Walmart Food Stamps Shopping Spree: Retailer Will Have to Eat the Bill After EBT Card Glitch
Walmart, which experienced the EBT shopping spree this past weekend after a technical glitch caused food stamp recipients' cards to temporarily become limit-free, are on the hook for all of the food that they attempted to bill to the government and Louisiana tax payers.
The Walmart locations in Mansfield, La. and Springhill, La. were the site of chaos as customers grabbed as much food as they could conceivably store in the homes. Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd stated that some customers made off with $700 worth of groceries, and some people managed to exit the store with eight to ten grocery carts, exposing the customer's greed or, perhaps, need.
When the malfunction occurred, Walmart employees called their headquarters for instructions on how to proceed, and it was the heads of the multi-billion dollar operation that told employees to keep the registers ringing. Trey Williams, The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services' spokesman, indicated that Walmart chose not to use emergency procedures, which limits the sales up to $50 per cardholder in the case of emergencies. So, anything exceeding that amount will have to be eaten by Walmart.
After hearing the policy clarification from Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services, Walmart stated that the incident was isolated, and they didn't believe that it would impact their business, though it was not been indicated why Walmart didn't reach out to the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services for clarification initially.
The event described as "worse than Black Friday," though not unruly, caused stores to temporarily close to new customers while employees were attempting to sort out things with the EBT customers. When those customers when done shopping, the shelves were empty and the grocery area in Walmart was "totally decimated." The Mansfield store eventually closed due to overcrowding.
Other stores in Mansfield refused EBT cards until card limits were apparent, which Walmart could have certainly done.
Seventeen states were affected by the glitch, but so far, Walmart, who've reiterated that they made "made the right choice," seem to be the only ones who will be paying out of pocket for choices made.
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