Posted on 01/06/2017 12:25:44 PM PST by Red Badger
The U.S. Department of Agriculture plans to launch a two-year pilot program this summer with seven retailers to allow food stamp recipients the ability to purchase their groceries online.
More than 44 million Americans participated last year in federal government's low-income food assistance program, called SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Last year, the average benefit each person received was just over $125.50 per month.
"Online purchasing is a potential lifeline for SNAP participants living in urban neighborhoods and rural communities where access to healthy food choices can be limited," USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a release. "We're looking forward to being able to bring the benefits of the online market to low-income Americans participating in SNAP."
The pilot program will take place in seven states, in both urban and rural areas.
Online grocery still represents only a small portion of the overall at-home food category but it is growing faster due to the success of companies such as Amazon and others.
Amazon will participate in the pilot in Maryland, New Jersey and New York. The six other retailers selected include: FreshDirect in New York; Safeway in Maryland, Oregon and Washington; ShopRite in Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania; as well as Hart's Local Grocers and Dash's Market in certain New York locations.
"Amazon is excited to participate in the USDA SNAP online purchasing pilot," the Seattle-based ecommerce giant said in a statement. "We are committed to making food accessible through online grocery shopping, offering all customers the lowest prices possible."
FreshDirect, the Northeast online food retailer, said in a statement, "With the SNAP pilot, we look forward to bringing the online purchasing option to SNAP clients and positively impacting all the communities that we serve."
Brick-and-mortar chains such as Wal-Mart are aggressively expanding into the online grocery space and also offering both delivery as well as pick-up service at certain locations. Wal-Mart wasn't listed as one of the pilot participants; CNBC reached out to Wal-Mart for comment.
The department said it eventually anticipates being able to add additional retailers after confirming the "system is operating as required."
USDA said the retailers selected for the pilot "represent a variety of store types, including national online retailers as well as large grocery chains and smaller, regional networks to appropriately test online SNAP purchasing in different settings."
Kroger wasn't immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Because there’s not enough fraud already?
Sure. Make it easy for them. Why not??
/s
Better yet, why not have an Amazon Drone deliver that free s**t right to their door? Steaks, beer, sodas, and more!
/barf
It's time for the US to declare victory and retreat.
... while issuing draconian regulations and restrictions upon everyone because wards of the state are so flippin' fat. Yep, that'll fix it, they don't ever have to get up off their voluminous behinds, the food just materializes at their door.
Hey, maybe they could move those blasted Lottery tickets out of the dang check out line, as well.
Food Stamps were embarrassing so they gave them Debit Cards.
Too much trouble having to get the free Food, have it delivered to their Rent Subsidized Door.
Hard working Taxpayers, the biggest Fools breathing.
Unless a store sets up a local delivery route, wouldn’t cold shipping be astronomically expensive?
Who is going to deliver the goods? Can you see this in Philly?
Will they someone riding shotgun?
LMAO
Here’s why:
Cards are given to drug dealers, along with the pin number. The doper gets his drugs and the dealer uses the card, usually to supply a corner market with sodas, etc.
Next month: repeat.
This makes the scam even easier.
Making it convenient for them. But they won’t lift a finger for the elderly who worked hard to build up this country!
Screw you! You’re White and old, you won’t vote, just die. But the welfare recipients, oh, we love you! You are in a voting block and we can blame your problems on the old White people who we want to get rid of.
For those who are on SNAP because of actual disabilities, this could be great.
For those who aren’t, or for those who live in rough neighborhoods, this could make a lot of problems worse.
On the other hand, maybe it’ll mean safer and cleaner grocery stores.
Bulls***-rural communities have more than adequate access to healthy, fresh food-usually locally produced-I live in a remote rural area and I’m never more than 7 miles from fresh, organic veggies, free-range eggs and poultry, and grass-fed meat at the general store-the nearest big chain market is nearly 30 miles away.
What there IS limited access to is convenience/frozen/processed unhealthy junk-and there is no fast food closer than 18 miles-that is what the welfare crowd will be shopping online for-not healthy fresh food. The merchants out here don’t take EBT cards, either-they have big signs on the doors that say that so the summer daytrippers from the city know...
Gosh, that’s being tough on the qualifying details.... /humor
That will be added in to the cost of the “groceries”..............
That's because Kroger already is piloting a shop online option. Don't know if it's for SNAP, but there a couple of Kroger's in Houston where you can buy online and then select a time to pick it up.
I haven't tried it yet, but I like the concept.
Eventually it will be like The Matrix: Everyone in a cubicle and fed via IV tubes..............
“So, if they can afford an Internet device, smartphone, computer, tablet, etc. and connection for it, why do they need food stamps?..............”
—
Maybe they all use the free computers at the public library-—————then again,maybe not.:-)
.
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