Valero agrees to join AMBER alert network
San Antonio Business Journal - 11:51 AM CST Monday Valero agrees to join AMBER alert network Valero Energy Corp. formed a new partnership with credit- and debit-card terminal vendor VeriFone Holdings Inc. that will allow AMBER alerts to be distributed at Valero's more than 1,000 convenience stores nationwide. San Jose, Calif.-based VeriFone (NYSE: PAY) installed its point-of-sale system at all the company's gasoline stations earlier this year. VeriFone's system allows clerks to manage fuel pumps, car washes and ring up merchandise. Through this new arrangement with VeriFone, San Antonio-based Valero (NYSE: VLO) will start disseminating critical information about missing children and suspected abductors through the point-of-sale system. Information will include the location of the abduction and contact information for the appropriate police department. By providing AMBER alerts to store clerks, it puts Valero employees in a position to call the police if a vehicle is spotted. Stores will also be able to print out AMBER alert tickets for customers to view. "We have created a solution that leverages technology at the point of sale to create a vital public service," VeriFone Executive Vice President Bud Waller says. "We are working with Valero and the petroleum and convenience store industry to provide a cost-effective means to use their in-store systems to provide timely public safety information to their local communities." Nearly 60,000 children are abducted by nonfamily members each year, according to the Justice Department. Since the AMBER alert network program began in 1996, more than 200 children's lives have been saved. "We're pleased to be an integral part of this program, which helps save children's lives and reunites them with their parents," Valero's Senior Vice President of Retail and Specialty Product Marketing Gary Arthur says. Valero is North America's largest oil refiner and one of the nation's largest retail gasoline operators with a network of more than 4,700 Valero, Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultramar and Beacon stores. VeriFone develops secure electronic payment technologies for the financial, retail, petroleum, government and health care markets. © 2005 American City Business Journals Inc. http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/stories/2005/11/14/daily3.html?from_rss=1