Machines in Colorado Are Now Selling Marijuana To Consumers!
Aurora residents who visit the Terrapin Care Station dispensary may now purchase cannabis from a vending machine, just like their favorite snacks. Starting in early February, clients can use touch screens to place orders for marijuana items and get them in a big machine dubbed an Automated Cannabis Experience (ACE) that is ready to be taken home.
ACE was created by Terrapin Care Station in collaboration with BMC Universal Technologies of Canada, and is said to be the industry’s first completely automated cannabis kiosk. At the Boulder company’s debut at the MJBizCon convention last November, industry professionals and amateurs alike lined up every day to try out the dispenser.
Peter Marcus, the company’s spokesman, described the experience as “wild,” adding, “It felt like we had an amusement park ride there.” The only ACE in Aurora may be found at Terrapin Care Station, located at 11091 E. Mississippi Ave., and is open to the public. Even if they have a valid ID, they won’t be allowed into the dispensary unless they check in with a staff member and prove they are at least 21 years old.
Once inside, though, they don’t need to talk to a salesperson at all. Customers go up to the machine, scan their ID, and then use a touch screen to read the menu and add items to their virtual basket. According to Marcus, the ACE can store up to 1,152 different products, including flowers, edibles, vape oil cartridges, and concentrates that need to be kept at a specific temperature.
At checkout, consumers pay in cash (the ACE does not yet accept debit cards) and watch via a glass window measuring 38 by 30 inches as the machine captures, bags, seals, and places a purchased sticker on their order before dispensing it like any other vending machine.
Revolutionary Aspirations
If this sounds like something you’ve heard before, it’s because, in 2020, another cannabis vending machine named Anna was introduced in Colorado and covered by The Denver Post. Marcus claims that the ACE machine is in conformity with state and municipal standards because it is connected to Metrc, Colorado’s seed-to-sale marijuana tracking system.
Anna’s founder and CEO, Matt Frost, wasn’t available for comment, but representatives from the dispensaries where Anna was first introduced, Strawberry Fields and Star Buds, said the machines didn’t last long due to regulatory concerns.
According to Ben Tafoya, manager of Star Buds in Aurora’s southeast, the traditional method of conducting business is faster in the long run. Someone had to be at the vending machine at all times so that “everything needs to be accounted for and everything has to be stickered once it’s been purchased to indicate there was a legitimate transaction completed,” as Tafoya put it.
It didn’t last long because it wasn’t as popular as we had hoped. As far as I can tell, we only used it for a small number of sales. In the future, Marcus said, Terrapin Care Station hopes to offer the ACE technology to other “struggling” merchants across the state and country, as well as put the equipment in its five additional dispensaries on the Front Range.
According to the Marijuana Enforcement Division, cannabis sales peaked during the pandemic, totaling nearly $2.2 billion in 2020 and another $2.2 billion in 2021, before precipitously declining. The most recent available data shows that sales for the first eleven months of 2022, or around $1.6 billion, were down 21% year over year.
Marcus added that the dispensary industry is also suffering from the same personnel shortages that have hit other parts of the service industry. The addition of an automated checkout system can not only make up for human shortages but also speed up the buying process for customers.
To top it all off, I won’t deny that it’s at least a little bit entertaining. Marcus said that this could be a selling point to entice new customers. The staff at Terrapin Care Station thinks ACE has the potential to disrupt the business and replace conventional vending machines if it catches on.
The CEO of Terrapin Care Station, Chris Woods, said in a statement that this was “a truly game-changing manner for customers to acquire cannabis.” Due to regulatory shifts, “it’s not unreasonable to assume in a few years from now you would see these at Union Station, or like ATM expresses where you swipe cards to enter in order to use the ATM,” Marcus added.
