Member Blog: The Ultimate List of Must-Have Cannabis POS Hardware

by Heidi Orpilla, Digital Content Specialist at Star Micronics

The cannabis industry is booming – and it’s expected to continue doing so. According to Grand View Research, the global legal marijuana market is expected to reach $66.3 billion by the end of 2025, and each year brings new legalization across the world.

Whether you’re in the business of opening a cannabis business yourself or are looking to provide cannabis point of sale (POS) solutions to your customers, it’s important to understand the critical role cannabis POS hardware has and how to determine which products are right for your business.

Must-Have Cannabis POS Hardware

Receipt Printers

Receipt printers are extremely important in the cannabis market. When it comes to cannabis, proof of legal purchase is key – and there’s no better way to provide it than with a receipt printer. In some places, like Canada, it is illegal to possess cannabis deemed illicit, and without proof of purchase, all cannabis is assumed to be illicit. Carrying that illicit cannabis could result in a $5,000 fine or a five-year prison sentence! In the US, laws vary greatly by state and must also be carefully obeyed.

Along with providing proof of purchase, it’s important to note that depending on your region, receipts must also contain other information, like store name and address, product category/name, and the appropriate tax code/identifier.

Label Printers

Next on the list is another kind of printer: the label printer. An important part of seed-to-sale tracking, printed labels have an important role in the entire cannabis production and retail process. Seed-to-sale tracking is a key requirement in cannabis regulatory models, and refers to the process of tracking plants and their byproducts from planting all the way through to the plant’s sale.

Custom Cannabis Labels

As mentioned above, labels are incredibly important for the cannabis industry. It’s critical to ensure your cannabis labels come pre-printed with official, state-required universal symbols. These pre-printed cannabis labels are available in various sizes for all recreational markets.

Scales

Yet another critical piece of cannabis POS hardware is the scale – but not just any scale will do. First, you must ensure the scale you are considering is legal to use in your state and NTEP-certified. Being certified means that the scales are ensured to charge the correct amount for the product being weighed. Another great feature to look for is a scale that is integrated directly into the POS. Why? Reduced risk of human error that is associated with standalone scales that cannot integrate with the POS.

To make the process of adding a scale to an existing system a simple process, look for scales which are compatible with Windows, iOS, and Android. It’s almost important to seek scales that include a waterproof and dust-proof cover, as well as Bluetooth, USB, and serial interfaces.

Cash Drawers

Chances are you’re aware that the cannabis industry is currently predominately powered by cash. While marijuana is legal in many parts of the country, it remains illegal under federal law, which means dispensaries’ access to credit card processing options is slim. Thus, a reliable, high volume cash drawer is key! Be sure to look for a cash drawer made of durable steel that’s available in colors to match the rest of your POS.

Scanners

Scanners are an important part of the entire seed-to-sale process, from back-end warehouse operations to scanning products at the point of purchase. Important features to look for are connectivity options and a design/color that matches the existing POS, if applicable.

Tablet POS Stand

As we discussed above, dispensary aesthetics are extremely important, not only from a branding and customer experience perspective but also to legitimize the business to outsiders and newcomers. A great place to tie in style is at the POS, and an easy way to do that is by incorporating a sleek, space-saving POS stand into your arrangement. Choosing a stand that features clean cable management is an added bonus.

Self-Service Kiosks

Dispensaries are sometimes limited to how many people they can allow inside at one time because budtenders need to be able to pay special attention to customers, and make sure they are recommending the right products. Some dispensaries are using kiosks to allow waiting customers to pick out what they want on screen, take the slip to the budtender, and simply just collect and pay for their items. 

Value-Added Marketing Services

Just like other businesses, cannabis dispensaries need to advertise, but what sets them apart is that they must adhere to strict advertising laws. For example, in multiple states including California and Colorado, over 70% of cannabis advertisement audiences must be over the age of 21.

