Food stamp follies

[Mondestrucken]

Once at the DMV, a customer came in to renew her car registration. Except that her proof of insurance was expired. We even tried calling her agent, but no one was there and we left a message.

"I brought the wrong one in! I picked up the expired one by mistake!"

Okay. Go home and get the right one. "We came in a cab. I can't afford to go home and then make another round trip!" And I can't renew a registration without valid insurance. It's the law.

She sobbed and glared at me, but since what I really wanted to say was: "There is no way you took a cab here. Your POS car is out in the parking lot right now, and you have no insurance period," I stared her back down.

And guess what? She went out into the parking lot, got into her POS uninsured car and left.

[eltf177]

And guess what? She went out into the parking lot, got into her POS uninsured car and left.

Pity the cops didn't catch her...

[Roland]

Well I know what it was like before I got my current job. My money had just about run out so my diet consisted of beans and cornbread...so I am sympathetic to anyone on ebt that buys chips, soda, candy, whatever. When I was broke and job hunting I had nothing but the same old simple fare at home. I'd have loved something different.
The only thing that gets me thinking are the ones that spend a lot of money on alcohol, cigarettes, or lottery.
But then I can't know how often they do that.

[wolfie]

The first time I had a food stamp customer (back when they were paper, before they were cards), I gave them their change in cash. For anyone who doesn't know, food stamps came in a book of even-dollar denominations. Any change that was under a dollar could be given in cash, but for the dollar amounts, you had to give it back to them in food stamps.

What would have happened if you didn't have lower-dollar food stamps to give them as change?

[MadMike]

What would have happened if you didn't have lower-dollar food stamps to give them as change?

No idea. It never happened to me. I was mainly a stocker, and was only put on register when another cashier was needed. And we didn't get a whole lot of food stamp customers.

[raudf]

I read my stamp card and guess what it says under refunds? "All sales that are refunded are to go back onto your EBT card." It had a looonnnnggger list of what could happen if you failed either as a customer or as a seller to do so. I have no idea on the cash benefit, though. This included the loss of benefits and the loss of license to vendor for food stamps.

[Cai1987]

I've gotten store credit on food stamps returns a few times. (I was never trying to cheat the system - the items were either out of date or, in one memorable instance, full of bugs. *shudder* I still won't eat English muffins...) I don't think I ever spent the store credit on anything but other food items, but I can't really remember.

And I know firsthand how much it sucks that food stamps won't cover other necessities like diapers and baby needs or gas. But that's no excuse for trying to get a store employee to break the law for you. There are ways to deal. They might involve walking 2.5 miles to the post office to sell old jewelry on Ebay, for example, but there are ways.

[SpyOne]

Once at the DMV, a customer came in to renew her car registration. Except that her proof of insurance was expired. We even tried calling her agent, but no one was there and we left a message.

One of the thing I like about Virginia: instead of having to show the DMV proof of insurance, you have to sign a statement that the car is insured and will remain so. If you didn't actually have insurance on that date, $1000 fine and they suspend your license until you pay it.
Not a huge fan of the second part, but I love not having to work out how to get my insurance card from my agent before I have plates for my car. Getting to the DMV is hard enough.

[SpyOne]

I too remember the days when Food Stamps were made out of paper.
We had a regular customer who came in at least 4 times a week. He'd buy a single piece of Bazooka bubblegum and pay with a $1 Food Stamp. Then he'd go to the cooler and get a single beer that came to, IIRC, $1.25 with tax and pay with a handfull of change, including the 95 cents he got back from his Food Stamp.
I resented that he was gaming the system to use his Food Stamps for beer, but as far as I could tell he wasn't actually breaking any rules, so .....



I was shocked and amazed to find out what Food Stamps can buy.
I grew up in Connecticut when it had the highest sales tax in the country (8.5%). But a few things weren't subject to sales tax and one of them was food.
The state had a very strict definition of "food". Bread is food, Doritos are not. Juice is food, soda is not. Cranberry Juice is sold as "Juice Cocktail" because they have to add sugar to make it drinkable. Cranberry juice cocktail was taxed.

So I just assumed that the legal definition of "food" Connecticut used for its tax laws was the same as the one used for Food Stamps. It definitely isn't.

I have no idea how chewing gum falls under the definition of "food", but it does.
Food Stamps can be used for any kind of food except the following:
1) HOT food. Any hot food. Coffee, hot dogs, nothing hot. Those microwavable sandwiches? If you microwave them before you bring them to the register, we aren't supposed to let you use Food Stamps. It has to be cold when we sell it.
2) Any food "intended to be consumed on the premises". This is meant to cover restaurant meals, but it winds up looking capricious. A convenience store can sell freshly made sandwiches and you can pay for them with Food Stamps. "OF course those aren't meant to be consumed on premises: we don't even have tables or chairs." But a Subway franchise probably can't get the license to accept EBT because he doesn't sell enough "groceries", even though every "to go" order (that isn't toasted) qualifies.
The toasted ones count, too, so long as the customer pays before the food is heated.

