The Thanksgiving Weed Run

Green Wednesday gives buying weed the respectable air of getting ready for company. The long weekend is coming, and restocking the stash gets to share a to-do list with buying potatoes. This year, the dispensary shopping holiday falls on Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. I would happily volunteer to handle that errand.

A sale on something you already enjoy has obvious appeal during a week when the grocery bill can get obscene. Of course, a dispensary promotion can also send you home with several things you had no intention of buying. Suddenly, getting a deal involves spending more money than you planned, and you’re explaining the purchase to yourself with arithmetic that would embarrass you under other circumstances.

Some transaction data from dispensary software company Sweed offers a glimpse of what actually happens at checkout. In the stores the company analyzed, 2025 Green Wednesday orders contained 41% more items than on an ordinary Wednesday, while average spending per order rose 12%. That works out to an average price per item about 21% lower, reflecting both prices and the mix of products people bought. Shoppers took home substantially more without increasing their spending by nearly as much.

I’d happily use that kind of purchasing power to buy more flower I already love. A discount also makes an unfamiliar grower a little easier to take a chance on. There’s room for some curiosity here. The trouble starts when the offer does all the choosing: buying several products you barely want to qualify for a deal on the one you came for. At some point, you’re paying to help clear a shelf.

The people filling those carts had some history with the stores. Sweed found that 84% of Green Wednesday shoppers had first purchased there more than 100 days earlier. New customers made up about 8% of shoppers. The holiday crowd was largely made up of people returning to a business they had already tried, which is unsurprising to me, but I think it may surprise industry marketers who bank on new consumers constantly.

A familiar dispensary has its advantages when you’re trying to get through a shopping list. You can spend an absurd amount of time comparing menus, especially when every flower description seems to promise a life-changing experience. Knowing where to find something you like saves some homework. And there’s a small, specific pleasure in spotting a discount on a product you were already prepared to pay full price for.

Plenty of the shopping happened early. Activity during the 8 a.m. hour nearly tripled compared with an ordinary Wednesday, according to Sweed’s analysis. Pickup accounted for just over half of Green Wednesday orders, up from about 44%. The holiday was well underway before the after-work crowd arrived. Those numbers suggest a place for the dispensary in the Thanksgiving errand run, with an order waiting to be collected between other obligations.

I find that fairly endearing. Buying weed can occupy the same mundane corner of life as remembering coffee for the next morning. The pleasure comes later; right now, you’re checking something off a list. Getting a good price makes the stop a little more satisfying, especially with a long weekend ahead.

My ideal Green Wednesday would end with something I’m excited to smoke and enough left in the budget for everything else. I’d like to get home feeling pleased with the purchase, without having to explain to myself why I needed four extra things to save money on the first one. There are still potatoes to buy.