An easy way to ensure marketing efforts are being communicated only to the intended audience is by printing those promotions on your receipts. By leveraging receipt marketing tools – some of which can be provided by certain receipt printer manufacturers as a value-added service – dispensaries can create custom promotions from templates which increase customer engagement and retention and can be used to promote sales, new products, loyalty programs, and more. 

The POS as a Dispensary’s Backbone

In the cannabis industry, accuracy, a professional aesthetic, and responsible marketing are of utmost importance. When properly implemented, the POS can become a dispensary’s backbone to success. By choosing the correct printers, scales, labels, cash drawers, and value-added marketing services, cannabis industry professionals can focus more on growing and selling and spend less time worrying.


Heidi writes for and manages the blog and social media at Star Micronics, a point of sale manufacturer that specializes in POS printing – and more – for the cannabis industry and beyond. Star Micronics offers a full portfolio of cannabis point of sale hardware including receipt printers, cash drawers, NTEP-certified Class II scales, label printers, mobile printers, tablet POS stands, and more. A true one-stop shop, Star provides all the hardware solutions a dispensary could need, from front of house dispensary sales to labeling and weighing product during curation. Additionally, Star has integrations with approximately 85% of all cannabis POS software on the market today.

Member Blog: Customer Privacy – Keeping Personal Information Secure and Compliant

By Gary Cohen, Cova

Despite the national trend toward legalization and a growing consensus of acceptance among Americans, privacy is still a chief concern among many legal cannabis consumers. And across the industry, no one bears the burden of these concerns more than cannabis retailers.

As a cannabis retailer, you’re pulled in several directions. First and foremost, you’re beholden to state reporting requirements; on the medical side, this means validating recommendation letters and patient identification and storing this information securely.

On the adult-use side, you’re torn between the need to collect certain customer information for marketing and sales purposes and the overwhelming fear and distrust from customers concerning their personal privacy.

It’s a delicate balancing act—and as requirements continue to evolve, retailers need a system in place that’s both functional and flexible.

Determining Your Dispensary’s Needs

As a cannabis retail owner, your number one priority is compliance. And when it comes to patient and customer privacy, you need to determine exactly what your state’s requirements are per your particular operation.

If you’re a medical dispensary, your data security needs are going to be much different from that of an adult-use retailer, and vice-versa. If you run a joint medical and adult-use operation, you’re going to have to find a solution that caters to both.

Legal states have widely disparate laws concerning patient/customer privacy and data collection. For example, Oregon passed legislation earlier this year making it illegal for recreational retailers to keep customer information—such as names, addresses and birthdates—on file for longer than 48 hours.

On the other hand, medical dispensaries need some sort of system for identifying patients and their doctor-certified cannabis recommendations, while both adult-use and medical operations need to be able to track sales to individuals to ensure transaction limits aren’t exceeded.

Finding a Solution That’s Right for You—and Your Customers

Even though state laws mandate cannabis sales tracking and reporting, state agencies are not providing dispensary owners the tools needed to perform these functions in the most efficient manner.

Some statewide reporting solutions offer point-of-sale software that retailers can choose to use. But, as we’ve seen with the ongoing kerfuffle that some states are experiencing with their chosen systems, these technologies are not always the most reliable.

In these instances of statewide system failures and security breaches, what becomes of your customers’ personal information?

Cannabis retailers need a solution that can be tailored to their particular operation—be it medical, adult-use or both—and that is flexible enough to keep up with constantly-changing privacy and information collecting requirements.

Additionally, dispensary owners need to know that in the event the state’s system crashes or is breached, they can record sales using excel spreadsheets or continue ringing sales if their retail software permits all while maintaining their customers’ privacy.


Gary Cohen leads Cova’s charge into the legal cannabis space by guiding the vision, strategic development, ‘go to market’ plans and culture. A Denver native, he recently moved back to establish Cova’s HQ there.  While he joined Cova only a year ago, he was a successful business partner to Cova’s parent company since 2011.
Before joining Cova, Gary was a principal in over a dozen tech start-ups in the mobile communications industry ranging from small VC funded companies to Fortune 100 firms, including Onavo, which was later acquired by Facebook. In those companies he lead Sales, Marketing, Business Analytics and Market Expansions. He has also held a multitude of leadership roles with Verizon and AT&T for the first 15 years of the wireless industry.
Gary holds a Degree in Finance with a Masters in Marketing from the University of Colorado.

