Question about Oregon EBT card

[Mark W.]

I have seen the buy the soda/dump it out/cash in the can't thing only once in the 24 years in the biz.

!

I would assume the Bottle return scam is a learned behavior and may not be used at all stores. My wife has been a bookkeeper with her store/employer for 26+ years. And has worked in stores in very different neighborhoods. The water bottle dump she has been hearing about (from the box boys and girls) has been at her present store in what most would consider a pretty high end area south of Portland.

 

[Mark W.]

I have seen the buy the soda/dump it out/cash in the can't thing only once in the 24 years in the biz.

Just a couple of weeks ago we finally caught the guy who was going through self-checkout ringing everything he purchased with the banana code. He also was using the food side of his Oregon Trail card to purchase most of what was non-food. I don't know how LP is going to follow up on that one, but I certainly think they should report it.

Some people receive only 'food' on their card, while others receive both food and cash on the same card. I don't know the financials of it. I try real hard not to be judgemental. I tell myself and my staff that it all goes toward our hours/paycheck. But sometimes it's tough not to question the logistics---first of the month when the lobster tails and crab clusters fly through the check stand. Then there's the frustration with the woman who has 4 children all underweight and unkempt- seeing a balance of over $1500 on the food side of the card.
I have been fortunate to never have needed this assistance but at one point my father did, and I am glad it was there for him. I think it was about $60/month that he received---all the while I'm selling lobster tails and crab clusters to so many others that don't 'pay into the system'.

With our new policy at the store we only allow $100 cash back and a purchase must be made to get that. Boy, does that really piss them off. How dare we not just give it all to them upon their request!

I just keep telling myself and my staff that whatever the sale is, it's hours/paychecks!!!

Thanks for the chance to vent----I have to go back to that place now, but at least it's my Friday!

I had to look up at the screen name to make sure I wasn't reading a post my wife typed! She has 27 years in at Albertsons almost all of it as the Bookkeeper. And her after work stories sound the same as Wifey's

 

[powermad]

I see people of "questionable immigration status"

I was labeled a racist for noting the same thing.
Overflowing carts, hordes of obese kids with them, usually have wads of cash and get into a $50,000 rig.
They look to be very bad off to me.

FWIW I see people using the EBT to buy smokes and stuff all the time at the local 7-11

 

[Kelzebubba]

I love watching people pay with an EBT while talking on their iPhone that has a $100 a month plan minimum and then go to the parking lot and climb into a new mustang.

 

[Jim Colvill]

I was glad to have that EBT card when I needed it most. I was out of work for nearly 2 years, in and out of the hospital a couple of times during that period. Thanks to OHP and that EBT card I was able to survive\ I wasn't eating surf and turf and washing it down with a good wine but since I know how to buy and cook that $200/month stretched. Now I don't need that nor do I qualify. I'm not defecating in tall cotton but I get by. The safety net worked for me and I didn't scam the system.

 

[ripcity]

My wife and I both lost our jobs in 09. We applied for the EBT food card and was only approved for 9 bucks a month or something like that. Then when I see people at the store buying all sorts of crap and dressed in their Jordans it drives me crazy. But I'm the guy in line that will say something. Not an argument, but just letting them know that I don't like what I see. It probably doesn't phase them. I just can't bite my tongue.

 

[deen_ad]

True story:
Woman in front of me at a WA Safeway bought the smallest package of diapers, then got $250 cash off her card. Probably to buy drugs with, but no idea it that's true.

 

[receo]

Watched two preteen purchase over $60 of pop and candy at a plaid pantry a couple of months ago. The line behind them was pissed and vocal. Gotta love Sandy,Oregon.

 

[michaels]

I love any town with the balls to stand up to preteen kids.

Watched two preteen purchase over $60 of pop and candy at a plaid pantry a couple of months ago. The line behind them was pissed and vocal. Gotta love Sandy,Oregon.

 

[drew]

I always get annoyed when I see people paying for a bunch of brand name chips and soda with their benefits. The $50 they spent on that garbage can buy quite a bit of real food.

 

[Mikej]

True story:
Woman in front of me at a WA Safeway bought the smallest package of diapers, then got $250 cash off her card. Probably to buy drugs with, but no idea it that's true.

OR, the electric bill/sewer bill/house payment/insurance/child support was due.



