Money Movement in an Unbanked Industry

Complimenting Security in the Dispensary Business

One of the most likely outcomes in the upcoming election is the legalization of recreational use of marijuana in California.  As in Colorado and Washington, one of the biggest challenges that pot purveyors face is what to do with all the cash.  With high value transactions, many stores are generating revenue in excess of $25,000 per day, and because federal laws prohibit financial institutions from accepting deposits from pot shops, those transactions are all in cash.  Shop owners are faced with bags of cash at the end of a good day, and have to transport it.

The problem is that most store owners are left having to store the stockpile of cash, or transport it home or elsewhere - somewhere you don't typically want the attention that comes with an armored car showing up several times a week.  With an inventory made up of small, valuable, coveted products, and your entire revenue in cash, shopkeepers have a lot to protect, and the need to protect it all discretely for the safety of everyone involved.

Many shopkeepers simply take it home, and leave the cash in safes in their basements.  In doing so, their safety rests in their concealment.  Pack and transport quietly, look over both shoulders, make sure not to go home with a tail.  Pay taxes and large obligations in cash, and try to keep attention at bay by using the banking system as sparingly as is functionally possible.  For many, for now, this is the right - the only - answer.

Some of the most successful shopkeepers, however, enjoy added security by using executive protection operators to escort them when they transport large amounts of cash or product.  Individuals or small teams, sometimes comprised of an operator riding along, appearing as a casual passenger, but providing armed protection and strategic observation of traffic and surroundings, and as necessary, complimented with a discretely armed motorcycle or second car escort to expand the protection perimeter.  This measure of protection is designed primarily to identify a threat or an unnecessary risk, secondarily to avert risk by taking additional precautions, and lastly to neutralize threat in a robbery or kidnapping attempt.  The more precautions and the more preparedness, the better the odds that everyone remains safe and the package arrives without incident.