Coupon vs food stamp issues

[strawberrysunrise]

Ok.. I'm almost scared to post this from the threads my attempt to search pulled up... but here goes.


I'm a newbie... have some coupons, had read through a lot of the stuff here... and thought I was ready to go.


But, as a single parent who is currently on unemployment, we are currently getting food stamps (though nowhere close to the amounts listed in one thread here!)... and 2 of my first 3 tries have been totally thrown off by trying to use an ebt card with coupons.


Round 1 was with a local chain (dillons). Everything seemed to go fine... until the payment kept being rejected, and eventually the cashier figured out that apparently he has to go in and manually change totals to charge me tax on anything I used a coupon for... making my out of pocket expenses for non-food actually higher, but giving me the coupon savings on my ebt balance.

But really, making a big deal, taking a lot of the cashier's time, and being a total pain for everyone in the process... not an experience I particularly want to repeat anytime soon.


Second round I tried at walmart and it seemed to be fine... but I had other items besides just food.

Third try was at walmart again... this time not having other items... and this time it didn't go well.

Apparently their system is completely opposite of the grocery store... the normal (or on sale in this case) price of the food is charged to the card, coupon or not, and then any reduction from coupons is made on the general merchandise part of your total, and can't go over the total of the general stuff.

So, essentially, anything I save in coupons has to be spent right then on something that isn't food instead of just reducing the grocery total. Not a huge problem with the smaller trips now that I know about it... just make sure to add in tp etc, use unemployment funds that would have paid for those later towards making up the extra taken from food when needed. A bit of robbing peter to pay paul though.

But probably not a good thing with any big totals.. i mean, i only need so many non-food items from walmart that are actually priority items needing purchased. Getting things I wouldn't have normally paid cash to purchase anyway is sort of a step in the opposite direction...


Anyone have any tips on anything I'm missing on this to make this work right?

Besides aldis, where no coupons apply... there's only one other small grocery store chain in this area left anymore.. and with this track record, I'm almost scared to attempt it.

[bethanyam]

When helping my mother shop I've never had any issues with her using her card and coupons. But sometimes even if she has NO nonfood she does still have to pay tax on the items, but on every occasion it's been calculated by the register. I'm not really sure what to say other than to seperate your food and non food and try again. Try not to be worried about holding up the lines. You have EVERY right to save your families money be it cash or food stamps.

[cearhart]

I have some problems sometimes I separate my transactions from food to non-food and the stores I know that take the coupon amount off the ebt end I just don't mix the deals. So if the store has Kleenex and cheese on one sale with a cat I make sure I buy enough kleenex on one transaction and enough cheese on another or I don't buy it. It will take a little bit to figure it out but you will then it will be second nature to you. If you need any other help feel free to PM me.

[kawakii]

Our food stamps work similar. At our local Shaws, if we use coupons and go to use EBT card the coupons are deducted off the grocery items not then non grocery items we are buying using a coupon. So, like this week I bought cat treats with the Free coupon and in then end that 1.99 came off my grocery total, so I ended up paying OOP for the cat treats.

So, We tend to seperate our transactions out to food, versus non food items. Makes it easier on the cashier and on me. Only I qualify for food stamps so we don't get very much so it's easier to just seperate the transaction and not bother with the tax adjusting. Thankfully in NH --no tax so we dont have to worry about that adjustment.

[meggers]

Sounds to me like you're doing great & figuring out how to make it work for you. I know all about the tax penalty, which is really a shame. I honestly don't think Wal-Mart knows what they're doing. That doesn't seem very consumer-friendly. Have you spoken to someone in management about it? Or corporate?

When you go to your grocery store again, maybe you could ask the manager to walk you through the process so that you can help the cashiers get through it quicker. :smile:

From what you're saying this is all new to you & the kinks are catching you off-guard. Couponers really have to grow some tough skin & food stamp recipients who use coupons have to be even tougher. :sad: I know this personally. So, hang in there & keep your chin up & keep finding the best way to utilize your food stamps.:wink7:

[cpaige]

MEGGERS ~ You are so right in saying that a thick skin is needed!! The first time I used my food stamps (which I no longer get), I had NO idea about some things. Oh, I was bright red by the time I left, sweating and every thing!

I know that w/ FS, (straight FS, not including TANF $$), it's only to be used on food items. No paper products, cleaning products, etc. So if that is what the OP is doing, make sure to have seperate transactions b/c you are basically paying seperatly. Good luck!!

