If you have paid at our counter, you have probably heard a budtender say some version of this: we are a no change for change shop. Here is what that actually means, why we do it, and exactly where the money goes.
We do not keep coins in the drawer. When your total lands on an odd number, we round it up to the next whole dollar, and that difference goes to Freedom Grow, a nonprofit that supports people still serving prison sentences for cannabis.
You can always take your change. Say the word and the budtender will hand it right back, no explanation needed and nobody thinks twice about it. Almost nobody does.
Why no change for change
The short version of no change for change is that coins are a nuisance for everybody. They slow the line down, they end up in a cup holder or a coat pocket, and most people would rather not carry them out the door. Running a counter without them is faster for us and easier for you.
Your total gets there the same way it always does — shelf price, then the state and local taxes we broke down in our guide to how Illinois cannabis tax works. We round what is left up to the next dollar. That is the whole mechanism.
But no change for change only makes sense if the difference goes somewhere worth going. So we picked something.
Who Freedom Grow is
Freedom Grow is an all volunteer 501c3 nonprofit founded in 2015 by Stephanie Landa, who served a federal sentence herself. Kristen Flor is the executive director. Their work is unglamorous and extremely practical.
- Commissary. Inside, commissary is how a person buys food, soap, shoes, and phone calls home. Without it you get whatever the lowest bidder supplied, and you do not call home.
- Books and letters. Years pass and people on the outside stop writing. Freedom Grow keeps writing.
- Family outreach. If someone inside has a family birthday coming up, Freedom Grow asks what that person would want to send, and then makes it happen so the gift comes from them. One recent example was a hoodie in a family member’s team colors, sent by someone who could not be there in person.
They do this by money order, one envelope at a time, several times a year, for more than two hundred people.
Freedom Grow also does the advocacy end of it. They are part of a coalition of dozens of organizations that shows up in Washington every year around the 420 holiday to push three things in order: take cannabis off the schedule, release the people still held under it, and clear the records of everyone already out.
Why this one
You are standing in a legal shop in Illinois, buying something an adult is allowed to buy, and handing over a few coins you did not want anyway. Somewhere else in the country there is a person who has been locked up for most of three decades over the same plant.
When Freedom Grow joined us on Cannabis Legalization News, one of the people they support called into the show from a federal facility in Kentucky. He has been inside since 1998. He had a young family when he was arrested. They are grown now, with families of their own. He earned three college degrees while inside, including a master’s.
That is the gap this is about. Not a cause we researched and adopted for a press release, just a thing that is obviously wrong that a pocket of change can chip at.
Freedom Grow told us on that show that they believe we were the first shop in the country to turn their round up on in our point of sale system. We would rather not stay the only one.
What we do not do with it
We do not keep a cent of it. No change for change is not income to the shop, it is not a service fee, and it does not show up anywhere in what we take home. It is booked separately from the first cent and it leaves the same way it came in.
We also do not want anybody feeling worked over at the register for a matter of cents. If you are having a tight week, take the change. If you are just not in the mood, take the change. Nobody is keeping a list.
If you want to do more than round up
Go straight to freedomgrow.org. You can give monthly, you can sign up to be a pen pal, and you can show up for court support, which costs nothing and matters more than people think. For the legal side of why these sentences persist, Cannabis Industry Lawyer covers it in more depth than we do here.
And if you would rather keep your change, keep your change. That is genuinely fine. The offer only works if it is a real choice.
No change for change, answered
Do I have to round up?
No. Ask for your change and the budtender will hand it back. It is always your call, every visit.
Where does the round up go?
To Freedom Grow, an all volunteer 501c3 nonprofit that supports people serving prison sentences for cannabis.
What does Freedom Grow do with it?
Commissary funds for food, soap, shoes and phone calls home, plus books, letters and family support.
Can I give more than my change?
Yes. Go to freedomgrow.org to donate directly or set up a monthly gift.
Come see us
We are on the square at 359 Court St, Pekin, IL 61554. Call us at (309) 444-6108, stop in, or browse the menu. More about who we are is on our about page, and our hours and directions live on the contact page.
For adults 21+ only. Consume responsibly. Must be 21 or older with a valid government issued ID.