Cashless ATM Dispensary Payment Solutions
| January 16, 2021Cashless ATM – How do I Get One for my Dispensary?
The trend of decriminalizing and legalizing marijuana for recreational use has proven a business boom. Cannabis dispensaries are now a common sight in most cities. Both recreational and medical marijuana users can now be found visiting your local marijuana dispensary to obtain product. Dispensary merchants have found success by offering their customers point of banking (POB) solutions via cashless ATM machines. This solid dispensary payment solution helps reduce processing fees while eliminating cash on hand requirements.
While the stigma attached to marijuana sales and use has been eliminated at the social and state level, barriers remain. The U.S. has yet to legalize the drug at the federal level. This poses challenges to merchants operating in states where it is legal to conduct marijuana business. For, while their banks may be local, laws governing business transactions and money laundering remain at the federal level.
The Challenge
Until recently, shipping and sales of marijuana were conducted primarily via the black market. As such, federal authorities remain alert to both individual law breakers and evidence of large-scale transactions at the financial level. Money laundering and the drug trade are closely related crimes. Monitoring the banking system for evidence of suspicious transactions has long been par for the course.
State and federal governments are working to harmonize their policies around this issue. But until this happens, individual merchants in the marijuana trade face unique challenges.
Sales that involve a card transaction or credit card processing of any kind may be flagged as suspicious. Such sales may even be disallowed entirely because of federal laws. This, despite the fact that a marijuana sale may be viewed as a legal, approved transaction in the eyes of the state.
Cash transactions remain the simplest solution to addressing these challenges. However, in the era of Covid-19, the handling of cash between customers and merchants presents the risk of infection.
The Solution
A good many dispensaries have assumed the added responsibility of keeping an ATM machine on site to facilitate transactions. But such machines can take up valuable retail floorspace and require additional monitoring. And in the era of Covid, delays in keeping ATMs stocked with cash have become all too common.
The solution to the problems posed by the traditional ATM machine and cash withdrawals is the cashless ATM.
Going Cashless
Cashless ATMs are sometimes called ‘point of banking.’ It is a dispensary payment processing solution similar to a merchant account that enables customers to transfer money directly from their bank account to a merchant’s account for a small convenience fee. You can simply ask customers to key in a four-digit PIN debit card code directly into a cashless ATM terminal at the point of sale. Deductions of up to $1,000 from a customer account can be made in $5 increments similar to script machines .
Banks and other lending institutions are subject to anti-money laundering laws as well as the Bank Secrecy Act. It is important to understand how the laws of your particular state and Federal laws intersect. Ensure your implementation of a cashless ATM system is legal and above-board.
Work with a payment processor who understands the benefits related to point of banking and cashless ATM business solutions. Contact SecureGlobalPay today @ 877-415-1772 and speak to one of our seasoned professionals to see how we might be able to assist you.
