Posted on 10/14/2013 4:04:56 PM PDT by abb
SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) -
KSLA News 12 obtained video of overflowing shopping carts, excited shoppers, and empty shelves throughout Walmart in Springhill, Louisiana. The frenzy was reportedly created this weekend by a food stamp glitch in the system. That glitch allowed EBT card users to seemingly shop without a limit. But there was a limit the whole time.
According to the state, the retailer is on the hook for the overages.
The Department of Children and Family Services oversees those benefits, called SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
DCFS tells KSLA News 12 that no EBT card is ever limitless, and that when these outages happen, the retailer has a responsibility to implement emergency procedures. Those procedures include placing a phone call and verbally approving a spending limit for the customer. Trey Williams with DCFS says some retailers chose not to do that.
"These businesses are only reimbursed for the benefits on the card, and they are completely responsible. So if someone had 50 dollars on their card, and they spent 100, the retailer, in this case Walmart, would be on the hook for the other fifty.
So, isn't this fraud? The state has a way of tracking welfare fraud with GPS based software. DCFS knows who purchased what, and how much was spent. That information is available to be passed on to law enforcement, should it be requested. The information is there, the question is now, what will they do with it?
probably true correction.
“No wonder an increasing number of retailers won’t accept the EBT cards.
I wouldn’t.”
Just wait until you HAVE to accept them in order to obtain and maintain a business license.
Also, in some neighborhoods, that would automatically cut down your business 80%.
Why would they run the ruse in only 17 states and only for 13 hours and why would Xerox allow its business reputation to be besmirched with the fake story? Come on...
I’m sure that WM immediately wrote this off after doing the cold calculations of the costs of the alternative-a riot.
Didn’t you have a Mercury hybrid?
They have a record of incompetence in managing large governmental systems that makes their self-inflicted failure absolutely plausible. No tinfoil hat needed.
“Due to the pig headed logic of the State and who is responsible for theft by ebt card, we will no longer be accepting any form of Federal or State supplemental welfare”.
I would think who pays ought to depend on whether the payment system approved a properly presented transaction. IOW, if, due to a software glitch, the system approved transactions it should not have, then the government ought to pay and maybe get it out whomever they contracted with to run the EBT system.
Nothing like those ObamaPhones to get the word out!
Walmart avoided a riot. Some Walmarts closed. Apparently the manager in Springhill was a little bit intimidated.
There hasn’t been a peep out of any politician....democrat or republican.
Oh. SNAP.
I’m sure that WM immediately wrote this off after doing the cold calculations of the costs of the alternative-a riot.
This is probably true, and this is why our nation is doomed.
For the record like others have stated - this is theft and fraud. Every EBT cardholder knows how much they get and most know their balance. If you get $300 and buy $301 worth of meat during a glitch you have committed fraud.
Once again these folks learn no responsibility and suffer no consequences. Easy decision for the state to put the burden on an “evil corporation.”
America, what a country!
Amen!
Other retailers were effected by this outage, but did not react the way that Walmart did.
I was in a Food4Less in California during this timeframe (approximately 6 pm Pacific time). The cash registers had hand lettered signs posted “EBT System Down” and did not accept EBT transactions during that time.
Walmart could have chosen to not accept EBT transactions during the outage, but someone in Walmart management decided to go ahead and process the EBT cards anyway.
From what I’ve heard, managers at the stores in Louisiana called Wal-Mart’s corporate HQ when the EBT network crashed and asked what they were supposed to do. “Let ‘em use their cards,” was the reply, despite the fact that Wal-Mart could not determine the actual balances on the cards. Someone in Bentonville made the decision, and the local managers were just following orders.
Pretty amazing how quickly the locusts, err...EBT beneficiaries...spread the word about the scam. Guess those Obamaphones came in handy.
Reminds me of what happened at Wal-Mart stores in New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Managers were told to open the doors and let the public have whatever they needed. Naturally, the good folks of “Nawlins” had little interest in food or batteries; they were too busy carting off flat-screen TVs and computers.
I was shopping at a military commissary when the EBT system went down. Management announced repeatedly that EBT cards would not be accepted until the network resumed operations. Guess Hobama will fire the DECA commander since he didn’t let commissary patrons go on an unlimited shopping spree. Of course, the number of military families using EBT is fairly low, and many who are eligible refuse the benefit out of principle.
You come in saying your family is hungry but the ebt not be working? If I was the manager I would have made rice, pasta, beans and potatoes available. There, that should keep you fed till the cards come back on line.
Because able-bodied folks mooching and riding the backs of the productive class at the threat of a gov’t gun isn’t stealing to begin with?
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