I’m curious as to Dopers opinions, experiences or knowledge about SNAP. I don’t know anything about it, being Canadian. Obviously I can (and have) looked online, but this does not really encompass personal views.
My main observation is that the formula for figuring out how much you can get is inscrutable, and makes you think you’ll get way more than you actually will. The amount it seems like you’d get seems reasonable for a month’s worth of food, but the actual amount seems much less so.
I was on it for a bit many years ago. I got a SNAP card which had apx $190/month that I would swipe at the supermarket which would pay for most or all of it. Taxable food items were not charged tax. Some things which were not covered I then had to pay after that swipe. I actually learned to eat better because of it as $190/month was more then I was spending on myself for food and I was able to buy healthier options and from the $190/month standard they provided I got a better idea of what I should expect to spend for food. This actually helped me feel better about myself and was helpful to my sense of self worth.
AUIU @JaneDoe42 used to work for an agency that hands that kind of stuff out. She can probably enlighten us.
The only thing I know about it is that the government definitely monitors it for fraud. A couple years ago the woman living next to us was convicted of “Illegal use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” a fourth-degree felony.
You remembered correctly. Retired food stamp worker here.
Food stamps are a federally funded program, administrated by the USDA. All states must follow federal guidelines but may add their own requirements as long as they follow certain rules.
What this means is that the program is not standard across state lines which can cause a huge amount of confusion for people who have recently moved.
All income must be verified which is hard for the sort of person who gets paid cash for odd jobs. The max. income requirements are stupid low as well as being based on the federal min. wage instead of the state min. wage if it is higher.
US citizenship must be verified, no exceptions. Non-citizens who do not have their permanent resident status are not eligible for food stamps or medical and those with their green cards have to have been in the states for 5 years to be eligible.
When I retired the max a single person could get was 194.00. 1700 per month income would disqualify you from medical insurance.
As has been pointed out, fraud is a thing and people do go to jail over it.
I could speechify about the subject all day, so it would be probably best if you asked specific questions 
Okay, a few questions to get going. Many thanks for your help, @JaneDoe42 …
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Presumably one cannot buy alcohol with food stamps. What other limitations exist in most states?
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How serious is the stigma associated with their use?
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Does the program do a good job in providing nutritious food to those in need?
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What are the main controversies about the program?
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Fraud has been mentioned, but is it really very commonplace, or more political anecdotes?
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Which countries do the best job with similar programs? Which states ?
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How is the program monitored?
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Can one use stamps anywhere, or just at certain designated grocers?
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How is the money given determined? It sounds like amounts are pretty modest.
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How could the program be improved?
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How effective is the program, by scale or any other measure you prefer?
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On the program, are you restricted from other helpful sources - food banks, local initiatives, co-ops, etc.
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How does the food industry feel about these programs? Has this changed over time?
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What might be the average length of time people remain on the program?
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Media occasionally mentions “food deserts” where, say, fresh vegetables are unavailable or too expensive. Is this a major problem? Does the program try to alleviate it in any way?
Maybe that’s too many questions. Feel free, of course, to answer none of them or as you wish.
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They are for human food only, no tobacco, no pet food, no soap. You can buy vegetable seeds but you can’t buy supplements.
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The stigma…depends on your political party. trumpies want to abolish the food stamp program. I, personally, get upset with people who obviously do qualify for food stamps and won’t apply due to misguided pride.
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It depends on the person. Many people nowadays really don’t know how to cook from scratch, so always buy prepared food. Some folks don’t have a way to prepare food, so they also buy prepared food. I don’t think that prepared food is very healthy, but my mother cooked and I was raised knowing how to handle myself in a kitchen which probably causes some bias.
You can spend all of your food stamps on candy, soda and energy drinks if you want, nobody monitors that sort of thing.
We have to go out shortly, I will finish later. You have asked some very good questions and I want to take my time and give you good answers.
Yes, but more recent research I’ve read, such as this article below, by the Brookings Institute, suggests that “food deserts” (i.e., neighborhoods with few options for purchasing healthy foods) aren’t the core of the issue, and that “food insecurity” is the real issue.
SNAP, as far as I know, doesn’t (and can’t) do much about neighborhoods that don’t have grocery stores, but it is specifically focused on addressing food insecurity.
In lieu of a massive post I will submit a link to my thread about my experience on food stamps, even though it degenerated towards the end to the point it got locked.
Yes, that was interesting - I was one of those people. If people want more details not available in the link let me know and I’ll respond when I get a chance to do so.
This doesn’t surprise me (that people who qualify refuse to apply); I suspect it’s part of the American “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” psyche, which makes it difficult and embarrassing to accept help, particularly in the form of a “government handout.”
You can order food on Amazon using your SNAP card. That probably won’t get you fresh produce though.
Depending on where you live, you can order fresh produce for delivery through Amazon Fresh; looking at Amazon, it does look like some of their fresh produce is SNAP eligible, though as those orders are typically fulfilled through Whole Foods, they might well be on the expensive side.
Thank you for linking to your courageous thread. I hope things have improved for you.
Oh, yes, much better these days. I’ve had steady, full-time, permanent work for 9 years at my present employer.
