The USDA is attempting to recruit retail volunteers to join up for a two-year, nationwide pilot program that would allow low-income consumers to use SNAP benefits (historically known as “food stamps”) to purchase groceries online.
According to reports, the USDA will select three to five retailers to join the program, which is set to start next summer. Currently, technical components are being tested. This move has been under construction since provisions in the 2014 Farm Bill mandated online support for SNAP users.
The overall goal of the program is to modernize the SNAP program, and the leading complaint so far has been about the time scale, since this projected is two years in and so far no closer to actually delivering on the mandate than it was when it was first handed down. Currently, there are 45 million Americans who will be waiting until 2017 to use this program in even a limited capacity.
And the problem doesn’t seem to be businesses, which, in some cases, are incredible eager to cooperate. Thrive Market has collected 310,000 signatures on a petition asking the USDA to let people use food stamps online.
The upgrades come with new rules, including higher healthfulness requirements for foods bought with program funds. Store owners don’t tend to like that one quite as much, though the online transactions mandate has been broadly popular, particularly as stores look to level up their online sales presence.
But excited or horrified, the vast majority of merchants, like SNAP users, will have to wait for at least another year (and, at the rate this is going, it might be safe to assume more) until food stamps will jump on board with the best technology 2001 had to offer and allow for online shopping.
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