This Metrc (Minnesota) Support Bulletin (MN_IB_0060) announces new and clarified Metrc Location Types available starting February 2, 2026, and explains how these location categories support Minnesota inventory recordkeeping and day-to-day operational compliance.
Bulletin summary (MN_IB_0060)
Bulletin number: MN_IB_0060
Distribution date: April 1, 2026
Effective date in Metrc: February 2, 2026
Subject: Location Types Updates
What is changing: Metrc is adding additional Location Types for Minnesota licensees to use when creating and categorizing in-facility locations.
Why Location Types matter for Minnesota cannabis compliance
Minnesota license holders are required to maintain accurate inventory records for regulated cannabis items and record the specific in-facility locations where plants and products are stored using Metrc Locations (Minnesota Rules part 9810.1302, subp. 2(e)). In Metrc, each Location has a name (what you call the area) and a Location Type (what the area is used for).
A practical way to think about this is that the Location name should tell an auditor or manager “where it is,” and the Location Type should tell them “what that area does.” Metrc Location Types vary by facility type (cultivation, manufacturing, retail, testing), and while you do not need to use every Location Type, your Location naming and categorization must still clearly indicate where regulated inventory is stored.
New and updated Metrc Location Types (effective 02/02/2026)
Cultivation facility Location Types
Indoor: A fully enclosed cultivation space using artificial lighting and environmental systems for consistent, year-round production.
Outdoor: An open-air, fenced outdoor cultivation area where plants grow in natural sunlight and seasonal conditions.
Greenhouse: An outdoor mixed-light facility (Minnesota Rules 9810.0200, subp. 43) such as a greenhouse or hoophouse with nonrigid walls, surrounded by fencing, using natural sunlight with or without supplemental lighting and climate systems.
Processing (trimming, drying, curing): A post-harvest area where cannabis is trimmed, dried, and cured to prepare it for packaging, sale, or further manufacturing.
Freezer: A temperature-controlled area or walk-in freezer where freshly harvested cannabis is immediately frozen.
Storage Vault: An area where cannabis or cannabis products are stored after processing.
Manufacturing facility Location Types
Input/Raw Material Storage: An area for storing incoming cannabis biomass, ingredients, and packaging materials prior to processing.
Processing Room (concentration, extraction, combination): A designated production space where cannabis is extracted, concentrated, refined, or combined with other ingredients to create finished products.
Final Product Storage: An area where completed cannabis products are held before packaging, testing, or distribution.
Shared Location Type (Cultivation and Manufacturing)
Retention Sample: An area where retention samples are stored until 6 months after the expiration or best used by date of a product has passed.
Retail facility Location Types
Inventory/Stockroom: An area where cannabis products and supplies are stored, organized, and tracked before being moved to the sales floor.
Sales floor/Shelf: The customer-accessible area where cannabis products are displayed and made available for purchase.
Retail Samples: An area where designated sample products are stored.
Event - Virtual: A virtual room to hold products that are brought to licensed cannabis events.
Testing facility Location Types
Sample Storage: An area to store lab test samples that will be used for standard compliance testing.
Stability Sample: An area to store lab test samples that will be used for stability studies.
Location Types available to all Metrc facility types
Waste: A designated area where cannabis waste (plant material, expired products, or unusable materials) is held, rendered unusable, or prepared for compliant disposal.
Quarantine: A restricted storage area where cannabis or materials are held and prevented from use or sale during an administrative hold, recall, or until issue resolution is complete.
Default: A general-purpose classification used when an item does not yet fit into a specific category or has not been assigned to its proper area.
Day-to-day operational implications for Metrc users
These new Location Types are designed to make facility maps and inventory movement easier to understand in Metrc and easier to defend during inspections. The main operational impact is that licensees should expect to standardize Location setup so that common workflows (harvest, post-harvest handling, manufacturing runs, retail replenishment, and sampling) can be tracked with clear “where” and “what function” signals.
For cultivation operators, separating spaces like Processing (trimming, drying, curing), Freezer, and Storage Vault helps reduce confusion about whether material is still in post-harvest handling versus in longer-term storage.
For manufacturers, distinguishing Input/Raw Material Storage from the Processing Room and Final Product Storage supports cleaner chain-of-custody narratives (what was staged, what was actively in production, and what was finished and awaiting packaging, testing, or distribution).
For retailers, using Inventory/Stockroom versus Sales floor/Shelf helps reconcile what is customer-facing versus backstock and can reduce shrink investigations when counts differ by area.
Across all facility types, having a defined Quarantine location supports compliant holds and recalls, and a defined Waste location supports clear separation of regulated waste from sellable inventory.
How to apply the update in your Metrc Location setup
Metrc is not requiring every licensee to build out every Location Type, but Minnesota operators should review their current Location list and confirm that Location names clearly describe where cannabis plants or products are stored and that each Location is categorized with the most accurate Location Type available.
• If you currently use generic Location names (for example, “Room 1” or “Back”), consider renaming to include function (for example, “Post-Harvest Dry Room 1” or “Retail Stockroom - Vault A”) while selecting the appropriate Location Type.
• If you handle frozen harvests, create a distinct Freezer location to avoid mixing frozen material with drying/curing workflows.
• If you maintain retention samples, set up a dedicated Retention Sample location and keep it consistent across batches and products so retention storage is easy to demonstrate later.
For the practical differences between indoor, outdoor, and outdoor mixed-light cultivation classifications, Metrc directs Minnesota operators to the Office of Cannabis Management’s “Frequently Asked Questions for Cannabis Businesses.”
Metrc support and training resources
Metrc Support portal: Use https://support.metrc.com or access Support from within the Metrc system to reach the portal.
First-time portal access note: You will need your username (created when logging in), your state and facility license number, and a valid email to set a password.
Metrc Learn training: Register from inside Metrc via the Support menu (“Sign up for Training”) or go directly to https://learn.metrc.com.
Metrc Expert knowledge base: In Metrc, use the widget icon in the lower right corner to open Metrc Expert and search guidance on system workflows, including Locations.
Connecting Location accuracy to labeling and retail compliance
While Location Types primarily support in-facility inventory accuracy, strong internal tracking also supports downstream compliance tasks like packing, transfers, and retail readiness. When inventory moves from vault to packaging or from stockroom to sales floor, your labels and internal identifiers need to stay aligned with what Metrc shows.
DistruLabels: DistruLabels is a 100% free tool for creating compliant packaging and retail labels, and it can help operators stay aligned with Metrc Retail ID requirements by producing consistent, scannable label outputs tied to the correct product records.
DistruERP: For larger, multi-department operations that need end-to-end supply chain management beyond point workflows, DistruERP is Distru’s comprehensive Cannabis ERP platform designed to connect purchasing, production, inventory, sales, and compliance execution across the business.