No alcohol and no prepared hot food are the two big ones, other than it being strictly for food items. You can purchase vegetable seeds to grow food. Also, just in Alaska, you can purchase certain types of hunting equipment by which to obtain food.
Varies. For a lot of people it’s a non-issue. There are certain very obnoxious people who are very nasty about it. Where I work (a glorified grocery store) we employees can have any opinion we want about a customer but we have to keep it to ourselves due to customer service/business reasons.
SNAP pays for food, it does not control what food the recipients purchase so in that sense it is not doing the job at all.
On the other hand, it helps ensure people can get food.
One thing that has started to catch on recently is that food sellers modify the deal slightly. It started with certain farmer’s markets (I know Eastern Market in Detroit did this, and might still be doing it) where people purchasing fresh fruit and vegetables with SNAP received a discount, enabling their benefit money to go further. My current employer gives a 10% discount on fresh fruits and vegetables to anyone using SNAP benefits to pay. Even if they have no money left in their account for the month swiping the card gives them the discount even if the balance is paid for with cash or a debit card. So that is possibly encouraging different choices in at least some people.
It’s really not that controversial as far as its existence.
A recent controversy is whether or not recipients should be required to fulfill work requirements to get them, and if so, what those should be. If you read my other thread I was, in fact, required to work, or be looking for work, or in school to continue receiving my benefits being an able-bodied childless adult under 55 at the time. My spouse, who was disabled, was not required to work/look for work.
Fraud is actually quite rare, at least major fraud. Technically, food bought with SNAP should ONLY be used by the SNAP recipients so if such a person bought a bag of chips then split them with someone outside their household that would be fraud, but no one is thinking of that sort of abuse. Sure, it happens, but most people using the program are legit.
Honestly… don’t know, never looked into that.
When I was on the program I had to have an interview/submit documentation every 3 months to continue receiving them. Some people report users for fraud. There have been instances of stores committing fraud, but stores that take SNAP are monitored/reviewed somehow (not an area I work in).
A store has to be authorized to accept SNAP, but a lot of them are. Not just major grocery stores but also convenience stores and places like gas stations where there is also a store selling various things including food. Such a place will have “We accept EBT” or “We accept SNAP” on a sign in a window or near an entrance. Smaller stores taking SNAP is a lot more common than it used to be.
When you apply you have to submit information about your finances, including income (if you have any), bank accounts, assets like vehicles, and so forth. If you fall below a certain line for income and assets you qualify, but you qualify on a sliding scale. People who have no job and little to no assets at the time they apply will get maximum benefits (At the time I had them I think it was around $190 a month per person but I’m not entirely sure - in the other thread I gave our monthly benefit but it was not the absolute maximum). If you have a job and are making some money you’ll get less. If you just barely qualify you’ll get maybe $25 or $50/month per person It can be a complex determination.
I might get back to you on that.
From the standpoint of getting food onto the plates of poor people with minimal red tape (once you get past the application process) it’s already pretty good, and it has one of the lowest fraud rates of a government program. Maybe increasing the monthly benefit per person? Adjusting the requirements to reflect increases in inflation?
I say it’s pretty darn successful from the standpoint of delivering calories to poor people. Actual starvation is now pretty rare in the US.
Nope, not at all restricted. If anything, people on SNAP are encouraged to take advantage of any means of stretching their food budgets, and some of those places you name, like food banks, accept a SNAP card as proof of need without requiring you to do anything else to be given assistance.
Producers (farmers) probably don’t think much about it as they do not directly interact with recipients (although it does help support food prices which helps keep them in business).
Food sellers, like grocery stores, sometimes find the regulations and compliance a hassle, but increased sales does sort of balance that out. Which is why so many small stores bother with it - they makes the small money from selling to SNAP customers as to any one else (except, like with my company, where they decide to offer a discount, but that’s voluntary).
I think it’s around two years. Some people might only use the benefits for a month, others for years and years. My spouse and I were on them for two years, then off, then when I had an employer who decided to solve her financial problems by writing rubber paychecks (bounce, bounce, bounce…) it did really bad things to our finances so we were back on them for, I think, four months before I landed my current job, where I was soon making too much to qualify for the program any more.
It’s a major problem where such food desserts exist, but while those are serious they tend to be localized: either urban neighborhoods that are economically depressed, or isolated rural towns. That still affects a lot of people, but overall when you look at the entire nation it’s not a “major” problem in the sense I think you mean.
I’m not sure what the program can do to alleviate that. SNAP in no way dictates what people buy for food. People are still free to make very poor dietary decisions.
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Someone, somewhere might be getting something they don’t deserve on MY tax dollar. That’s really what it boils down to. Poor people should be punished for being poor and don’t deserve to have such things as pets or toilet paper.
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Fraud happens. Food stamp fraud is like any other crime, only a few people game the system, but every time one of them gets caught, another loophole gets closed which makes things just that much harder for all of the honest people.
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I can’t say which countries do a better job getting food to people, I can say that 'merica is number one when it comes to cumbersome government paperwork.
