalty programs, product catalogs. All of it, on one screen, hundreds of times per shift.

The problem was that the interface had been built up over years without much design direction. Layouts were dense, patterns were inconsistent, and even basic tasks like processing a prepay took way too many taps. I was brought on to redesign the core experience so it could actually keep up with the pace cashiers work at.

The Challenge

Think about what a gas station cashier is juggling at any given moment. They're watching fuel pumps, ringing up snacks and drinks, applying loyalty discounts, handling prepay transactions, and dealing with pump alerts. Sometimes all at once. The system needs to show the right thing at the right time without burying them in information.

Here's what we were working with:

• Cashiers had to keep an eye on up to 16 pumps while also processing in-store sales
• Prepay workflows took too many steps, which slowed the line down during rush hours
• Pump status indicators all kind of looked the same. Idle, active, stopped, alert: they blended together
• The sales palette and product catalog weren't organized well, so cashiers were constantly hunting for common items

Design Approach

Three things guided pretty much every decision I made on this project:

• Glanceability: A cashier should be able to read pump status, transaction totals, and alerts from arm's length in under 2 seconds
• Minimal taps: The stuff cashiers do most often (prepay, product lookup, payment) should take as few taps as possible
• Error recovery: Anything destructive like a void, refund, or stopping a pump needs clear confirmation and an easy way to undo it

I redesigned the pump grid with color-coded status indicators. Green for active, yellow for alert, red for stopped, neutral for idle. Each pump card now shows gallons, dollar amount, and fuel type right on the surface. No tapping in just to see basic info.

Key Flows

Prepay was the number one priority. Customers paying for fuel at the register is one of the most common transactions, but the old flow needed 6+ taps and required the cashier to mentally track which pump the customer was parked at. That's a lot of room for error when there's a line out the door.

Here's what the redesigned prepay flow includes:

• Quick-select denomination buttons ($5, $10, $20, $100) plus a custom amount keypad
• A "Balance to Prepay" option that applies the remaining transaction balance directly
• A Transfer Prepay modal for when a customer changes their mind about which pump they're at
• Clear pump identification with visual highlighting so the cashier never authorizes the wrong one

I also redesigned the pump detail view. It now shows transaction history, active pump controls (Prepay, Pre-Set, Transfer, Suppress, Refund, Reauthorize), and real-time dispensing data without pulling the cashier away from the main screen.

Interactive Prototype

Here's a clickable prototype of the redesigned flow. Feel free to tap through it.

Results

The numbers spoke for themselves:

• Average prepay transaction time went down by 35%
• New cashier onboarding dropped from 2 days to half a day
• Pump mis-authorization errors fell by 60%
• Cashier satisfaction scores went up across pilot locations