Choosing a cannabis POS in Alberta: an AGLC checklist
A POS demo should answer the questions you will face at the counter and at month-end. Can you check a mixed basket, receive an AGLC delivery and trace the numbers in your report? Here is what to bring and what to ask a vendor to show before you sign.
PURP makes cannabis retail software. This is our buying framework, not legal advice or an independent vendor ranking. Confirm current requirements with your provincial regulator.
Bring a recent packing list, a copy of a filed monthly report and the model numbers of your scanner, printer and payment terminal. Use copies with unnecessary customer or staff details removed, and agree on a secure way to share any files.
Prepare the AGLC monthly report from your own records
Alberta cannabis retailers report their monthly activity to Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis (AGLC). Check the current AGLC reporting specification when comparing systems.
Ask the vendor to generate a sample month in a test store. Pick one AGLC SKU and follow it from opening stock through receiving, sales and other stock changes to the closing balance. Check quantities and dollar values separately. Ask where a missing SKU or unexplained difference appears and whether it must be resolved before export.
- How do you correct the source record and generate the report again?
- How does the report identify the store and month you selected?
- Who reviews the file, uploads it and records that filing is complete?
In PURP, the AGLC monthly compliance report is prepared from the store's own sales and inventory. PURP validates it, exports the spreadsheet and records each run through to filed. You upload the file through AGLC's portal; PURP does not submit it for you.
Enforce the purchase limit and minimum age at the counter
AGLC’s cannabis guidance sets a maximum of 30 grams of dried cannabis or equivalent per transaction and an Alberta minimum age of 18. A POS should calculate the equivalent for every format, from pre-rolls to edibles and oils, and stop a sale over the limit rather than relying on a cashier's arithmetic.
Ask for a test basket containing flower and another format, such as edibles. Read the dried-equivalent total, then add an item that takes it over the limit and try to complete the sale. Repeat with a product whose equivalency value is missing. Check how the cashier corrects each basket.
The register should make the minimum date of birth easy to find. Staff still need to check identification under AGLC’s age-verification requirements; a date displayed on screen does not verify the person standing at the counter.
PURP enforces the 30 gram dried-equivalent limit when a sale is completed, and a cannabis product without an equivalency value cannot be sold until it has one. The register shows the cashier the local minimum age and date of birth.
Charge the right sales tax
The Canada Revenue Agency lists Alberta’s GST rate as 5%, with no provincial sales tax. In a simple test with no other charges, a $40 taxable item discounted by $5 leaves $35 before tax, $1.75 GST and a $36.75 total. Check the receipt, then return the item and compare the tax reversal with the original sale.
PURP sets sales tax by each store's province. It calculates GST at the register; it does not calculate excise duty.
Bring AGLC purchase documents into receiving
Use a recent AGLC packing list in the demo. Ask which files the POS can read, then check the matched product, package size, case quantity and cost on several lines. Include a line that needs staff review.
Try a hypothetical short shipment: the document lists 12 units but only 11 arrive. Ask the receiver to record 11 and show where the missing unit remains visible. Check that recording the shortage does not quietly change the original supplier document or count the missing unit as stock.
PURP imports AGLC allocation emails, PDFs and delivery packing lists into purchase orders, so receiving starts from the supplier's own lines. Placing orders with AGLC still happens through AGLC.
If purchasing recommendations are also on your shortlist, explore PURP+ OrderFlow. Ask to see the reason for a suggested case and why an item was left out before approving an order.
Questions to settle before you choose PURP
Does PURP file my AGLC report?
PURP prepares, validates and exports the monthly report and tracks it to filed. You upload it through AGLC's portal.
Can my team control access to store records?
Review staff permissions, location access and export options in your demo. Confirm your business's data-location requirements before onboarding.
Which payment terminals work with PURP?
PURP's card-present payments run on Merrco terminals. Confirm your exact model during setup.
Can PURP run several Alberta stores?
Yes. Each store keeps its own stock, sales and reports, and PURP Admin shows every store together. Explore the store management workflows and test how staff permissions and stock reviews work across your locations.
What should I confirm before switching my Alberta store?
Get the import scope in writing and test it with your files. Check products, stock, customer records and balances separately. If you switch partway through a month, agree on who combines and checks the old and new records for that reporting period. The switching checklist covers the trial and final changeover.
See it with your own store
Choose the workflow you need to check first: the register, purchasing and receiving or reporting. When you book a PURP demo, tell us which devices you use, how many stores you run and what you want to test.