Businesses and individuals throughout the world are shunning cash over fears that paper bills because they get handled by thousands of individuals, could be a vector for coronavirus. Health experts have said the risk of transferring the virus through cash is low, but they can’t rule it out either.
The risk is scary enough that some businesses in U.S. coronavirus hot spots are asking customers not to pay with cash, and several food delivery services have either stopped offering cash as a payment option or are actively discouraging it.
But what about cannabis dispensaries? It is well-known that most cannabis businesses, like marijuana dispensaries, operate on a cash-only basis because banks and payments companies, concerned about raising red flags with federal regulators and the credit card networks, are declining to set up cannabis merchants to accept credit cards. Should cannabis dispensaries be forced to accept only cash-paying customers, and potentially put employees at risk?
The answer is No, and they don’t have to! Paybotic has developed a Debit Processing solution that can help cannabis businesses eliminate any health or public safety issues around cash-only payments. The solution is secure and fully compliant with state and federal laws and regulations regarding legal cannabis sales.
By implementing a Debit Processing, a marijuana dispensary, or any business selling cannabis and related products, can accept card payments that customers authorize using their personal identification numbers (PINs), just as they would authorize ATM cash advances (from credit cards) or withdrawals (debit cards). The transactions clear though ATM (debit card) networks and appear on customer statements as ATM withdrawals or credit card cash advances.
Debit Processing is an ideal solution for any cannabis business that does face-to-face sales, and the per-transaction fees are substantially lower than are credit card fees. Plus, cannabis businesses using Debit Processing can charge convenience fees, which customers already are accustomed to paying for accessing cash via ATMs, and those fees can be set to cover the cost of processing transactions.
If you run a marijuana dispensary or other cannabis business with face-to-face sales, you need a cashless solution these days more than ever. Even if the chances of coronavirus being spread through currency are low, no company wants to run the risk of infection to employees and customers.
Paybotic offers quick and easy approval setups for Debit Processing, and there’s no need for POS systems integration. We offer flexible connectivity – 4G LTE, dual-band WiFi, and Bluetooth BLE – and can support all payment form factors – NFC, mobile wallets and mag-stripe cards. Plus, we ensure maximum security and compliance with end-to-end encryption.
Reach out today and let Paybotic show how we can help your cannabis business reduce cash handling risks.
