Palu Fuel (Palu Aviation) · Tonga · Fuel retail & payments

Palu Fuel — selling prepaid fuel in pa'anga, redeemed by QR at the pump

A Tongan fuel retailer wanted to sell fuel before anyone drives to a station: a prepaid FuelPass bought online in pa'anga, texted to the recipient, and redeemed once by QR. We built the storefront, the staff redemption app and the admin console.

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The challenge

Where they started

Palu Fuel supplies four stations across Tongatapu — Fua'amotu, Houma, Malapo and Vaini. Selling prepaid fuel means selling a promise: the buyer pays now, the recipient redeems later, possibly weeks later and possibly on a phone with no data. The payment side is the hard part. Tongan customers think in pa'anga, but the card rail charges in NZD, and a pass has to reach someone who may not have a smartphone at all.

What we built

The platform, piece by piece

1 / 5

FuelPass storefront in TOP

The public site sells prepaid fuel passes priced in Tongan pa'anga, with the currency conversion handled by the payment engine rather than by hand.

2 / 5

Delivery that assumes no smartphone

Every paid order texts the recipient their FuelPass code through a Tongan alphanumeric sender and emails the purchaser, with each channel failing independently.

3 / 5

Single-use QR redemption

Each pass carries a QR code and can be redeemed exactly once at a station, so a forwarded screenshot cannot be spent twice.

4 / 5

Staff redemption app

A separate app for station staff to validate and redeem a pass, kept deliberately simple because it is used standing at a pump.

5 / 5

Admin console and maintenance switch

Full console for orders, issued passes and the Stripe webhook, plus a maintenance switch that lets the team take the storefront down without touching the parts that must stay live.

Outcomes