Member Spotlight: Baker Technologies

Baker Technologies

Cannabis Industry Sector:
Information Technology and Software

NCIA Member Since:
July 2016

Tell me a bit about your background and why you launched your company?

My name is Joel Milton and I am the co-founder and CEO of Baker. I’ve spent the last 8 years in the software industry, and have been working with my co-founder and Chief Product Officer, David Champion, for that entire time. Our third co-founder and CTO, Roger Obando, has been a developer for the past 20 years.

The three of us got interested in the cannabis industry in 2014 as adult use was rolling out in Colorado. We saw an opportunity to bring our years of software expertise to the industry as it was coming out of prohibition. We knew there would be a lot of issues specific to the industry, and we saw there were few entrepreneurs with technical backgrounds trying to tackle them.

What unique value does your company offer to the cannabis industry?

We proudly boast that we are on the dispensary’s team.

The Baker team at Representative Jared Polis’s fundraiser. Glenn McElfresh (Business Development) David Champion (Co-founder and CPO) and Roger Obando (Co-founder and CTO)

When we first started, we saw vendors come to the industry to take advantage of dispensaries. They had a misconstrued image of cannabis businesses: safes full of cash, lines out the door, and that businesses couldn’t stock shelves quickly enough. As a company that only serves the industry, we understand real issues like 280e, marketing restrictions, and constantly changing regulations. Due to these misconceptions, many of the early players were charging outrageous fees for basic services (like 10 cents for a text message vs. 1 cent for ours) because few companies were willing to work with dispensaries to begin with.

Additionally, everyone in this space was competing for the same end customer – trying to get them to their dispensary, download their app, go to their website, etc. We saw a dangerous “race to the bottom” on price, and realized there was an opportunity to help dispensaries engage with their customers directly.

Today, we help more than 500 dispensaries in 14 states build their brand, connect with customers, and generate more revenue. We are on the dispensary’s team and our goal is to make them have more successful businesses. We are a true business to business cannabis tech company, and we take pride in showing our clients the ROI they see by using our platform.

Cannabis companies have a unique responsibility to shape this growing industry to be socially responsible and advocate for it to be treated fairly. How does your company help work toward that goal for the greater good of the cannabis industry?

We have been NCIA members for over a year now, and have made sure to contribute not just money but time as well. We send our regional reps to quarterly NCIA caucuses all over the country to keep a pulse on local and national initiatives to see where we can help. We also try to attend and sponsor cannabis events in the regions where we operate and beyond.

In the next month we will be attending events on both coasts, and at a few cities in between. We will also have a booth at the California Cannabis Business Conference (booth 204) if you will be there please swing by our booth or send us an email (marketing@trybaker.com) to set up a time!

We take pride in the professionalism we bring to the industry, and are constantly bringing a mainstream approach to the way we operate – from hiring people out of Fortune 100 firms into the industry, to building quality software products that’s on par with anything coming out of Silicon Valley. Our toolset is uniquely specific to help cannabis brands and retailers run better businesses. We have been approached by retailers in other industries, but our entire focus is on cannabis.

We also work with mainstream investors – many of whom are getting their first exposure to cannabis. It has been such a rewarding experience to promote the industry to influencers who can propel the industry forward with investment and leadership.

Lastly, we also are proud to have brought a lot of public and positive press to the industry. In the past year we have been featured in publications like Business Insider, Forbes, Fast Co, and dozens of others. We position ourselves as a professional company, creating jobs in our headquarters of Denver. We have 35 full-time employees and counting!

Our exposure in the mainstream media has helped millions of readers from around the country learn about cannabis in a more positive light. They can see that there is a large degree of professionalism in the industry and that it would not be a bad thing if it came to their backyard.

