Cannabis loyalty data — without losing a single point

Most cannabis-POS loyalty implementations store points as a single counter on the customer row. When you migrate, you SELECT the counter, INSERT into the new system, and trust the math. That works exactly until: (a) one POS computes points slightly differently than the other, (b) tier-history isn’t exported, (c) the sign-up-date field is named differently, or (d) a sync hiccup mid-migration leaves rows inconsistent. Then the customer notices. Then the budtender apologizes. Then operator-side trust erodes one customer at a time.

• Counter-only storage — single integer on the customer row. No history. Reconstruction impossible once a discrepancy is reported.
• Tier-history flat-discarded — Gold tier earned in 2022 turns into Silver after migration because nobody exported the tier-history table.
• Sign-up date overwritten — new POS uses createdAt for the customer record itself, not the original loyalty-enrollment date. 4-year customers look like new signups.
• Mid-flight sync breaks — POS-A is dual-running with POS-B for a week, points earn in both, neither knows about the other. Reconciliation is manual.

Instead of a counter, store every loyalty event as a row: earn / redeem / adjust / migrate-in. The customer’s current balance is computed from the ledger, not stored on the customer row. Reconstruction is always possible because the history is the source of truth.

The trick to a clean migration is treating the legacy points balance as a single migrate-in row, not a counter copied verbatim. That makes the cutover reversible (we can re-run the migrate-in if it fails) and auditable (every customer’s ledger has a clear pre-migration boundary).

1. 1Export legacy balances as CSV with customer_email + current_points + tier + signup_date + last_earn_at. One row per customer.
2. 2Validate the export — total points across all customers should match the legacy POS’s aggregate report. If not, find the discrepancy before cutover.
3. 3Insert one migrate-in ledger row per customer — points = legacy balance, source_system = 'dutchie' (or whatever), migration_batch_id = ISO date. The customer’s computed balance now matches.
4. 4Migrate tier-history as separate tier_history table with achieved_at timestamps preserved. Customer tier is derived from history; sign-up date stays original.
5. 5Run a reconciliation report the day after cutover — total points should match within ±5 per customer (rounding tolerance). Anything beyond requires investigation.
6. 6Hold the legacy export read-only for 90 days post-cutover. If a customer disputes a balance, the legacy export is the source of truth for the pre-migration value. After 90 days the dispute window closes.

• Points balance discrepancy — they always notice. Most-frequent dispute on any migration. Solved by accurate migrate-in + reconciliation.
• Tier loss — they notice if tier was earned + carried perks. Solved by migrating tier_history table separately.
• Sign-up date — they notice on anniversary milestones (5-year, 10-year). Solved by preserving original signup_date as a separate field.
• Last-purchase date — they don’t notice this directly, but the operator-side reorder math depends on it. Migrate as a side-table.
• Earn rate / multiplier history — they don’t notice unless the new POS computes earn differently. If the new system is 1pt/$1 and the legacy was 2pt/$1, that’s a re-anchor moment requiring customer communication, not silent migration.

• WSLCB advertising rules (WAC 314-55-155) — loyalty programs are permitted; what you can call them in customer-facing copy is regulated. Auto-generated emails / SMS need to clear the rules. Ledger structure doesn’t change this; the customer-facing surfacing does.
• Industry discount + loyalty interaction (WAC 314-55-095) — industry-discounted purchases may or may not earn loyalty points depending on operator policy. Document the rule in code, not just the SOP. Audit-log every variance from the rule.
• Heroes / first-visit / birthday discounts — these stack with loyalty in customer-readable ways. Make sure the ledger captures the discount line-item separately so the customer’s effective earn rate is reconstructable.
• Federal banking + cash-only operations — points-redemption-as-store-credit is a tax-accounting nuance (280E-adjacent). The ledger documenting the redemption is what your CPA needs at year-end; if the redemption was made in cash, capture both the points-out and the cash-equivalent value.