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Is the Case of the Rotating Budtender an Industry Issue?

If you are loyal to a budtender in your area, will you follow them no matter where they work? And as long as you can still get high, does it matter?

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Budtender
PHOTO | Julia Seeliger
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Imagine living in a relatively small town that, despite its wholesome vibes, has a handful of dispensaries all within a 10-mile radius. You’ve become a regular at one of the shops close to your home, but one night you didn’t plan ahead of time and realize that you’re out of materials after that shop has closed. Thankfully, another dispensary is still open and you zoom over there to see what they have available. Lo and behold, your favorite budtender from your usual joint is behind the counter, telling you that she just changed jobs!

While it’s incredibly common for people to jump from company to company within the same industry, it has to make you wonder if doing this in the cannabis world is concerning. After all, shops are pretty similar and store managers are basically hiring the competition, right?

Trade Secrets

If you work in a fast food establishment and then quit to go work across the street, there’s a good chance that you won’t be selling the exact same type of food. Fountain drinks and fries aside, no one is really worried that you’re sharing the famous fried chicken recipe with anyone at your new pizza job.

While this same logic can be applied to a range of retail type of establishments, can the same thought process be used for budtenders and cannabis dispensaries? What if one shop has specific marketing strategies that they employ and those secrets go right along with the employee to the competitor’s ears?

Industry Standards

When you break it down, selling weed isn’t overly complex, but there are very specific regulations that must be followed no matter where you work. Compliance is king in the cannabis world, so making sure you run the appropriate reports and sell product according to your state’s limits will be required at any shop.

The thing that really sets dispensaries apart isn’t the way they ring up a sale, but rather the customer service they provide and the awesome product selection available. If a hot selling edible does well at shop A when that budtender moves to shop B, don’t you think they’ll recommend that they start stocking it there?

The Bottom Line

If you’re not a dispensary owner, you might be wondering why you should care about what we call “rotating budtenders.” Yet as a cannabis consumer, your money speaks volumes in terms of purchasing power. If you are loyal to a specific budtender in your area, will you follow them no matter where they work? Or, is overall shop loyalty more important beyond the faces you see every time you visit?

Take some time to think about your own priorities when it comes to buying weed and just for fun, keep your eyes peeled to see if the shops in your town start to slowly mirror each other. If they suddenly offer the same types of products, advertise in the same manner, and are even open during the exact same hours, you might attribute those changes to a rotating budtender or two.

But hey, as long as you can still get high, does it matter?

Culture

Tyson 2.0 Launches New Mike Bites Cannabis Gummies

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Mike Bites

Nearly 25 years after he was disqualified from the World Boxing Association Heavyweight Championship for biting his opponent’s ears, Mike Tyson’s Tyson 2.0 cannabis brand has just released ear-shaped edibles, Mike Bites.

The new ear-shaped edibles are complete with a missing chunk where Tyson removed a portion of Evander Holyfield’s cartilage in what became known as The Bite Fight. After Tyson bit off a chunk of Holyfield’s ear, the 1997 match resumed. However, after attempting to snack on Holyfield’s second ear, Tyson was disqualified and his boxing licence was withdrawn. The Nevada State Athletic Commission handed Tyson a a $3 million fine for his actions and he didn’t fight again for over a year.

Mike Bites gummies will be sold at dispensaries in California, Massachusetts and Nevada.

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Culture

Wiz Khalifa Debuts New Taylor Gang x Stündenglass Collab

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Taylor Gang x Stündenglass
PHOTO | Stündenglass

Wiz Khalifa and his entertainment company Taylor Gang Ent. have collaborated with Stündenglass, the world’s first gravity-powered infuser, to introduce the iconic gold and black Taylor Gang x Stündenglass.

“I’m honored to have collaborated with long time friend Wiz Khalifa, who is as passionate about this product as I am. Our mutual admiration for Stündenglass made it a natural collaboration,” Stündenglass CEO Chris Folkerts said via a press release.

Taylor Gang x Stündenglass is an authentic collaboration developed after the multi-platinum-selling, Grammy-winning, Golden Globe-nominated Khalifa discovered Stündenglass and began enjoying it regularly as seen on his Instagram.

“I love my Stündenglass, and I’m pumped everyone gets to experience this with me now,” Khalifa.

The Taylor Gang x Stündenglass. PHOTO | Courtesy of Stündenglass

The infuser features a patented 360-degree gravity system that elicits a powerful and immersive experience. It generates kinetic motion activation via cascading water, opposing airflow technology and the natural force of gravity.

The Taylor Gang gravity bing comes in an exclusive black and gold colorway and features two glass globes on a metal base made of aircraft-grade aluminum, surgical grade stainless steel, and high-quality Teflon seals.

Taylor Gang includes artists Ty Dolla $ign, Juicy J, and Berner among others — the former of which has his own line Stündenglass collab with his Cookies brand.

“We’re very excited to launch the official Taylor Gang x Stündenglass. We use glass in our everyday lives, so it only made sense to team up and create an exclusive Taylor Gang collaboration for the fans,” Taylor Gang said.


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No Super Bowl for Brock Ollie

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Brock Ollie

With medicinal marijuana being legal in 37 states and recreational cannabis allowed in 18, we should be seeing commercials for companies, products, and services almost as frequently as commercials for sports betting, which is permitted in 30 states in some form.

However, mainstream cannabis advertising continues to be non-existent, as demonstrated in the recent news that NBC has rejected an ad by cannabis e-commerce and advertising platform Weedmaps from being shown during the Super Bowl LVI event his coming Sunday.

Weedmaps reportedly approached the network late last year about airing a Super Bowl commercial that would be “similar to a PSA,” according to reports. Execs volunteered to present some of their earlier educational-based programming, assuring NBC executives that it would not contain any direct-sell messages, which are still forbidden under federal law.

“The answer was a hard no — they wouldn’t even entertain the conversation,” Weedmaps Chief Operating Officer Juanjo Feijoo told Adweek. “We see ourselves as trying to be trailblazers in the industry and making new inroads where others haven’t gone before in cannabis advertising. So it was disappointing.”

The contentious ad personifies cannabis as Brock Ollie, a head of broccoli, the veggie emoji commonly used as a visual representation of cannabis in marketing. The 30-second ad takes viewers through a day in the life of Brock Ollie, whose superfood identity is in jeopardy as he is repeatedly misidentified as cannabis. The ad offers a lighthearted take on the industry’s issues, such as social media censorship and a lack of clear advertising standards, which limit cannabis-related commercials during nationally televised events like the Super Bowl.

“Despite three quarters of the country having legalized cannabis and the bipartisan enthusiasm we continue to see in support for change at the federal level, the industry continues to face roadblocks that inhibit competition in the legal market and stifle opportunities to educate,” Chris Beals, CEO of Weedmaps said. “There’s an irony in the fact that the biggest night for advertising will feature an array of consumer brands in regulated industries, from beverage alcohol to sports betting, yet legal cannabis retailers, brands and businesses have been boxed out.”

The game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams will be played Sunday in L.A.

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