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GTA Online Cocaine Lockup: Best Payout, Location and Is It Worth It

GTA Online Cocaine Lockup: Best Payout, Location and Is It Worth It

One of GTA Online’s first major updates came with the Bikers DLC in 2016 which allowed players to run their own Motorcycle Club. Once you’re the MC Clubhouse president you’ll also have access to ‘The Open Road’ online network, which acts as a sort of dark web set up by Lester Crest.

From here you can purchase and operate several illicit businesses which are scattered across San Andreas in Blaine County and Los Santos, including the option to start a Cocaine Lockup.

These businesses might not be as lucrative as some of the game’s more recent heists, but they do provide a good source of passive income, so are well worth the time and money you’ll invest. Read on, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about how to set up your Cocaine Lockup in GTA Online, including the best location to pick, the upgrades to buy and the max payout you can earn.

How To Setup A Cocaine Lockup Business

Each business requires an initial set-up mission specific to the type of business purchased and for your Cocaine Lockup, you’ll need to drive to a location, grab a Tampa muscle car loaded with supplies and drive it back to the Cocaine Lockup.

Once you’ve completed this mission you’ll be able to start managing the business.

Do note that you can’t start properly turning a profit if you run out of supplies, as business production will stop. You’ll need to either buy more supplies for $15,000 per unit (up to a max of $75,000) or earn them at no cost via missions that allow you to steal supplies from another organization.

GTA Online Cocaine Lockup Best Location

First off, here are the locations and prices of the various Cocaine Lockup in GTA Online:

  • Alamo Sea ($975,000)
  • Paleto Bay ($1,098,000)
  • Elysian Island ($1,462,500)
  • Morningwood ($1,852,500)

Now, which one is best? Generally speaking, it doesn’t matter as no Cocaine Lockup is ‘better’ than any other. The price of the Cocaine Lockup business doesn’t affect your productivity or profitability, it’s simply related to the location of where it is based.

That being said, we think there’s a great benefit to being located centrally on the map as you’ll have shorter distances to cover when doing sale and supply runs. So we’d probably pick between Alamo Sea and Morningwood. However, if given the choice we think Alamo Sea is the best Cocaine Lockup location. Let us explain why.

First, it costs half the amount of Morningwood. Secondly, since we think the best Meth Lab is in Grand Senora Desert, we’re reasonably close by to the second-best MC Business available and it helps to keep both businesses close together. Lastly, since it’s the cheapest of all the Cocaine Lockup locations, you’ll have plenty of money leftover to buy those upgrades.

You can see the location for Alamo Sea on the map just below, along with the three other Cocaine Lockup locations.

GTA Online Cocaine Lockup Upgrades

Go to the laptop in your Cocaine Lockup and you’ll be able to purchase upgrades, these can sometimes be quite costly, but they’ll vastly improve your productivity and profitability. The three upgrades you can purchase are listed below, along with their upgrade prices.

Cocaine Lockup Upgrades
Upgrade Cost Description
Equipment Upgrade $935,000 Purchase this upgrade to install higher quality equipment. This will speed up your production rate, improve the overall value of your product and allow your supplies to stretch further.
Staff Upgrade $390,000 Purchase this upgrade to hire more staff. This will speed up your production rate and improve the overall value of your product.
Security Upgrade $570,000 Purchase this upgrade to install security personnel and surveillance equipment. This will reduce the likelihood of being raided by the cops or attacked by enemies.

As you can see, the amount of money you can make and the time it takes to make your profit will vastly improve with the purchase of the Staff and Equipment upgrades. The security upgrades are helpful, but they will not improve your profit margins or productivity.

GTA Online Cocaine Lockup Max Payout

Obviously, the max payout for the Cocaine Lockup will depend greatly on a few different variables. For instance, do you have any upgrades and if so, which? Are you selling close to the Cocaine Lockup or far away? Finally, are you buying your supplies, or are you stealing them?

The optimal way to make the max payout will be to have both upgrades, selling far away and stealing your supplies. Below you’ll find a table to help you work out the best max payout

Upgrade Upgrade Cost Unit Profit Minutes per Unit Capacity Sell Local Sell Remote Profit per Hour
No Upgrade $0 $20,000 50 10 $200,000 $300,000 $25,000
Security Upgrade $570,000 $20,000 50 10 $200,000 $300,000 $25,000
Equipment Upgrade $935,000 $24,000 40 10 $240,000 $360,000 $30,000
Staff Upgrade $390,000 $24,000 40 10 $240,000 $360,000 $30,000
Equipment/Staff Upgrade $1,325,000 $28,000 30 10 $280,000 $420,000 $35,000
All Upgrades $1,895,000 $28,000 30 10 $280,000 $420,000 $35,000

Is The Cocaine Lockup Worth It In GTA Online

The Cocaine Lockup is the best MC business you can run as it offers the best payout compared to all of the MC businesses available. So yes, it is definitely worth it and should ideally be purchased as your first MC business.

Assuming players opt for the Alamo Sea location and buy both upgrades, you’re looking at a total setup cost of $2,300,000, but you should make your money back within 27 hours. From then on, it’s pure profit.

We would strongly advise starting a Cocaine Lockup business in GTA Online right away. It’s far more useful than the Weed Farm, Document Forgery Office or Counterfeit Cash Factory, which don’t really offer enough payout to warrant how much work you need to put in.

GTA Online Cocaine Lockup Not Producing?

As per Rockstar Support, here’s some help to get your Cocaine Lockup producing product again if it stops working.

Question: What can I do if my Motorcycle Club Business will not produce any product?

Answer: Whether you are managing your business through the Nightclub or running it out of your Motorcycle Club, here are a few things to check to be sure your business can produce product.

Make sure all of the following conditions are met:

  • The Set-Up Mission for the particular business has been completed
  • The Business has supplies available
  • If you are managing the Business from the Nightclub, a Nightclub Technician should be assigned to the desired product (Cocaine, Counterfeit Cash, Forged Documents, Methamphetamine, or Weed)
  • You are playing in a public session
  • You are playing while registered as a Motorcycle Club President

You should see your product level increase after 30 to 50 minutes of play – depending on the product.

If the business continues to not produce any product, you can try the following steps:

  1. Shut down the Business
  2. Play online in a public session for more than 30 minutes
  3. Re-open the Business and play as a Motorcycle Club President, making sure the conditions above are met

That’s everything you need to know about the GTA Online Cocaine Lockup. If you’re looking for more GTA guides then follow the links below for more helpful tips, tricks and explainers.

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