Posted on 11/06/2013 3:39:40 PM PST by abb
The Jindal administration announced late Wednesday that it is moving to strip food stamps from recipients who took advantage of a technical glitch last month to stock up on free groceries.
The announcement came after U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., pressured state officials to take action by taking away food stamp benefits and forming a task force with local prosecutors to bring criminal charges. Retailers lost money when they allowed food stamp recipients to leave their stores with groceries even though they could not check spending limits. When the transactions were processed later, thousands bounced back because recipients exceeded their food stamp balances.
Smartphone images of empty store shelves and bulging grocery carts at Wal-Marts in Springhill and Mansfield made national news.
The state Department of Children and Family Services said Wednesday that retailers across the state got 12,000 nonsufficient funds messages when the food stamp system came back online. The agency’s spokeswoman, Lindsey deBlieux, said investigations are ongoing to determine how many people took advantage. Retailers could have tried to process transactions multiple times. Recipients also could have made multiple purchases.
“We are in the business of helping vulnerable families, and we must protect the program for those who receive and use their benefits appropriately according to the law. We are looking at each case individually, addressing those recipients who are suspected of misrepresenting their eligibility for benefits or defrauding the system, and the Department will take initial action against the most egregious cases first,” the agency’s secretary, Suzy Sonnier, said in a prepared statement.
First time offenders stand to lose their food stamps for a year. Second time offenders face a 2-year suspension. Third time offenders will permanently lose their benefits.
I didn’t buy electronics. And as I said, some of the items like toys I bought were 75% off.
Other items I had no friggen clue how much they were because I have never owned them.
Don’t judge when you have NO CLUE what I bought.
I have seen the big ticket items run 75% off when on clearance and they do go on clearance. I just had no idea these particular versions were that expensive.
So yes, I thought what I was buying was on clearance.
For example, a high chair 75% off. Yeah it happens..
Treadmills
Bikes
Dolls
Action figures
yeah, those things go on clearance.
You’ve got to plumb pretty deep into the depths of ignorance to think this “windfall” would not have its reckoning.
I get incredible deals all the time.
75% off doesn’t raise any eyebrows for me.
Do you know how to make money on something as simple as buying deodorant this weekend???
I bet not.
To someone who is used to finding deals, today’s prices were nothing new.
Btw, if you are really smart you can get INCREDIBLE deals on a Saturday at a certain Drugstore website. I have gotten free Softsoap with nothing more than a click..and it was not a glitch...etc.
And it can really get good at the end of the month.
So for those that can’t fathom how someone who frequently gets free merchandise would not think twice about 75& off maybe you should learn how to get stuff for free every week.
Good for Jindal...even if it took Sen Vitter to put the pressure on.
What’s that got to do with this story? It’s about card spending limits that didn’t work, not massive pricing errors. Somebody spending 10x more than they’ve ever been allowed before isn’t doing it by accident.
Jindal mus’ be one o’ dem RASISSS!
They should be easy enough to find. One easy SQL script.
There is a correlation. The people did not walk out of Walmart without going through checkout.
But if you don’t see the correlation then I wont be able to explain it to you.
Well... I guess I’m not sure what you mean. This appears to be about people running up balances on their government welfare cards beyond the limits that normally hit, not about the individual prices of the stuff they bought. Am I wrong?
Goes right along with the usual suspects that pulled the same thing after Katrina...
They got all these pre-paid debit cards with about $2000 on them, and they went on a shopping spree, in places like the Galleria in Houston, buying Gucci handbags, and lap dances at local topless bars...
That activity got stopped pretty damn fast!
I guess if you ring the dinner bell, the mooches will come running anyway...
Not much you can do about it, I suppose...
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Be lots of runnin n hidin around Mantsfeeld. Howz a mofo spos to gets by on nuthin??? Sistas didn do nuthin wrong, Creepyass crackas mades um lode up da carrits wid dare damm EBT carid screwin up.
Ever hear the old adage of “thou doth protest too loudly”?
Louder and louder each CYA post.
That may be true but many of those people had 4-5 carts full of steaks, turkeys, hams... They know how much they get each month and it has NEVER been for thousands of dollars worth of stuff.
And by that time if Walmart had said no there would have been blood in the aisles. I am not kidding.
Sounds great!!
Why doesn’t the EBT system “fail safe” when the main network interface goes down? If the computer system backing up the EBT transaction fails it should fail to NOT allow the transaction at the point of purchase. This was done on purpose.
**But it’s also possible Walmart could choose to eat the loss.**
....or if we believe this employee:Employees Really Paid the Bill When Wal-Mart Gave Away Unlimited EBT Access
Follow the money
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