Inventory Optimization: Make Metrc Easier for Dispensary Employees

Inventory Optimization Tactics

Over the past year, California has begun to revoke cannabis licenses for non-compliant businesses. Several other states are preparing to follow suit in an attempt to stabilize and validate their respective cannabis industries.

For cannabis dispensary owners, this means now is the time to audit their inventory processes to ensure compliance with Metrc. Neglecting to comply invites unwanted regulatory attention.

The state-mandated seed-to-sale tracking solution relies on meticulous inventory management to work. Dispensary owners who do not have highly automated, well-organized stock processes will end up spending much more time on Metrc-related tasks than they have to.

Find out how making some subtle changes to your inventory tracking processes can help prepare your dispensary for the new year.

Weekly Full Counts and Reconciliations

California law requires Metrc users to perform a complete inventory audit (known as a full count) and submit reconciliations at least once every 30 days. Failing to adhere to this requirement is virtually guaranteed to raise red flags and attract regulators’ attention.

Many dispensary owners leave the full count and reconciliation process as an ad-hoc task, assigned only a few days before the deadline. This puts the dispensary in a race against the clock, and the clock often wins.

This is because state regulators only allow discrepancies equal to 3% of monthly sales. If the monthly full count is non-compliant, the dispensary must track down inventory and reconcile the numbers before submission. This takes time and costs money.

The solution is to implement weekly full counts and reconciliations. Although at first glance, it appears that weekly processes will take more time than monthly ones, the ability to shorten discrepancy resolutions and investigations will significantly reduce the amount of time it takes and reduces errors overall.

It’s much easier to track down an inventory discrepancy from a few days ago than one that occurred three weeks ago. Weekly full counts help streamline inventory reconciliation.

Tamper-Proof Inventory Sealing

If your weekly full counts involve opening up product shipments, checking their interiors, and weighing dry cannabis before logging numbers, it will take several days to complete. The best way to optimize this process is by using tamper-proof sealing.

This does not necessarily mean purchasing specialized tamper-proof inventory boxes. You can tamper-proof a regular cardboard box by taping it shut and writing the count, date, weight, and initials at the point where the tape overlaps. Now, opening the box will leave an obvious trace.

Once you have this step completed, you can print out SKU labels and scan the boxes without having to physically weigh and count every single product in the store.

Organize Stock Into Easily Countable Batches

Dispensaries that “pre-count” are able to make short work of their regulatory requirements. If you box incoming products into easily-countable sets, then the process of auditing stock and reconciling discrepancies becomes much simpler and allows for inventory optimization.

Great inventory management is key to any successful cannabis enterprise. Learn more about how to organize stock efficiently so that you can spend fewer employee-hours on regulatory tasks. Our partner, ezGreen Compliance can share a 4 step strategy with your team today and connect you with other compliance services as needed.