Clerk fired for refusing to accept EBT for cigarettes

This is the sort of thing I hear never happens. Benefits and aid being used for vices and frivolities.

Jackie Whiton, a six-year employee of the Big Apple, said she was fired after a dispute with her boss over accepting EBT cards as payment for cigarettes.

Whiton said her boss told her she can't refuse to sell beer and cigarettes to customers, because, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, EBT or state assistance money can be used to purchase tobacco products.

Nation-wide:

New Hampshire officials said no state in the country has restrictions on how cash benefits can be spent. They said enforcing restrictions would require an expensive infrastructure to be created.

Link

I love the excuse: Preventing abuses would be more expensive than just accepting the abuses.

It wouldnt surprise me at all if that is true. It's just sad how loosely that same logic is applied. I can think of plenty of other instances where the cost of "prevention" far outweighs the damages yet no such logic seems to apply. And why would it cost so much to prevent abuses? When everything is electronic how hard can it be to place item blocks?

This infuriates me to no end. I feel bad for the clerk, but if the transaction was legitimate then she knew she was risking her job. She stood on principle and now has to suffer the consequences. It seems unfair, but if she is costing the company money, that is their bottom line. It's what they are in business for.

The fact that these monies can be used for this makes my head feel like it will implode. I have seen people get cash off their cards here and buy cases of beer/liquor. It kind of makes me daydream about karate chopping some of these folks in the throat... Seriously though, it seems to me that if someone is in need of state aid, they should probably use the money in a better way. I don't know how they can stop it, unless they create an EBT card that only allows you to pay your bills, etc. No cash in hand ever.

I wish she would not have lost her job, but there it is. The system is indeed broken.

Originally posted by Kangaruex4Ewe

The system is indeed broken.

Maybe it's not. Maybe this is exactly how it's supposed to work.

Cigarette taxes keep going up. Taxes pushed by the same nanny-state sect who blocks welfare/assistance reforms at every turn.

We're supposed to believe that cigarette taxes hurt the evil tobacco companies and help the poor people, right?

If this case is normal across the country then cigarette taxes are being paid by us all whether we smoke or not right into government coffers and the poor people arent discouraged from smoking one bit and the flow of money continues from my pocket, your pocket into the governments pocket.

It's working as it was designed.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere

Originally posted by Kangaruex4Ewe

The system is indeed broken.

Maybe it's not. Maybe this is exactly how it's supposed to work.

Cigarette taxes keep going up. Taxes pushed by the same nanny-state sect who blocks welfare/assistance reforms at every turn.

We're supposed to believe that cigarette taxes hurt the evil tobacco companies and help the poor people, right?

If this case is normal across the country then cigarette taxes are being paid by us all whether we smoke or not right into government coffers and the poor people arent discouraged from smoking one bit and the flow of money continues from my pocket, your pocket into the governments pocket.

It's working as it was designed.

Good point. Same goes for the alcohol industry as well. It is something that makes you go hmmmm, for sure.

Since when can you buy anything but food with food stamps? EBT is a food stamp card. You're only supposed to buy food with it. And then only food you have to cook. You can't get fast food or hot deli meals with them.

At least that is how it is in NC and WV. I just assumed it was a federal regulation. It makes no sense to buy things that are not food with an EBT card.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

We're supposed to believe that cigarette taxes hurt the evil tobacco companies and help the poor people, right?

I can't speak for your country, but here in Canada the government tax on tobacco is quite high, and much like most gas stations post a piechart showing the taxes and costs of the fuel, a lot of shops have a piechart posted showing that the majority of your tax goes to the government and none of that impacts the tobacco industry, it's the retailer that takes the hit, so to speak.

And yes, it sounds like that system is working exactly as designed. Now, I assume you aren't on government assistance. don't be fooled, it's not just lazy bums on that my friend, you could have a few bouts of bad luck and end up there yourself.

Now, once there, I doubt you'd be trying to buy tobacco with it, but, I'm positive you would have a HUGE issue with the government telling you what you can spend that assistance money on and what you can't. Where do you draw the line? Tobacco? Alcohol? Sugary drinks? Fast food? Processed food?

No, I don't think the government should be dictating what that money can be spent on as the other poster mentioned, it's working perfectly.

The government of my country, the US and probably the same for the UK, has been making massive cuts, oh, not to their benefits or pay, no, to social assistance programs and such. So, you pay in with taxes, they give that to a smoker, who buys tobacco, half of the price being a tax that goes right back into the government, on the eve of them restricting even more welfare programs.

It's the same, to a lesser extent, with video lotto terminals, a big program here. The government gets a hefty revenue stream from them, so on the one hand they are spending money to promote education programs, addiction counseling, etc, but on the other, they'd be lost without that revenue stream.

The EBT system in most states now have both the SNAP and the TANIF on the same card. The TANIF is the so called welfare payments and yes it can be used to purchase anything, within law.

Originally posted by Ookie
Since when can you buy anything but food with food stamps? EBT is a food stamp card. You're only supposed to buy food with it. And then only food you have to cook. You can't get fast food or hot deli meals with them.

At least that is how it is in NC and WV. I just assumed it was a federal regulation. It makes no sense to buy things that are not food with an EBT card.

They put Emergency funds on some people's EBT cards that qualify for it monthly here in VA. These funds can be directly withdrawn off the card like a regular ATM card and used for whatever purpose the recipient wishes.

Also, I have seen folks here buy cakes and things from the deli and pay by EBT, but they can't buy hot deli food/ It is ridiculous.

