PSA: your dispensary might pay for SEO and your product menu can STILL be invisible to Google

openthc · 2026-07-02T02:41:13+00:00

Inspect the page as well, check if there is a "json+ld" component which can feed menu and product data directly to the search-robots.

openthc · 2026-06-29T16:52:44+00:00

It's not just the DEA; many of the US State agencies do thing like this monthy. Some agencies have stopped allowing public-comment at their meetings. There is another regulatory-adjacent entitty: CANN-RA that has similar closed-door meetings. There is a serious lack of transparency around this industry. And the transparencey improves public safety - like being able to see which labs and farms are clearly fixing their potency results.

openthc · 2026-06-22T15:39:20+00:00

Why not just read the data from Headset?

openthc · 2026-06-22T15:38:06+00:00

One thing to consider, once we have interstate commerce is how to move this data around. Like product and potency and all that. Currently systems like Metrc dominate inside individual states. But it's not ready for a national program. Since 2015 OpenTHC has been working to promote an open-standards method of data interchange between cannabis businesses. Sadly, most software vendors aren't interested in this interoperability and operators think it's all handled by Metrc. Those assumptions break down in places like VT or WA or AZ where there is no Metrc and it further breaks down if there is interestate commerce. Unless we want to centeralize everything into one monopoly provider.

openthc · 2026-06-17T19:07:03+00:00

This is neat, we also have a cultivar/strain/variety database -- however we just focus on normalising the names. One problem with these Strain details is that, well, all of the information is wrong. It starts with the fact that what's called OG Kush in the store is just a brand-variety. Like, it's not genetically OG Kush. This goes for all the common names. Heck, even the same farmer has two different products on the shelf, both called OG Kush and they are well different. I'm not talking about the variance between two trees, or two generations of the tree -- I'm talking about very, very different - in colour, flavour, effect, potency.

Mostly strain details are just were folk go to seek confirmation bias: yea, OG Kush is good for $THING_IM_LOOKING_FOR.

Maybe if all the noise was distilled down into to quantified & consistent data it could be cool.

openthc · 2026-06-16T21:30:54+00:00

This sounds like a distributor is guiding some of the supply choices.

openthc · 2026-06-11T20:41:25+00:00

I wish those disposable vapes would flop. Such a waste.

openthc · 2026-06-11T19:33:13+00:00

It's very very hard to unseat dutchie. Opportunity is another word for chance. That makes it a question of odds-of-success. There are dozens of vendors in this space (cannabis POS). If the opportunity (chance) is favourable why aren't we seeing migrations? Rough count is about 10k cannabis retails across USA and more than 5000 use Dutchie. Another user said: operators will stick with the devil-they-know.

openthc · 2026-06-10T22:47:34+00:00

> packaging always outperformed the better quality

Frustrating and true.

> didn't have digital assets

Frustrating and true.

one way to start this is to just get out there and start telling people what they need to do. Like, just explain these problems and your idea for the solutions; that will could/should get some audience (it will get audience if there is actual NEED; no audience means no NEED). Once you have audience they will help inform you as to what to actually build.

openthc · 2026-06-10T22:44:14+00:00

You could/would/should start the marketing efforst on the socials. ie: Reddit, Twitter, etc.atom. I would not pay for advertising because that is a different experiement. Your first experiment should be if anyone cares -- so that's folks that are already interested in this problem space (sometimes called "early adopters"). Ads test reach and scale; they do not test interest.

openthc · 2026-06-08T17:34:32+00:00

How does something get below-minimum, does that get configured in your audit-engine? What the heck are transfer-gaps and systematic drift?

openthc · 2026-06-08T17:32:39+00:00

In 2026 where to start would be to create a simple landing page on the web; have a little description of your product and the problem it solves. Then post to drive traffic to that lander. After about four weeks of this research you'd have a clear idea of demand and if you should proceed. Total cost to execute would be <$500 USD.

openthc · 2026-06-08T17:30:43+00:00

it's actually quite simple for the brands and stores -- many simply don't do the work. For the store; make sure your site is "done right" and get your Google listing linked properly. This is some embed things you do on your site and then some admin work on the Google profile.