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I was a food stamp eligibility worker. I had three supervisors who were paid to read all of my cases to be sure they were correct. There was a team of professional case readers who did nothing but re-read cases to be sure they were correct. Those people had supervisors who read their cases to be sure they were reading my cases correctly. Then everything got turned over to the feds who were able to spend weeks picking apart a case that I was only given an hour to complete. I assume there were several layers over that.
“Jane, remember that case with the three kids last year? Why did you click X instead of Y?” Yeah, right, sure I remember it clearly, after all I was only required to complete 7.5 cases a day, remembering what I did last week was often an effort.
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The food stamps can be used at all major grocery stores, most mom and pop store and c-stores. If you go into a gas station that sells candy bars and soda but also has a basket of bananas or apples priced individually by the cash register, that is a sure sign they take food stamps.
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I plug numbers into the program and it calculates the amount the person is entitled to. Some expenses count, many surprising ones do not. There is no mass transportation out this way. Unless you are really lucky, you have to have a car to have a job. Car expenses are not countable. Mortgage payments are countable, unexpected repair expenses are not.
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How could the program be improved?
Stop with all the stoopid income verifications and applications and case readers and case case readers. Make it so any able bodied American who wants a month’s worth can walk into the food stamp office and show verification of citizenship and relationship of household members can walk out with a month’s worth of food stamps. Of course, the line will be long and the wait will be hours and they will have to go back next month, but it would still save everyone a whole lot of problems AND would save the tax dollars paying all of those case readers to find mistakes.
America is still a rich country, we should not have a hunger problem.
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The food stamp program is about as successful as a federal government program can be.
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I have never heard of other food sharing events disqualifying people because they got food stamps, but being qualified for food stamps often qualifies you for other benefits. Your children will get free lunches (and breakfasts if the school serves it), and out here, you get half off on your MMJ card and can get 10% off on your electricity bills.
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Grocery stores plan their deliveries on food stamp release days. Food stamps don’t release all at once, people with A and B surnames get paid on the first, C and D on the second and so forth. Stores know this and stock for it. The last time the budget wasn’t approved on time, folks got their next month’s food stamps early. The local grocery stores were super mad about this because they weren’t able to schedule deliveries.
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Some people are not able to work and are on the program all of their lives. Others suddenly get shit on and only need a hand for a few months. It’s really hard to say, I know that there were people I knew by name because I had seen them so often over the years.
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Food stamps have nothing to do with food deserts. Grocery stores are built where they can make a profit for their shareholders.
We live in a food desert. The closest grocery store is 30+ miles away, we are very rural. There are only about 5,000 homes spread out over 3 towns and 20 miles, so it’s pretty doubtful that we will ever have a grocery store here, just not enough potential customers to justify building one. There is a little mom and pop market down the road and their produce is understandably expensive because they have to drive into town to buy it. I have had to convince neighboring children that home grown cherry tomatoes are really food and that they should put one in their mouth.
As you can tell, I have very strong opinions about this.
When people complain about their taxes going to pay for junk food, I will speak up and ask if they are making 50 grand a year. (spoiler: nobody out this way makes that much) Someone making 50 grand a year is paying about 36 dollars a year to help keep AMERICAN children fed. That’s 3 bucks a month. I tip my budista more than that on a monthly basis fer crying out loud, shut the fuck up about your taxes you damned begrudger.
ETA that it looks like I lost count. I think I’ll mess up the formatting if I try to fix things, but you are a smart guy, you will figure it out I’m sure
Current maximum for a single person I believe is $281/monthly; at any rate, that’s what I’m getting, and I am old and not very well and very broke. ($281 doesn’t go anywhere near as far as it used to; if I weren’t growing a lot of my own vegetables, I’d have trouble affording meat.) So I finally took a deep breath and made myself apply. I was expecting to be given a hard time, but instead everybody all along the line was very nice; a huge relief. I don’t know whether all counties are like that. I’m in a rural and fairly poor county in New York State.
All the stores around here that carry groceries seem to take them; Mennonite-run stores included, though I don’t think they’ll apply for them themselves. They’re also very pleasant about taking them, though. As others have said, having qualified for SNAP can make it easier to qualify for other things.
I have to recertify every six months; I think the length of time varies with one’s circumstances. Self-employed farmers don’t fit well in the boxes, but the local office got it figured out.
Farmers IME are generally in favor of people being able to buy food.
This is something I used to hear every day. I am so very sorry that folks in need are afraid to apply for help due to worries about being judged harshly.
Us workers know that folks who are eligible for food stamps are at the bottom of the food chain…so to speak. We don’t get paid well and we are very stressed all the time, but we know that we are doing important work and for the most part, we do it because we want to help people.
Next time you have to visit, ask about food banks or other food sharing programs. You are probably now eligible for a free cell phone as well, that is a federal program. Look for local food sharing events. Out this way, volunteers go to the grocery stores and pick up close to out of date food and take that to all of the local food banks. After the food banks have all they need, they put the left over produce in boxes and hand it out to anyone who shows up. (after that, it goes to the FAA parents to help feed the project critter/s)
I have been hearing more about other programs like that in other states and counties, perhaps you have something like that available.