[amy s]

Hang in there.... things will get better and easier. I congratulate you that you were able to ASK to find out how to do this! It takes a stronger person to ask for help than it does to suffer in silence.
I also congratulate you on the choices you are making to better your life. I am proud of you, even though I dont know you. :)

[tmsmalley]

Just wanted to add that you're combining two systems that are both complex and out of the ordinary as far as the cashiers are concerned so you need to do your shopping when you've got plenty of time and aren't stressed. In my book, that means not at "rush hour" when people are just getting out of work or middle of the day on weekends, not with kids (there's no way to think when you're having to say "stop touching" "come back here" "no, we're not getting that"). Don't try to do it when you're rushed or they're rushed. If you find a cashier that seems to get it and doesn't seem to mind, stick to that person's line.

I do most of my shopping early Saturday or Sunday morning (about 7 or 8). No one has had time to get in a bad mood yet.

Also, post on the thread for the stores that you use asking for tips on using food stamps with coupons. You are by NO means the only one and someone there will know the details of doing this at that store.

Good luck and hang in there!

Tess

[tmsmalley]

Oh, one more thing- the threads you came across doing a search were in the Hot Under the Collar forum I'm sure. That's the debate, argue and complain section so please don't take that too personally. Not everyone posts there and most of the people that do post harsh things there would never make the same comments in a store forum. There are a lot of people there that just like to argue and talk without any/much filter. Heck, I posted one day about my 3 year old flooding our living room floor with the garden hose and got slammed. Pretty much anything can turn negative there, but that does not reflect the overall tone of this board one bit. As a group, this is a generous, incredibly helpful and caring bunch (as long as we don't talk religion or politics)!

Tess

[kimandkathess]

Wow, I sure am glad that I don't have probelms in my state (ny). I can go do food and non food, use coupons, and food stamps, and the registers deduct what it needs to from where it needs to and everything works out fine. I hope everything works out better, and as others have said. Seperate your transactions into food and non food.

[Queenkim98]

Anyone have any tips on anything I'm missing on this to make this work right?

Besides aldis, where no coupons apply... there's only one other small grocery store chain in this area left anymore.. and with this track record, I'm almost scared to attempt it.

I don't have any idea how the ebt card works.....but it doesn't sound fair that they add tax to things, just so you can use coupons. Its almost as if you are being penalized for using coupons.

If I were in your position, I would stock up on things not covered by the food stams...i.e., laundry detergent, dog food, diapers, dish soap, stayfree pads, bath soap, shampoo & conditioner, toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels, reynolds wrap, Sunday paper w/coupons......when I had all that coming out my ears, I'd start purchasing walmart giftcards. Some walmarts have gas stations, or you could always use them at sams for gas. Either hang on to the giftcards in case you need them for food, use them for gas or trade them with someone that has something you can use more.

I do not consider that the same thing as "selling your foodstamps"......becasue you got the items free for using coupons.......foodstamps didn't even cover the items.

Well...thats what I would do, but I can be greedy! Have you asked at social services how its supposed to work? Or call the store manager at the grocery store and ask how its supposed to work.

Kim

[faeryedark]

When in doubt I seperate food items from non-food items. It just makes it easier.
i had an episode the other day where I went to buy stuff that was marked-down (all food) and it came up not FS eligible. The cashier said " oh, when it's marked down, you can't use FS" I sqid, "really, since when, it's food I'm buying. They probably have it marked wrong." Well, she gotthe manager, and sure enough a new person was doing the mark-downs and had it marked under non- grocery. I got it staightened out. I'm on a budget and every penny counts.
It can be a pain but if you know that something's not coming up right, insist that it does.

[434Teresa]

when you shop at walmart pay attion to the number on the cash regester you use because they are not all set up the say way..like say number 3 may charge you tax when you use coupons and take the total of the coupons off your ebt card no matter what you got, then numer 8 my not it may take the food items only off the ebt card and the non food off the money part and not charges you any tax. I dont know why they do this but they do, maybe they could not decided what to do so they mixed the cash regsters..

But when you use a ebt card there should not be any tax...coupons or not..the next time you are asked to pay tax when useing your ebt card and buy food with coupons I would ask to talk to the manger because there is no tax applied to thing bought with food stamps/ebt...........

[strawberrysunrise]

thanks for the tips!

it hadn't occurred to me yet to just split the non-food into a separate round.. i'm used to just getting the total after the food has gone through when it was all rung up together.

and the gift card is a great idea! beyond just the walmart one... walmart sells verizon ones too that i've used before to pay phone/internet bill... which would work out fairly well.


rounds 4 and 5 went better... both back at the grocery store.

