The Setup

Under wholesale, expired product was the dispensary's problem. Flower dried out, edibles passed date, cartridges nobody bought. Every quarter, $6,000-$10,000 in expired cannabis sat in the back room until someone threw it away. The dispensary paid wholesale price for product that generated $0 in revenue.

Nobody tracks this line item closely because it feels inevitable. Product expires. You toss it. You eat the cost. But when we looked at the numbers, the losses were staggering — and entirely avoidable.

What Changed

When 3 top vendors moved to consignment, the economics of expiration flipped entirely. Under consignment, the vendor owns the product until it sells at the register. If it doesn't sell? It goes back to the vendor. The dispensary carries zero expiration risk on consignment inventory.

This isn't a warranty or a return policy. It's the fundamental structure of the deal. The vendor retains ownership. The dispensary merchandises and sells. If a product sits too long and expires, the vendor takes it back because it's still their product.

The Quarter That Proved It

47 units expired across the 3 consignment vendors. Flower that didn't move, edibles approaching date, a few SKUs that simply didn't sell. Total wholesale value: $8,370.

Under the old wholesale model, that's an $8,370 write-off on the P&L. The dispensary would have eaten every dollar. The product would have gone in the trash, and the loss would have shown up as a line item nobody wanted to look at.

Under consignment, all 47 units were returned to the vendors who made them. The dispensary's loss: $0.

We handled the return manifesting through Metrc, coordinated with each vendor on pickup, and adjusted the settlement reports. The dispensary didn't chase vendors or negotiate credits. We took care of it.

Why This Changes How You Think About Inventory

Wholesale makes the dispensary the risk-bearer for every product decision. Order too much? Your problem. Product doesn't sell? Your loss. Market shifts? Your write-off.

Consignment shifts that risk to the vendor — the party who actually controls product quality, packaging, and market fit. The dispensary's job becomes merchandising and selling, not absorbing losses.

This changes how you stock shelves. When expiration risk sits with the vendor, you can carry broader assortment without fear. You can test new SKUs without committing capital. You can let slow movers sit without watching dollars evaporate. The vendor has every incentive to make products that sell — because if they don't, the vendor bears the cost.

See how one dispensary freed $27,350 in trapped inventory with the same approach: Consignment Conversion Case Study.

The Result

$8,370 in expired product returned. $0 write-off. One quarter. Three vendors. The dispensary now treats expiration as a vendor problem, not a financial event.

Over a full year, the shift from wholesale to consignment eliminated an estimated $30,000-$40,000 in annual write-offs across those 3 vendors. That's money that used to go in the trash — now it stays in the business.

They used to throw away $10,000 a quarter in expired product. Now the vendors take it back. Same shelves. Zero risk.

If you want to see how much expired product is costing you — and how consignment eliminates that loss entirely — get a free evaluation. We'll look at your vendor mix and show you the math.