Food Stamp Cards Inoperable East Coast?

BOSTON (CBS) – A possible glitch in a computer system upgrade was causing major problems nationwide with the Electronic Benefits Transfer System on Saturday, as a countless number of shoppers found themselves stranded at the register.

Reports from around the country began pouring in around 9 a.m. on Saturday that customers’ EBT cards were not working in stores.

The glitch, however, did not appear to be part of the government shutdown. At 2 p.m., an EBT customer service representative told CBS Boston that the system was currently down for a computer system upgrade.

boston.cbslocal.com... 12/computer-upgrade-blamed-for-nationwide-ebt-system-shutdown-on-saturday/

Numerous other reports showing up on the newsfeeds. Game on?

Here's more: www.cnycentral.com...

reply to post by signalfire


Get the BBQ's primed and the knives sharpened.
It's time for cannibalism boys and girls.

reply to post by signalfire


Also in Illinois, sign in grocery store today said it was state wide.

Thorneblood
reply to post by signalfire

 

Get the BBQ's primed and the knives sharpened.
It's time for cannibalism boys and girls.

Thorneblood, can we please start with the pets? Pretty please?!

Make that Nationwide. They're chiming in now about California and Wyoming, among other places. Seems like it hit first at 9 am on the East Coast. The website of the company that runs the system is also down.

reply to post by signalfire


I noticed this today where I work. All the cards got declined due to “not able to transmit data” or something like that. Was wondering what was happening...

Also (just as a side note) I was reading that my state has enough funds to keep going to the end of the month, than it will become serious for them. A lot of other states seem to be saying the same thing.

I don’t collect assistance, but I know many people do and it could become a hostile situation if they shut it off, even for a day or two, especially with all the bad feelings people have for the government right now.

Thanks,
Blend57

reply to post by botay


Being a Florida native, manatee will be on the menu. They are called sea cows for a reason.


Food Stamps worked fine down here about 2 hours ago.

reply to post by signalfire


This makes me a little uneasy in my gut. We are all accountable for our fellows and the thought of having to go door to door just to make sure the neighbor's children are getting fed makes me tremble a bit in anger. I know damned well it won't be Donald Trump or Bill Gates running the canned food drives.

This could turn very ugly, very fast!

Sit down, buckle up and hang on. It's gonna be a bumpy ride...

Sure wish I woulda planned for something like this. [winky emoticon guy]

I went to my local store this morning and they were having problems with the EBT cards as well. They have been refusing to sell to people with the cards.

ETA: Iowa here and yes....its down.

Apparently it's 17 or 18 states. I think it's more. I know it's down in:

MS
VA
GA
IL
OH
MI
PA
CA
AL

reply to post by signalfire


I just went to the store here in Virginia and there was a sign posted saying that the EBT system is down state wide. Oh well, to me that just means shorter lines.

I'm sure it's just a coincidence! Not! On the weekend too!

reply to post by Magister


A federal holiday weekend, too?

This is scary.

reply to post by IrishCream


Actually you would want the house pets. Cats will deal with the incredible explosion of mice and rats, and dogs are good for hunting people or anything else.

reply to post by signalfire


A computer upgrade and now a power outage to blame?

According to a spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Human Resources, a Xerox facility that handles the card transactions experienced a power outage Saturday morning. The outage caused the cards to be rejected.

The story says they do not know how long the system will be down.

Source

ETA: Oh my...this isn't good...via twitter


Computer glitch, power outage, dry run of the shutdown; whatever it is there WILL be hungry children tonight.

Those crazy conspiracy theorists!
Talking about how they would cut off the EBT cards and starve people.
NEVER GONNA HAPPEN.
When will you nutcases give it up?
Just because the government is shut down doesn't mean normal services won't continue.
Please return to your regularly scheduled programming.

I have a feeling this "glitch" is intentional. It will be used by the left to point fingers at the right proclaiming, "Children are starving because of YOUR shutdown!" Anyone willing to bet me on that?

Hmmm, in the middle of a "shut down" . . . .

Why isn't this national news? I found out about this around 11 a.m. Central time.