4 i had just food on the transaction... it did beep, but it didnt reject the payment like it had the last time, and this time the register figured the tax out on its own.... which was like 9 cents... really lower than expected. (cashier grumbled about how stupid it was to be charging it... lol) much smoother.


based on 4.. i got brave with 5, and with all of the normal lines backed way up, i resorted to the self checkouts. i had nonfood on the transaction, but just food on coupons.

it beeped again when i did the food part and said it was calling for assistance... but went through.. and went directly to my cash total as normal, so i paid that.. and it told me thanks for shopping with us before the employee watching the stations was even over there trying to figure out why it was calling her.
she misread the readout that my transaction total was the total on my card that she needed to send through then have me pay the rest.... i pointed out it had already gone through and showed her the finished receipt... she looked at it, shrugged, and said ok, and that was that.

so i have no clue why it keeps doing the beeping after the food payment. since she thought it wanted her to send it through for a lower amount as if that were all i had on my card, and round 1 the cashier adjusted manually as well, i'm assuming whatever error it tells the cashier means wanting something changed. but then.. both of these last times it has gone through on its own the first attempt anyway without having any change made, but still beeped.

so i dunno. i suppose it can beep all it wants to as long as the cashiers arent going to flip out about it like round 1.

[omgzitsmiranda]

I have a quick question related to this thread.

Yesterday I was at the grocery store with my friend. She had coupons & she also uses EBT. Well, she's used coupons with her EBT card before. She had only food items, nothing else. It rang up what it should've been, she applied the coupons [&they doubled] & it was the appropriate total. Well, when she went to check out it went back up to the total BEFORE coupons $10.37. After coupons it should've been $5 something.

Well, the guy running the u-scan said that it was because coupons are considered cash & that she had to pay the $10.37 with her card & then he would give her back $5.50 in cash? [Which I thought was illegal but okay :/]

I was just wondering if anyone else has had this happnen? She's curious as to why this happened as am I. She's never ran into this kind of thing before?

[dekingfisher]

Thanks for sharing a great & important point - I use EBT also & have run into similarly questionable , or just plain wrong , practices - Enjoyed reading yours cause I do the same , ie , if it doesn't seem right or make any sense , I question it up to the mgr. , as often as necessary . It's not only the principle involved - it's getting by with what little we have .

[faeryedark]

I have a quick question related to this thread.

Yesterday I was at the grocery store with my friend. She had coupons & she also uses EBT. Well, she's used coupons with her EBT card before. She had only food items, nothing else. It rang up what it should've been, she applied the coupons [&they doubled] & it was the appropriate total. Well, when she went to check out it went back up to the total BEFORE coupons $10.37. After coupons it should've been $5 something.

Well, the guy running the u-scan said that it was because coupons are considered cash & that she had to pay the $10.37 with her card & then he would give her back $5.50 in cash? [Which I thought was illegal but okay :/]

I was just wondering if anyone else has had this happnen? She's curious as to why this happened as am I. She's never ran into this kind of thing before?
On occasion depending on the coupons this will happen to me. Sometimes the cashier can have the amt. applied back to the card, but if it's gonna be a hassle I just take the cash. Problem is I never know what type of coupons will trigger it. I do know sometimes if the cashier has to "hand ring" the coupons in it'll happen, too.

[CW&M Mom]

On occasion depending on the coupons this will happen to me. Sometimes the cashier can have the amt. applied back to the card, but if it's gonna be a hassle I just take the cash. Problem is I never know what type of coupons will trigger it. I do know sometimes if the cashier has to "hand ring" the coupons in it'll happen, too.
Maybe that is why on occasion I would use my EBT card and get 5 cents back:hysterical: I never could figure out why...and they didn't know either.

