Food Stamp Enrollment and Retailers

Posted on December 29, 2009 by townsend

• Midnight in the U.S. food-stamp economy, By Nicole Maestri and Lisa Baertlein, December 18, 2009, Macon Daily: “At 11 p.m. on the last day of the month, shoppers flock to the nearest Walmart. They load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. That’s when food stamp credits are loaded on their electronic benefits transfer cards. ‘Once the clock strikes midnight and EBT cards are charged, you can see our results start to tick up,’ says Tom Schoewe, Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s chief financial officer. As food stamps become an increasingly common currency in a struggling U.S. economy, they are dictating changes in how even the biggest retailers do business. From Costco to Wal-Mart, store chains are rethinking years of strategy as they watch prized customers lose jobs and turn to this benefit, the stigma of which is disappearing not just in society, but in corporate America. Besides staffing up for the spike in shoppers on the first day of the month, retailers are adjusting when and what they stock, updating point-of-sale systems to accept food stamps and shifting expansion plans to focus on lower-income shoppers…”
• Food stamp recipients up in Mississippi, By Gary Pettus, December 15, 2009, Jackson Clarion-Ledger: “Charles Penton keeps a log of the jobs he has asked for since moving his family to Mississippi a couple of months ago. The number of turndowns is about 15 or 20 now, said the unemployed security guard. His wife works part time, but he’s still looking. Meanwhile, his family of four, including two school-age children, must eat. ‘So, rather than put a strain on the family as far as having enough food, we applied for food stamps,’ he said. ‘It’s been a godsend.’ Apparently, that is the case for more than 563,000 Mississippians, or one in every five…”
• Food stamps filling void, By Matt Kakley, December 28, 2009, Sun Chronicle: “Both nationally and right here at home, more and more people are turning to food stamps this holiday season to help put dinner on the table as they grapple with the worsening effects of economic recession. Around the area, residents are signing up in droves for the benefit as many continue to struggle finding jobs and face pressure to keep up with mounting mortgage and other bills. Elaine Petrasky of Attleboro Self Help said her organization, which helps area residents sign up for the state-run benefit, has seen a spike in the number of people looking for food assistance in recent months…”