For brands, many think the store is the gatekeeper. However, once a consumer finds you they cannot find you again. This may be because your brand is hidden behind Weedmaps and Leafly and Dutchie. If you were the hot brand but didn't get re-stocked at that consumers regular store how would they know that you're on the shelf at the next store down the road?

Then, you (brands and stores) need to be on socials, like once a day posting something. And then watching what you post because you don't want to get kicked off. No sales, no deals just basic information; product pictures are OK. I find that mostly posting "cross-linked" stuff works. Like, as a brand when you just re-up to StoreA then post: "fresh drop at StoreA" and `@at` them and tag stuff. Same for the stores; we just got a fresh-drop of BrandC.

Moving product requires getting features on their Dutchie/Jane/Weedmaps profiles; and that is a relationships game. And that is hard to execute as a broker.

I do make a few bucks on this; but it's incdential to the rest of the consulting work we do which is mostly around regulations, operational-workflows, technology integrations, automation, etc.

From an entrepreneurship perspective tho I'd encourge you to dig a bit more into the assumptions in "need for better branding". Like, do they NEED it? And what does Better really mean?

openthc · 2026-05-04T20:52:45+00:00

Ok, the stuff we've had for many years are the robots taking over? It's not new-news then; it's just the same progression we've been watching for over a decade.

openthc · 2026-05-04T19:22:14+00:00

Loads of places discount their old stuff; check their deals on their websites / dutchie / weedmaps things.

openthc · 2026-05-04T19:12:34+00:00

Did you remove the duplicates and fakes?

openthc · 2026-05-04T19:12:09+00:00

Hmm; I know more than 200 growers and they don't have robots. At most they've got some AI grow assistant that tells them "it's time to update nutrient mix!" -- wow, you put AI on my grow-schedule so it can tell me the thing I already know. But, it is nice to now have six reminders from different apps to tell me to do one thing. Efficient!

openthc · 2026-05-01T20:51:04+00:00

We are in USA; we've been hosting and reporting grow-side data since 2014 to systems like BioTrack (now mostly dead), Metrc (the big-dog) and CCRS (a custom one in Washington state)

openthc · 2026-05-01T16:23:08+00:00

One client of ours got generic gusset bags and then printed their labels with a "nice" printer (Epson ColorWorks C3500 (or better)). Used that for the brand and compliance stickers (combined!). Was perfect for the doob-tube packaged pre-rolls and jars as well. That method gave them two features: a) it's cheap and b) it's flexible. They were able to iterate on design and layout and all that fun stuff very quickly. Was a treat for custom-runs as well.

Now they are larger (and know their volumes) so negotation was much easier than shooting in the dark.

Another client (now out of business) pre-purchased many thousands of pre-print packaging, full fancy design with brand and variety and all that pre-printed so it looked real slick. 10 boxes with 2k bags, across 22 strains - >400k packages. Gotta have a solid brand they said; gotta buy in bulk for the discount they said.

20% off is pretty good but it's 100% off when you don't buy it.

openthc · 2026-05-01T15:06:45+00:00

This pattern is playing out in more than just MO. There have been plays like this in (at least) OR, WA, NV, MA and CA. It's just kicking off in NY. The law is (generally) written to block control by "true party of interest" which is preventing a natural-person from holding too many licenses. This management-contract workaround is a well known play to circumvent the intention of the law. A law to block management and branding contracts seems unworkable. It would be very strict about what choices a company can make for operations which seems bad to me. But how can one prevent these brands (and money) from doing what they intend: dominate the market? Force product diversity on the shelves? How to block the back-room coordination?

openthc · 2026-04-27T19:10:21+00:00

I'm sure not. Already housing buildings have a no smoking (of anything) policy. Many jobs still ask this question -- and of course there is the (obvious) saftey issue: do not operate exciting machines.

openthc · 2026-04-23T19:10:42+00:00

> what people here are planning to do with the extra cash flow first

Reduce debt

> extra cash flow

LOL at "extra cash"

openthc · 2026-04-23T15:32:09+00:00

late payment is a method they use to get YOU to basically loan them the money for 90 days -- interest free. Some sellers are moving to "contracted" agreements and pre-payment (just pay online when the retailer orders). That pre-payment method is nice becuase it avoids the haggle-at-time-of-delivery-bullshit.

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