EBT is used for both food stamps and "Welfare" (to use the old term as I'm not sure what they call it now). If they get both they are loaded on the same card each month. A person can get up to a certain amount (determined by the store) of cash. You don't need to buy anything that I'm aware of. The last # in a persons SSN is the day their cards are loaded, that's why stores in depressed areas will be BOOMING during the first week of each month.

Wifey will respond later if I've got anything wrong in the above.

Mike

 

[Kelzebubba]

I was glad to have that EBT card when I needed it most. I was out of work for nearly 2 years, in and out of the hospital a couple of times during that period. Thanks to OHP and that EBT card I was able to survive\ I wasn't eating surf and turf and washing it down with a good wine but since I know how to buy and cook that $200/month stretched. Now I don't need that nor do I qualify. I'm not defecating in tall cotton but I get by. The safety net worked for me and I didn't scam the system.

See this is the perfect example of why we need services like this. Qaolin didn't get all rear-end hurt when we were talking about people being on this and scamming it, Qaolin simply said it was needed, they used it, and got off of it. I wouldn't want to cut the services to people like Qaolin. There is a good fix for this. A lot of stores allow you to pay your bills at the store, and there needs to be zero cash withdrawals allowed.

Secondly since a lot of these state programs received federal funds, the federal government needs to only do one thing. Make it a federal felony to commit fraud at any level, even if it is a penny off the card. The punishment, not jail time, but 200+ hours of community service. Make them work for it. I am sick of everyone else's rights being above mine, they should all be equal.

By the way, gratz Qaolin for proving the system can work for honest folk.

 

[Wifey]

I had to look up at the screen name to make sure I wasn't reading a post my wife typed! She has 27 years in at Albertsons almost all of it as the Bookkeeper. And her after work stories sound the same as Wifey's

You got it! Same company, different 'hood'. Just goes to show you that you can't hide from that certain type of customer!

Wifey

 

[JVK]

It's nice to see people not outright bashing the less fortunate on this forum.

 

[The B]

It's nice to see people not outright bashing the less fortunate on this forum.

wut

 

[Wifey]

It's nice to see people not outright bashing the less fortunate on this forum.

Have you read from the beginning? If not, please start there. Those that you believe are bashing the less fortunate have been those same people.
This 'forum' is a discussion board covering many different topics.
Some of us are 'hands-on' with this specific topic so we are sharing more.
Wifey

 

[JVK]

Yes i did read this from the beginning, and i know exactly how this thread would've played out on a certain other forum. Not entirely sure how to interpret your post otherwise.

 

[Tangent123123]

My mother-in-law owns a small resteraunt in downtown Vancouver. She received a call from the state last year asking if she would participate in a test project allowing her resteraunt to accept EBT cards. She told them she didn't feel it was right for someone who was in dire enough straights to need an EBT card to be eating out anywhere and she was not interested in their test project.

It really irked me. The wife and I pretty much never eat out because we simply can't afford it. That $30 we spend in a resteraunt would buy a lot of groceries, so we stay home. Having someone who used a food card to eat out more then I do seems really unfair since I'm the one footing the bill.

 

[Tangent123123]

It's nice to see people not outright bashing the less fortunate on this forum.

You don't have to be "less fortunate" now a days to get an EBT card. That's what some of the frustration in this thread is about. There are not enough checks and balances in the system right now and a lot of people who shouldn't have EBT cards have them.

What you read is frustration and aggravation with the system, not bashing those in need. A lot of us have been in dire straights before and can sympathize. But a lot of people abuse the system and little is done about it.

 

[Blue Devil PA]

While working three jobs in DC to survive and trying to get a job in my field I was in a supermarket weighing the savings of buying a 5lb bag of rice and almost nothing else or a 2lb bag and a few other things. I spotted the two women with two children coming up the aisle. What was note worthy was their dress: Furs, jewelry, dressed to the nines; their children Ralph and Tony (since they only wore clothes from ralph lauren or Tony Hilfiger). Each woman was pushing a cart filled to the gunwales. One was full of lobster tails, crab legs, steaks, junk food, etc the other was filled with pet food, cases of beer and wine. The first was paid for by food stamps (it was in the 90s) and the second (plus tobacco) came from a wad of cash that would choke a horse. I followed them out to their big, blacked out mercedes with gold rims. It was a hard lesson that sometimes no matter how hard you work, there will be always someone scamming the system and doing better than you are.