How do recent advances in technology, and how we use it, impact the growth and direction of the cannabis industry?

We believe this is a big industry and we have a responsibility to enhance the cannabis ecosystem – when companies cooperate, the sum is greater than its parts.

We are proud of the integrations we have with fellow members of NCIA. We work with POS companies like MJ Freeway, Green Bits, Treez, and Flowhub, as well as data companies like New Frontier (we contributed to their Report earlier this year).

Additionally, retailers across all industries have invested a lot in bringing their shopping experience into the digital age. Cannabis retail should be on par with other shopping experiences, and by providing beautiful, easy to use products, we can help make cannabis more accessible to a larger audience.

We are proud to bring retailers a modern experience that has been called the “shopify of cannabis.” We enjoy hearing stories from our clients about how our products have helped customers see that the stigmas around cannabis shopping are dissipating.

Baker at NCIA Lobby Days. Eli Sklarin (Director of Marketing) Carter Davidson (VP of Sales) Joel Milton (Co-founder and CEO) and Geoff Hamm (COO).

Why did you join NCIA? What’s the best part about being a member?

We are big believers in NCIA, it is an important group with a fantastic mission. I went to Lobby Days along with our COO, VP of Sales, and Director of Marketing. We were all impressed with how organized the experience was.

There is something special about getting the cannabis conversation started with influencers. Most staffers would be hesitant to bring it up, but if you go in-person and inspire confidence in the industry, you can watch the ball start rolling and it was very rewarding to be a part of that.

 


Contact Baker Technologies:
Website
Facebook

Member Blog: How To Choose a POS System For Your Cannabis Retail Operation

by Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova

It’s fair to say that most businesses will have a higher rate of success when they utilize tools designed with their industry in mind. Running a retail operation in the cannabis industry is no different. In fact, the success rate is likely much higher due to the strict regulations put in place by states to address diversion, public safety and health concerns.

With that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that a cannabis point-of-sale system is one of the most important investments a retail operation will make when opening a dispensary. The right point-of-sale system will not only help operators maintain compliance, but it should also save time and money by providing inventory insight, maximizing sales per customer, and seamlessly integrating with other technology.

In addition to streamlining operations, dispensary owners should also feel confident that customer information is secure, and that fast transaction time is maintained even when traffic is heavier than usual. At the end of the day, your cannabis point-of-sale system should work for you.   

Let’s be honest, today’s market is crowded. Dispensary owners now have more than 40 point-of-sale options that promote their ability to optimize operations, acquire new customers, and maintain that customer base. But there are only a few key players who do well in this space, and each of them has pros and cons.

As the industry grows, we want dispensary owners to know that not all cannabis point-of-sale systems are created equal. It’s critical that you take the time to examine each tool to determine what will work best for your operation, be it full vertical or one dispensary location.

That’s why my team and I created a guide as a primer on point-of-sale tech for both new and veteran dispensary owners. We’ve researched information from across the spectrum and organized it into categories to help you navigate this major piece of the dispensary ecosystem.

Claim your free copy of 7 Things to Consider When Choosing POS for Cannabis Retail today!


Gary Cohen, CEO of Cova, leads Cova’s charge into the legal cannabis space by guiding the vision, strategic development, ‘go to market’ plans and culture. A Denver native, he recently moved back to establish Cova’s HQ there. While he joined Cova only a year ago, he was a successful business partner to Cova’s parent company since 2011.

Before joining Cova, Gary was a principal in over a dozen tech start-ups in the mobile communications industry ranging from small VC funded companies to Fortune 100 firms, including Onavo, which was later acquired by Facebook. In those companies he lead Sales, Marketing, Business Analytics and Market Expansions. He has also held a multitude of leadership roles with Verizon and AT&T for the first 15 years of the wireless industry.

Gary holds a Degree in Finance with a Masters in Marketing from the University of Colorado. In his spare time Gary enjoys skiing, mountain biking, outdoor sports, travel and comfort food.

 

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