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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

EBT

Instacart Expands EBT SNAP Payments to Three More Grocers, Now Available at More Than 4,000 Stores

Online grocery delivery service Instacart announced today an expansion of its EBT Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment integration to three new retailers: Publix, The Save Mart Companies and Price Chopper/Market 32. This boosts Instacart’s EBT SNAP availability by more than 1,500 stores across 15 states. Once complete, Instacart will offer EBT SNAP payment options in more than 4,000 stores across 38 states and Washington D.C.

From today’s press release announcing the news:

EBT SNAP is now available at all Publix locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The Save Mart Companies – including Save Mart, Lucky California, Lucky and FoodMaxx banners – is now available across California and Nevada, making them the first Northern California retailer to offer EBT SNAP online. Price Chopper/Market 32 is now available across its New York stores, and will soon expand to its Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Vermont locations in the coming weeks. 

Instacart began accepting EBT SNAP payments in pilot program with grocery retailer ALDI back in October 2020. That program expanded to more than 2,000 ALDI locations nationwide. Earlier this year, Instacart announced EBT SNAP payments program Food Lion stores.

The Center on Budget Policy and Priorities writes that 38 million people in the US, or 12 percent of the country’s population receive SNAP benefits. Until a couple of years ago, those on the SNAP program were unable to use their benefits to buy groceries online. In April of 2019, the USDA announced a pilot program allowing SNAP participants to purchase groceries digitally.

Instacart’s expansion also comes on the heels of USDA announcing this week that it is expanding the Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program to provide food to kids over the summer who would otherwise get free meals at school. According to NPR, the P-EBT program takes the value of the meals kids would normally receive at school ($6.82 per weekday) and puts that on a debit or existing SNAP card to be used at grocery stores.

Increasing access to online grocery e-commerce to those on SNAP is an important step to begin bringing about more equity to our food system. Being able to buy groceries online for pickup and delivery became even more critical during the pandemic, when trip to the grocery store could literally get you sick.

It should be noted that EBT SNAP money can only be used to buy food, it cannot be put towards Instacart’s delivery fees or tips. Those add-ons can get expensive and may price out those who could use the convenience of Instacart the most. As I’ve written before, it would be nice if Instacart, which has raised $2.7 billion, put more resources towards solving issues around fees and tips for those on SNAP. The company has taken what amounts to a baby step on that front as Instacart says it will waive delivery or pickup fees through June 16, 2021 on up to the first three EBT SNAP orders for each customer.

Stor.AI’s Software Now Allows Grocers to Accept SNAP Payments Online

Stor.AI (formerly Self Point), which makes digital commerce software for grocery stores, announced a new feature this week that allows stores of any size to accept online payment for Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) participants.

The new capability allows stores to accept payments through Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) payment cards, split payments across multiple methods, and add virtual tags to an online store showing which items are EBT-eligible.

Up until a couple years ago, SNAP participants were unable to use their EBT card to shop for groceries online, exacerbating digital inequality. In 2018, a startup called All_ebt helped SNAP participants shop for groceries online through a combination of Facebook Messenger and Virtual Visa cards.

The U.S. government got involved in April of 2019, when the USDA launched a pilot program allowing SNAP participants to grocery shop online. That pilot involved a limited number of states and retailers like Amazon and Walmart.

When the pandemic hit the U.S. last year, people were encouraged to stay home and take fewer trips to the grocery store. The inability for SNAP participants to shop for groceries online and forcing them to shop in stores made the issue not just about inequality, but also safety.

Thankfully, SNAP-enabled shopping online got a big boost in 2020, with Kroger accepting SNAP for pickup, Amazon and Walmart expanding EBT payment acceptance across the country, and Instacart partnering with ALDI for grocery delivery to SNAP participants.

With today’s Stor.AI news, even more SNAP participants will be able to buy groceries online. Smaller, neighborhood stores of all shapes and sizes will now be able to accept EBT payments and serve more customers.

These moves, of course, don’t eliminate the inequalities present in our current food system. They are, however good steps towards bridging the digital divide and allowing more people to benefit from the modernization of grocery retail.