If it isn't hot, isn't meant to be consumed on the premises, and fits within a very broad definition of "food", you can spend Food Stamps on it (as long as the seller has the license to accept them).


A complete aside: I saw a great business a little while back. One of the problems the poor face is "food deserts" - large areas where there is no place to buy fresh fruits and veggies. Where fast-food is the only food available locally.
Well a guy took an old ice cream truck and runs a business selling fresh fruits and veggies and meats out of it. His shop can come to you, Just like an ice cream man, he drives a route through neighborhoods, allowing him to get close to many more customers than he could with a fixed location.
I was reminded because a sign on the truck says "We accept EBT".
EBT stands for Electronic Benefit Transfer, which is how they do Food Stamps these days, on a dedicated debit-like card.

[notalwaysright]

If it isn't hot, isn't meant to be consumed on the premises, and fits within a very broad definition of "food", you can spend Food Stamps on it (as long as the seller has the license to accept them).
[/SIZE]

I got a coupon booklet in the mail a while ago, from the take and bake pizza place, which said "EBT welcome" and after it said "where allowed" or something like that. It works since it's not cooked. I wish EBT would cover those rotisserie chickens, since I can eat off of one for about a week. (soup, sandwiches, casserole, wraps, etc) I'm off of them currently, though I am seriously grateful for when I did get those benefits. And I understand that whoever makes the rules had to decide somewhere to draw the line, so I definitely don't want to get into fratching.

Oh, funny side note, the coupons were specifically only good at several locations in the country to the north. Ha, I'm unlikely to cross a national border for take and bake pizza. And I haven't purchased from that chain in years, never while I lived at this address, and never in another country. So I think it's an odd choice for marketing.

[Kogarashi]

And I know firsthand how much it sucks that food stamps won't cover other necessities like diapers and baby needs or gas.

I do know when I was a cashier that many of the people with EBT cards who came through had a "cash" option on their cards, so I suppose that's what this was supposed to be for, since the cash option could be used for anything in the store. Not that 50% of the people with these cards actually used the cash option for necessities like diapers and stuff, but still.

Not a huge fan of the second part, but I love not having to work out how to get my insurance card from my agent before I have plates for my car. Getting to the DMV is hard enough.

We had to do that runaround when we first moved to CT. The state didn't want to finish vehicle registration until we had our proof of insurance, but the insurance company didn't want to send us the cards until we had proof of registration. Took a bit of discussion with our insurance company until they at least agreed to give us the cards so we could complete vehicle registration (I think the agreement was that they would remove our insurance if we didn't return with proof of registration after a set amount of time.

Well a guy took an old ice cream truck and runs a business selling fresh fruits and veggies and meats out of it. His shop can come to you, Just like an ice cream man, he drives a route through neighborhoods, allowing him to get close to many more customers than he could with a fixed location.
I was reminded because a sign on the truck says "We accept EBT".
EBT stands for Electronic Benefit Transfer, which is how they do Food Stamps these days, on a dedicated debit-like card.

That is a great idea. I applaud him.

[workerbee222]

One of the thing I like about Virginia: instead of having to show the DMV proof of insurance, you have to sign a statement that the car is insured and will remain so. If you didn't actually have insurance on that date, $1000 fine and they suspend your license until you pay it.
Not a huge fan of the second part, but I love not having to work out how to get my insurance card from my agent before I have plates for my car. Getting to the DMV is hard enough.

The last time I bought a car, the insurance agent emailed the card to the dealership. When I misplaced them before registering my car, he emailed a copy to me.

[Aria]

A complete aside: I saw a great business a little while back. One of the problems the poor face is "food deserts" - large areas where there is no place to buy fresh fruits and veggies. Where fast-food is the only food available locally.
Well a guy took an old ice cream truck and runs a business selling fresh fruits and veggies and meats out of it. His shop can come to you, Just like an ice cream man, he drives a route through neighborhoods, allowing him to get close to many more customers than he could with a fixed location.
I was reminded because a sign on the truck says "We accept EBT".
EBT stands for Electronic Benefit Transfer, which is how they do Food Stamps these days, on a dedicated debit-like card.

It's a bit off topic but I read a study recently... really poor people don't eat much 'fast food'. Which makes sense, McD's and Subway and Taco Bell can't take food stamps! Consumption of fast food is low for the poor, rises as income increases, caps off, then goes down again as people get richer.

So the problem with food deserts isn't 'fast food' per se, it's crappy convenience stores selling frozen junk that you can buy on food stamps. And even supermarkets where people don't know how to cook and buy the frozen junk because it's convenient. Of course, sometimes, how can you blame them? If I were a single mom with five kids that freezer lasagna would be looking really good...

[Argus]

The state didn't want to finish vehicle registration until we had our proof of insurance, but the insurance company didn't want to send us the cards until we had proof of registration.

I think this sort of situation is why the document called an "insurance binder" exists.

[otakuneko]

And even supermarkets where people don't know how to cook and buy the frozen junk because it's convenient.

Ehehehe... ^^; I'm just doing my metal gear cosplay, yeah...