Hold up at the grocery store check out lines?

Question

Why are the Government controled Food Stamp cards
so slow at grocery store check out lines , They hold up the lines. Leave it to the Government to screw anything up,if it can
be screwed up the government can do it .

Answer 1

Actually the EBT card is as fast as a Debit or Credit card. Its usually the customer who is slower. Most of my customers who use EBT are either older or not very well educated and dont know how to use a card well. Then of course there is the customer with a low balance or a zero balance, so then they take forever deciding which items to have voided off the order. Then again there is the customer who is buying all food items but doesnt tell you they want you to take it off the cash side. So the only thing the government has not considered is that EBT users are less likely to be aware of how to use the card and how to keep track of their balance on the card.

Answer 2

I used to work at a grocery store in CA and the customers with food stamps have a card that looks like a debit card which makes it go pretty fast if they know how much they have on the card if they don't know the balance the cashier has to run the card and then print out the balance and then run the card again with that balance. Most cards have a food and cash side so once the food side is done they can use the cash side for the new balance so you have to run the card again. If they still have a balance after both sides of the card are used up they have to pay with either cash, check or a bank card and that takes time because you have to run the other method of payment! hope this helps I'm all for them thinking up a new system! :)

Answer 3

Sorry. This is ridiculous. The government doesnt control the check out stands. It's MUCH worse to get behind some old lady with fifty coupons. Come on. I'm not a big fan of government control, but giving people who need assistance food stamps is not a way to control the check out counters. I've been behind women who drive Accolades who cant figure out how to write a check before they get a total. That's just as disruptive and slow. Stop crying about something the government doesnt control. The government prints money. Does that mean it is responsible for some idiot in line ahead of you who cant figure out how to spend it efficiently while you are in line.

There are MUCH bigger issues with government to worry about than this. Keep your eye on the ball. Pay attention to what is important.

Answer 4

It is because that cashiers have to double check that the food stamps were used for legitimate purposes of food and not other item like toilet paper, cigarettes and booze. Happens more often that not, that the food stamp recipient will try to to put one over on a young cashier that the 5 liter box of wine they are buying it for "cooking and seasoning", not consumption, unless someone in authority or another customer gets fed up and tells the cashier point blank, what the person is trying to purchase is not legal for food stamps and they call their manager to the floor and lo and behold, the belligerent food stamper has left their cart and is no where to be seen.

Answer 5

you might hate it but me i love them holding up the line cuz im a bagger and they got some really fast cashiers and it takes longer to bag than scan so i like the slow time it takes cuz it gives the employee a rest and its not food stamps its checks expired cards or expired coupons that hold up the line and most of the time its only a brief time never more than 30 seconnds unless its anewer person whos still learning the ropes

Answer 6

The systems and registers to process food stamps probably take some time. It's like personal checks, those take too long to validate and I don't understand why people don't just use a debit card instead.

Answer 7

its kind of ironic that only in this country you are allowed to denounce the government whitch takes money from successfull people and gives it to idiots like you stop complaining you dont work and still get by for free.

Answer 8

Just let the government run health care..........and see what happens.