Originally posted by phishyblankwaters
Now, once there, I doubt you'd be trying to buy tobacco with it, but, I'm positive you would have a HUGE issue with the government telling you what you can spend that assistance money on and what you can't. Where do you draw the line? Tobacco? Alcohol? Sugary drinks? Fast food? Processed food?

You're right. I would. It's the same issue I have with using force and coercion to extort property from my fellow man.

If I'm to be consistent with my "issue taking" at the restriction of liberty that is.

So how is that supposed to work exactly? You can't even buy hot fried chicken with ebt cards, but supposedly people can use them for cigs and beer? Sound like bs to me.

This happened to the woman in front of me at WalMart a few weeks back. The woman put bunch of things on the belt and when she pulled out her EBT/SNAP card the cashier said that she was not sure if what the woman was buying could be put on the card. The manger was called over. She told the cashier to run the card and let the computer decide. The woman paid cash for the few items the computer kicked back. The manger told the cashier not to worry about what could be put on what card just let the computer worry about it as so many of the card look the same.

Originally posted by Kangaruex4Ewe
This infuriates me to no end. I feel bad for the clerk, but if the transaction was legitimate then she knew she was risking her job. She stood on principle and now has to suffer the consequences. It seems unfair, but if she is costing the company money, that is their bottom line. It's what they are in business for.

The fact that these monies can be used for this makes my head feel like it will implode. I have seen people get cash off their cards here and buy cases of beer/liquor. It kind of makes me daydream about karate chopping some of these folks in the throat...

Seriously though, it seems to me that if someone is in need of state aid, they should probably use the money in a better way. I don't know how they can stop it, unless they create an EBT card that only allows you to pay your bills, etc. No cash in hand ever.

I wish she would not have lost her job, but there it is. The system is indeed broken.

standing on principal is always costly in todays society. Last year I need work badly and when Bayer Crop Science wanted to rehire me after I left for two years servicing Lowes in Roanoke I was excited. The pay was $16 an hour which is great for our area. But I turned it down when the evidence of neonicotinoids involvement in CCD.

I called them back after I had the job and said, "Sorry, but my conscience could not allow me to work for you".

I am still struggling but I stand on my principals too!

reply to post by fixer1967


If they put all of the funds (TANF and SNAP) on one card then the woman might have run out of the other funds and or more likely there are some thing that SNAP won't get you.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


I'm not sure I care if people buy cigarettes with EBT money after having contributed to this nation in previous years when they were employed. What I do have a problem with is lawbreakers obtaining welfare like polygamists groups who's second , third, fourth and fifth wives are allowed to collect welfare and they take it back to the cult. That's happening right here in America and no one says anything about it.

And these cults force little children as young as age NINE into marriages with OLD men . But they are such "exceedingly fair" people that no one seems to pitch a fit about it. They are raking in more tax dollars than those who are on food stamps who have actually worked before and already paid into the system.

The cult wives never held jobs and never paid taxes.

here in Canada, I believe you can only use such things in grocery stores. They don't sell cigarettes in grocery stores here in Nova Scotia at least.

reply to post by fnpmitchreturns


Not only that I know a man that is retired from the railroad and his retirement is put on a card that has been mistaken for a EBT/SNAP card more than a few times. In fact it got to being such a PITA dealing with cashiers over this that he opened a checking account and got a debt card though the bank. When his retirement comes in he transfers the whole balance from one card to the other one and leaves the retirement card at home just to keep from having to explain about the card all the time.

I buy condoms wit my welfare munny, so da loose women in da trailor park dont give me the cooties.

Remember kids, if she smokes she pokes.


Yea, Im not sure how I feel about this. Welfare in general is a waste of taxpayer money at this point. I waiting for them to scale it back to bare minimum. Why should the government give me free money not to work? All this means is that I will never work.

And Lolitta in the trailor park will be getting all of my welfare money when the condoms break....

Cuz i buyed the cheap ones cuz thems wuz on sale for bein outta date. Now I gots 50 kids and a child support, i sure luv my sister in law Lolitta......

Child support, welfare, and foodstamps all go on EBT cards here in Alabama. You have to select "food" if you are using your food stamps off the card, otherwise you can get money off the card, or use it to buy just about anything. You can't use it at certain places, just because they aren't set up to run an EBT card.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere

Originally posted by Kangaruex4Ewe

The system is indeed broken.

Maybe it's not. Maybe this is exactly how it's supposed to work.

Cigarette taxes keep going up. Taxes pushed by the same nanny-state sect who blocks welfare/assistance reforms at every turn.

We're supposed to believe that cigarette taxes hurt the evil tobacco companies and help the poor people, right?

If this case is normal across the country then cigarette taxes are being paid by us all whether we smoke or not right into government coffers and the poor people arent discouraged from smoking one bit and the flow of money continues from my pocket, your pocket into the governments pocket.

It's working as it was designed.

I have to somewhat agree with you. It does reek of design, doesn't it? I'm a Christ believer, so I believe in the dictates of charity and help for our fellow man, EBT doesn't seem like the same thing to me. It seems like something that someone else wants other to be on for reasons not completely discerned by me yet. Good point though...

Originally posted by skepticconwatcher

I'm not sure I care if people buy cigarettes with EBT money after having contributed to this nation in previous years when they were employed.

That's the trap that keeps this all running. Nobody likes the extortion but people always argue "well, I already paid for it so I want my share" so the extortion continues.

And these cults force little children as young as age NINE into marriages with OLD men . But they are such "exceedingly fair" people that no one seems to pitch a fit about it. They are raking in more tax dollars than those who are on food stamps who have actually worked before and already paid into the system.

Right. So stop filling the bucket they draw from.

The only reason they are able to "bleed the beast" is because there is a beast to be bled.