A controversial tax on sweetened beverages in Chicago is putting the entire state of Illinois at risk for losing millions in federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, commonly referred to as food stamps), according to a warning sent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to state regulators. [More]
food stamps
4 Reasons Amazon Is Willing To Accept Food Stamps For Grocery Delivery
By 1.12.17
This year, some Americans participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, aka “Food Stamps”), will be able to pay for groceries online through Amazon, FreshDirect, and some supermarket chains. Given that food delivery services have thus far tended to cater to higher-income consumers, why are these companies — and in particular, Amazon — eager to accept SNAP payments? [More]
USDA Can No Longer Hide How Much Money Stores Make From Food Stamps
By 12.1.16
All across America, families use benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP — formerly, and colloquially, known as the Food Stamp program) to buy food, but participation in SNAP varies from store to store, and the federal regulator that oversees the program has denied requests to turn over data on retailer-specific use of SNAP benefits. However, yesterday a federal court ruled that the government can no longer shield this information from public view. [More]
Small Store Owners Say Proposed SNAP Regulations Would Send Customers To Supermarkets
By 6.28.16
SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is what has replaced what were once called food stamps with debit cards. Not all stores are authorized to accept food stamps, and proposed new regulations would change the requirements to accept them. While the foods that recipients can use their balance on wouldn’t change, the food that retailers are required to stock before they can accept SNAP would. [More]
$18 Million WIC And Food Stamps Fraud Scheme Used Pretend Grocery Stores
By 6.12.14
WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) and SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) are both federally-funded, state-administered programs with the simple goal of preventing Americans from going hungry. In Georgia, 54 people have been indicted for setting up pretend grocery stores that defrauded the programs of millions of dollars. [More]
Louisiana Residents Who Milked SNAP Outage May Lose Food Benefits
By 11.14.13
Xerox and Walmart pointed fingers of blame at each other in the immediate aftermath of a public benefits card failure last month. Some shoppers saw that their cards showed no balance or limit and took the opportunity to strip store shelves. The administration of Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal knows where the blame really belongs, though: with the shoppers. [More]
When A Real EBT Outage Hits, Customers Freak Out And Don’t Get To Buy Food
By 10.16.13
This weekend’s 17-state EBT glitch was a disturbing lesson in human nature, with customers at one Louisiana Walmart cleaning off shelves when their cards showed no limit, and abandoning entire carts when their transactions didn’t go through. Reader N. works at a retailer somewhere in the Midwest, and reports that a much smaller government benefits system outage on Monday had very distressing results at her store. [More]
Dollar Store Owner In Trouble Because Food Stamps Shouldn’t Be Used To Buy Electronics
By 5.8.13
The thing about food stamps is, they’re called “food” stamps. Not “smartphone” or “iPod” or “tablet” stamps. You can’t eat those things (please don’t try), as they aren’t what’s known as “food.” As such, the owner of four dollar stores in New Jersey is in hot water after allegedly allowing customers to ring up more than $5 million fraudulent food stamp transactions. [More]
Nonprofit Turns Food Stamps Into Fido’s Dinner Because Pets Also Need To Eat
By 4.29.13
What does someone do when they can’t feed themselves, much less a beloved pet? There are food stamp programs for the human population, but seeing a need for owners who can’t afford to buy pet food, one nonprofit is trying to keep those dogs and cats in kibble and canned food. [More]
Probation For Lottery Winner Who Continued To Collect Food Stamps
By 7.24.12
Remember the Michigan woman who was charged with fraud because she continued to collect welfare and food stamps even after she won the lottery? Well, a decision has been reached in the case and she has been sentenced to six months’ probation. [More]
No More Food Stamps For $1 Million Michigan Lottery Winner
By 3.8.12
Remember that story about the woman in Michigan who won $1 million in the lottery but also managed to keep receiving $200/month in food assistance? Apparently people at the Michigan Dept. of Human Services also read the news, because they’ve now cut off her benefits. [More]
Hard-Up College Students Turning To Food Stamps
By 2.3.12
Being in college and having an empty wallet tend to go hand-in-hand. A full course load can make it difficult for students to find steady work, and in many college towns the work that’s available isn’t going to pay for very much. But while my fellow students were undergoing (legal) drug trials and donating whatever bodily fluid they could get a few cents for, some in the current generation of cash-strapped collegians are turning to food stamps. [More]
Buy A Frappuccino With Food Stamps At Oregon Starbucks In Grocery Stores
By 12.5.11
While food stamp programs may vary from state to state, it would seem logical to restrict usage of those stamps to actual food items. Not so in the case of Starbucks located inside grocery stores in Oregon, where you can use stamps to purchase cold beverages like a Frappuccino. [More]
NYC Welfare Worker Admits To Running $7 Million Food Stamp Scam
By 8.10.11
While the feds recently announced a spike in the number of Americans using food stamps, at least some of those 45.8 million people didn’t exist. A Brooklyn woman who worked for NYC’s Human Resources Administration has entered a guilty plea to charges of creating fake identities to scam the government out of millions in food stamp benefits. [More]
Record-High 45.8 Millions Americans Using Food Stamps
By 8.5.11
According to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture’s latest report on its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (aka food stamps), a record 45.8 million Americans received SNAP benefits during the month of May, up 12% from the same month in 2010 and 34% from two years ago. [More]
Report: $37 Billion In Welfare Will Disappear By Year's End
By 7.11.11
Unless lawmakers somehow maintain the funding of welfare programs at current levels, the nation’s poor could suffer a devastating loss of income by the end of the year. According to an estimate by Moody’s Analytics, $37 billion in extended benefits are set to expire. [More]
Should Fast Food Restaurants Be Allowed To Accept Food Stamps?
By 6.20.11
Only three states — Arizona, Michigan, and California — currently allow fast food restaurants to take payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (better known as “food stamps”), but Yum! Brands, parent company of KFC and Taco Bell, is currently leading a push in its home state of Kentucky to open that option up to state residents there. [More]
Lottery Winner Continues To Use Food Stamps
By 5.18.11
A Michigan man isn’t letting something a lottery windfall stop him from using government assistance to buy food. [More]
