The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: Rapunzel on October 15, 2013, 11:50:44 pm
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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/10/15/guess-whos-footing-the-bill-for-that-walmart-food-stamp-fiasco/
Guess Who’s Footing the Bill for That Walmart Food Stamp Fiasco (It May Not Be Who You Think)
Oct. 15, 2013 11:36am Becket Adams
Walmart will be on the hook for the glitch-prompted shopping spree that nearly wiped out stores in Louisiana after the Electronic Benefit Transfer system temporarily removed spending limits on food stamp recipients’ cards.
The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, which oversees the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, said Walmart will have to foot the bill for store losses in Springhill and Mansfield, La., during a food shopping frenzy.
No card is limitless, DCFS spokesman Trey Willims told KSLA-TV. Usually when outages occur, he said, it’s the store’s responsibility to take action, include calling a number to verify customers’ card limits.
But some retailers chose not to do that Saturday night.
“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 $50,” he said.
The no-limits glitch occurred as the EBT system failed Saturday in several states during a routine backup test. Walmart employees knew immediately that something was wrong, but were advised by the corporate office to allow shoppers to make their purchases. Some stores, however, chose to close until the situation had been resolved.
The system was back on online by Saturday night, but not before the Springhill Walmart was nearly wiped out.
“It was definitely worse than Black Friday. It was worse than anything we had ever seen in this town. There was no food left on any of the shelves, and no meat left. The grocery part of Walmart was totally decimated,” Springhill Police Chief Will Lyn told ABC News.
Does Walmart have any recourse? It may.
According to KSLA, Louisiana can track welfare fraud with GPS based software. Therefore, DCFS knows who bought what, and how much was supposedly “spent.”
Law enforcement officials can obtain that information and can pass it along should stores request it, KSLA reported.
But it’s also possible Walmart could choose to eat the loss.
“We did make the decision to continue to accept EBT cards during the outage so that they could get food for their families,” Walmart representative Kayla Whaling told KSLA.
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So now EBT Cards are paying for flat screen TV's??? People were wheeling them out of the store in droves and I blame the cashiers as much as anyone for that, anyone with a brain would say - I KNOW EBT doesn't cover that item!
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I don't think EBT cards cover that, either, but I do know every fast-food place in the PNW accepts them now. As for Wal-Mart, that was really poor judgement on their part, but I'm still not happy the govt is making them eat this - they'll just jack up the price on everything at the store to cover it.
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I don't think EBT cards cover that, either, but I do know every fast-food place in the PNW accepts them now. As for Wal-Mart, that was really poor judgement on their part, but I'm still not happy the govt is making them eat this - they'll just jack up the price on everything at the store to cover it.
I'm not going to defend Walmart, however, what if they had said no?
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Ain't EBT great?
Let's go back to food stamps.
Better yet, soup lines.
I mean it.
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I'm not going to defend Walmart, however, what if they had said no?
I thought of that too, I think they were afraid that the mob would start rioting.
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I think Walmart did what it did to protect their employees. Most of the low life that did this would have rioted like they do when ever they think they can get away with it. These people have no morals
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I thought of that too, I think they were afraid that the mob would start rioting.
Agreed. It was safer and cheaper in the long haul than repairing stores and employees.
One thing struck me though. The comment "worse than Black Friday." Being a suspicious type who really does not believe in coincidence, I want to know exactly how these crowds magically formed with such speed. Word of mouth is reasonably efficient, but not that efficient.
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Agreed. It was safer and cheaper in the long haul than repairing stores and employees.
One thing struck me though. The comment "worse than Black Friday." Being a suspicious type who really does not believe in coincidence, I want to know exactly how these crowds magically formed with such speed. Word of mouth is reasonably efficient, but not that efficient.
The magical world of Twitter and Facebook
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The magical world of Twitter and Facebook
And Reddit.
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Agreed. It was safer and cheaper in the long haul than repairing stores and employees.
One thing struck me though. The comment "worse than Black Friday." Being a suspicious type who really does not believe in coincidence, I want to know exactly how these crowds magically formed with such speed. Word of mouth is reasonably efficient, but not that efficient.
This EBT "failure" was all a part of a plan, and don't be shocked that Wal-Mart was the target of it.
Barack Obama is a truly evil human being. I used to not believe much in these things, but the man is at best a sociopath, and was likely abused as a child by Frank Marshall Davis.