Instacart and ALDI Expand Online EBT Grocery Purchases to 23 More States

Grocery delivery service Instacart announced today that it is expanding its partnership with supermarket chain ALDI to make online grocery shopping and delivery available to EBT SNAP participants across 23 more states and Washington D.C.

Starting today, those on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can use their Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card to pay for groceries and get delivery from roughly 1,000 more ALDI stores from these new service areas:

Alabama, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Washington, D.C., West Virginia and Wisconsin.

Instacart kicked off this program with ALDI back at the end of October when it launched a pilot program at more than 60 stores in Georgia. Earlier this month, the program expanded to more than 570 stores in California, Illinois, Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas.

We explained how the program works back when the Instacart/ALDI SNAP program kicked off, writing:

SNAP participants will be able to shop from ALDI through Instacart’s website or mobile app. When creating a profile, they can enter their EBT card information and a payment method, which will cover the cost of SNAP-approved food items. Taxes, tips and fees cannot be paid for with the EBT, so a second form of payment will also be needed. Once all that is set up, SNAP participants can shop for items and schedule their grocery delivery.

While giving SNAP participants the ability to participate in digital grocery shopping is an important step towards bringing more equity to our food system, Instacart’s program isn’t without its shortcomings. We lamented at the time of the pilot launch how a second form of payment was required for taxes, fees and tips. There are legal reasons for this, but it seemed like forcing families in need pay for delivery fees and tips could be a barrier to adoption. Or, in the case of tips, would Instacart’s gig “Shoppers” avoid jobs that don’t tip as well?

Instacart addressed some of these issues with today’s expansion. Per the press announcement:

New with this expansion and to help subsidize costs for EBT SNAP beneficiaries, during a 90 day period starting December 16, 2020, Instacart will waive delivery fees on up to the first three EBT SNAP orders for each customer with a valid EBT card associated with their Instacart account. ALDI pickup via Instacart costs $1.99 for orders over $35.

I mean, I know Instacart is a business and not a charity, and this is better than nothing. But for a company that raised $2.4 billion in venture money, and it being the holidays and all, it seems like it could have been a little more generous. Especially with the hunger and food insecurity surging across the U.S. right now.

SNAP Participants Can Now Use Benefits to Pay for Grocery Delivery with Instacart

Instacart announced today that it has partnered with grocery retailer ALDI to allow those on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to use their Electronic Benefits Transfer card to pay for and get groceries delivered.

The pilot program is launching first in Georgia where, according to Instacart’s announcement, 12.5 percent of the population is impacted by food insecurity, disproportionately affecting communities of color. The program will begin with 60 ALDI stores in Georgia before a planned expansion to more than 570 stores across Illinois, California, Florida, Pennsylvania in the coming months.

SNAP participants will be able to shop from ALDI through Instacart’s website or mobile app. When creating a profile, they can enter their EBT card information and a payment method, which will cover the cost of SNAP-approved food items. Taxes, tips and fees cannot be paid for with the EBT, so a second form of payment will also be needed. Once all that is set up, SNAP participants can shop for items and schedule their grocery delivery.

Online grocery shopping took off during the pandemic, as people were concerned about venturing into public places like grocery stores. Those fears have subsided somewhat, but grocery e-commerce is still projected to hit $250 billion in sales by 2025.

Instacart’s partnership with ALDI is the latest effort to bring more equity to the online grocery world. Low income communities are often food desserts that lack access to fresh food. The ability to shop online and have groceries delivered is one way to help those impacted by food insecurity eat more healthily. For the past couple of years, the startup All_EBT has been using Facebook Messenger and virtual Visa cards to allow SNAP participants to shop online. And both Amazon and Walmart have expanded their EBT online grocery shopping to more states.

The only downside to Instacart’s program is that it still requires SNAP participants to pay for taxes, fees and tips. Those three items alone can add up and that seems like it might be a barrier to get more people to use the program. While the EBT card couldn’t be used to cover these costs, it’s a little disappointing that Instacart, which has raised $2.4 billion, isn’t doing more to supplement them for the end user. It seems like Instart’s gig workers who do the actual packing and delivery, might skip jobs that don’t offer a healthy tip, especially since the pandemic has yet to subside in this country.