This question gets two and a half answers…
One: Walmart needs food stamps so that their employees won’t starve.
Report after report has found that taxpayers pay a hefty price to subsidize Save Money. Live Better. For example, a Walmart worker making their current minimum wage of $10.00 at ‘full time’ of 34 hours per week (Walmart’s definition, for benefits) would earn just $17,680 a year [ https://americansfortaxfairness.org/files/Taxpayers-and-Walmart-ATF1.pdf ], or, about $39 a week above the food stamp maximum income for a single person. If that same job belongs to a single mom with two kids, well, her earnings would be $170 per week below the food stamp line.
And, of course, Walmart gets by with as few full-time employees as possible. That’s why at Circle Of Concern I read file notes saying the new client had been referred to the food pantry by their employer, Walmart.
Now, Walmart prefers to report their ‘average wage’ of around $13.50 an hour, adding assistant managers and everyone else into the mix. [ http://news.walmart.com/news-archive/2016/01/20/more-than-one-million-walmart-associates-receive-pay-increase-in-2016 ]. Okay, at $13.50 an hour that full-time mom with two kids hits $23,868 per year – still eligible for major food stamps, free school meals for the kids and other tax-payer supplied benefits.
Two: Food stamps fill the till at Walmart.
A few years ago Walmart admitted that it captured 18¢ of every food stamp dollar. [http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2013/11/01/wal-mart-makes-14-billion-off-food-stamps/ — I know, Breitbart but even a blind pig can find a truffle] Recent USDA data shows that 51% of food stamps are redeemed at “super centers” [http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/02/trumps-plan-to-slash-food-stamp-assistance-could-hurt-retailers.html ]. When you hear “super center” don’t you see a yellow smiley face?
While it is illegal for the government to report which retail companies redeem the most food stamps, it’s an open secret in Missouri that Walmart leads the pack. Twice I’ve stated in public meetings that Walmart gets better than half of Missouri food stamps. State employees who know the truth were in the front of the room: neither time was I corrected. So, let’s take it as a given that Walmart collects at least $600 million a year in Missouri-issued food stamps. Across the nation think $30 billion.
As reported by CNBC in that same article…According to the Center in Budget and Policy Priorities, the implementation in 2013 [of food stamp cuts] reduced the benefits of ‘nearly every SNAP recipient’ – roughly 47 million people – who on average saw their benefit cut by 7 percent. During the first quarter of 2014, Wal-Mart said these particular changes trimmed its grocery sales by 0.9 percent.
At Walmart, even 9/10ths of 1% is real money. So, if President Donald cuts 25% in food stamp benefits, he’s taking billions out of Walmart’s cash registers. That will hurt them, especially in Missouri where they dominate retail grocery sales. (In Springfield, Walmart controls 66% of the grocery business [ http://www.newsleader.com/story/news/business/2017/01/13/state-springfield-missouri-grocery-store-industry-hyvee-luckys-trader-joes-pyramid-menards/96222724/ ] )
Expect Walmart to fight hard to ‘save’ food stamps. The Walton family billions ought to get President Donald’s attention, giving millions of Americans a better chance at getting to eat.
Two and a half: Food Stamp ‘reform’ could really help Walmart.
Remember the Fox News story about the California surfer dude who used his food stamps to buy lobster? [ http://nation.foxnews.com/2013/08/12/watch-unabashed-surfer-receiving-food-stamps-buy-sushi-and-avoid-work ] That turned out to be a put-up job, as attested to me – and a room full of people – by San Diego welfare workers at a Food Research Action Center conference in Washington. The surfer got a free apartment, designer clothes and wheels from his record label which California couldn’t count as ‘income’ because of well abused technicalities.
Yet, that story added to the mythology of food stampers eating better than ‘good people.’ Remember, here in Missouri we had Rep. Rick Brattin (R – Harrisonville) trying to make it illegal to buy Oreos or canned tuna with food stamps. [House Bill 1739, 2016]
Why not take that a half-step forward: restrict food stamp redemption to just special departments in select stores stocked just with food stamp approved items.
Which retailer would be the perfect candidate for such food ghettos? Save Money. Live Better.
Submitted by Glenn Koenen, WCD Member