I went to the grocer this morning and there was a woman outside the store. She was trying to get people to give her money and she’d use her EBT (food stamps) to buy their groceries.
She told me that she just got a job and that she had over $500 left on the card and if she didn’t spend it quick the food stamp people would just take it back. And she wanted to use it up but couldn’t buy $500 worth of groceries for herself.
Now I’ll have to give her credit, that’s a new angle. I often run across people trying to sell their food stamps, but usually they claim they need money to buy medicine.
But regardless of whether or not this woman was truthful, it got me to thinking.
What happens to your balance. So if you have $100 or so left on your card and you call up the food stamp office and say “I got a job, I don’t need them anymore,” what happens. Do they just zap off all the money right away? Or what?
But why couldn’t she spend the $500 on herself? Lots of dried pasta, tinned food, stuff that would keep well. Maybe all the things she hasn’t had in a while, like expensive steaks or other cuts of meats.
I fail to see how she couldn’t just spend it on herself. It might take her a few trips, but it could be done, it seems to me.
I vote scam. Also I have no idea what happens to your food card when you report you have a job, sorry.
She was running a typical illegal scam to get booze or cigarette money from benefits meant to feed her family. Purchasing food for anybody not authorized for that account is fraud and subject to permanent cancellation of the benefit. I’d tell the store so they don’t let her pull that crap, and if they can get proof they can turn her in.
For people not kicked off for fraud the unused amount rolls over to the next month. After your benefits end you have a year to use money you didn’t spend.
Yeah, I’ll agree. If she was really in a hurry to use up her money, she could buy a years’ supply of any foodstuffs that keep (what doesn’t, nowadays?). Then she would recoup her money in reduced grocery bills over the next year.
In college, I knew girls that would hang out at the local Texaco station, and offer folks pulling in to pay for $20 worth of gas on their daddy’s gas card, in exchange for $10 cash. They needed shopping money and daddy had only given them a gas card.
Well I kind of figure she was running a scam, in her defense though, I live in a small studio and there is no way I can stock up on food. First of all, I don’t have the means to carry $500 worth of food. I have a small fridge that can only hold one or two things. City people usually shop everyday. I can’t buy things in bulk as there isn’t no where to store it anyway.
You have to imagine Ralph Kramden’s flat. My flat looks like that, except it doesn’t have a bedroom. Now try to imagine storing food in something that small.
Anyway, as I said, I think it was a scam, but you know with homeless people getting food stamps anyway, I was more interested in, what happens when you quit food stamps.
Let’s say she was legit. If she calls and tells the food stamp people she has a job, do they just cut her off and she loses whatever money is on the EBT card?
I was wondering, 'cause I know starting this year, at least in Illinois, you have to work for your food stamps. You have to either do community service, or participate in a rehab program or study in class to get your GED. And you work off the food stamps at a rate of minimum wage, which is $8/hr in Illinois.
I spent $125 on a few bags of groceries yesterday - it wouldn’t take much for me to put $500 worth of non-perishables on my shelves. It’s good to know my scam-meter is still accurate, because that’s immediately what I thought, too.
I think this is turning into one of those common mis-quotes - the actual line from the movie was, “I wish I knew how to quit you.” But yours works for this joke (come to think of it, the accurate line works even better).
If you don’t use your allowance, your allowance gets cut - permanently. You’ve effectively told the agency that you don’t need that much money for food.
It’s easy to assign ill motives to people just trying to make it through the day, and it is illegal to sell your foodstamps. If she is getting $500 a month in foodstamps, she’s supposed to be feeding a few people. Sounds like she wanted the money for other reasons, but those reasons don’t have to be nefarious. She may have needed it for carfare to get to her new job or for a new outfit or shoes for work, figuring she’ll buy food with her first paycheck.