[latte]

some stores CHARGE you the amount of your coupon on your food stamps, and then give you back your coupon savings in cash (or if you have non-food items, applied to those items)

stores are NOT charging tax on the FOOD you purchase using your food stamps----they are charging TAX on the COUPONS you use -----ALL coupons clearly state *consumer is responsible for any applicable sales tax*.......some states charge tax on food but the tax is waived if using food stamps BUT your still going to have to pay the tax on the coupons that have been used, even if they are food coupons

at walmart, if a cashier hand rings in a coupon instead of just scanning it like they SHOULD (i have had a few cashiers that REFUSED to scan coupons, and hand rung ALL my coupons for whatever reason....the most frequent excuse is *its the way im supposed to do it*.........when coupons are entered like that, even if they are FOOD coupons, they will apply to the NON-FOOD items instead of the food like they should be

stores that give bag redemptions and give back the 3 cents or 5 cents or whatever it is for the store are CHARGING you the bag price on your food stamps, yet giving it back in cash......its a register quirk, not all stores do this though (all my stores that take food stamps and give bag redemptions give me back the nickle as well yet ive been charged


and sometimes? it really just depends on the cashier, the cashiers mood, the store -----bottom line? carry some change with you to cover tax as needed, and just know that you are doing the best you can with what you have, it DOES get easier

[dberruecos]

Hi, :wavehi: I don't know what city or state you are from but it does sound familiar with Dillons and only one other store left in town. Are you from Wichita, Ks.? If so, I feel your pain. I do use coupons with my EBT card and I do save a bunch. I have never had to separate out my non-food items. I use coupons for both. I do however have to pay tax on the coupons only. Sometimes it's a couple of dollars, sometimes it's just a few cents. It depends on how many coupons you have used. I know that with the help of coupons, I can feed my household and at least 5 other families within my family on the little bit I get every month. I am able to stock up on non-perishables and perishables with coupons. So, I share with the more unfortunate ones in my family. It really irritates me when my niece is going through a divorce and has 2 kids but until she moves into her own place, they use her husband's income and disqualify her from receiving anything but yet they together can hardly pay the bills! So, I help her out. I have even talked to my social worker about maybe having a class to show f.s. recipients how to stretch their f.s. by using coupons. He is talking this over with the higher ups as we speak.

All I can say, is hang in there! More and more people have come to rely on f.s. in order to feed their families so I don't think that there is as much of a stigma as there used to be. Don't worry about the long lines and if need be, call a supervisor or manager over to give the cashier some "on the job training" as far as f.s. are concerned! Don't ever pay more oop than you intended to just because you see there is a line building up. Most times that I've encountered, the people behind me are in a kind of awe that I saved so much money and purchased healthy food items. Some even ask how I do it!

Please feel free to PM me if you have any other questions. In the meantime, USE THOSE COUPONS! LOL!:whistle67:

[norasmomma]

I've never had any issues with my EBT card, I just separate food vs. household into 2 transactions. I did get change back a few weeks ago at Safeway, but the cashier just put it back on my card, she didn't know why it had happened either.


I use coupons at WM all the time with my EBT and have had zero issues. It really does stretch those dollars.

[collectorofbells]

stores that give bag redemptions and give back the 3 cents or 5 cents or whatever it is for the store are CHARGING you the bag price on your food stamps, yet giving it back in cash......its a register quirk, not all stores do this though (all my stores that take food stamps and give bag redemptions give me back the nickle as well yet ive been charged


and sometimes? it really just depends on the cashier, the cashiers mood, the store -----bottom line? carry some change with you to cover tax as needed, and just know that you are doing the best you can with what you have, it DOES get easier

thank you for explaining the bag redemption mystery! :BigHand: I couldn't figure that out and neither could the cashiers! I've also had a similar thing happen when using a "free" coupon on a food item....they give me the cash back-no one ever seemed to be able to explain to me why-including mangers or my FS case worker!

[strawberrysunrise]

ok... this was interesting! (and so glad this was at an unbusy 8am!)


i suppose i should mention that these have all been intentionally small trips.. usually under 20 or so total before coupons, and using 3 coupons at most but usually less.

trip 6: grocery.... i had one single food coupon. 55 cents, labeled not to double (but did)... and only 3 items total... 2 food, 1 medicine. looking back i should have separated them into different transactions.... but i spaced out and didnt.

ebt went through first time. beeped, but seemed fine. did the debit payment for the med.... and apparently chaos broke loose!

first it told her to adjust the cash total. cashier called over supervisor.... who pushed some buttons... and called over someone from customer service desk. for whatever reason (i'm wondering if was because it was a medication), this couldn't happen.

so three workers over more than 5 minutes finally end up having to void the ebt transaction... so that then they could send it back through with the cash part having already been paid, and go through at the different total.

looking over the 2 foot long receipt of this mess... it looks like for whatever reason, this time it decided not to take the coupon out of the ebt but to take it out of the cash. so the first ebt total was the pre-coupon total. then, the cash total tried to go through for the normal amount, which then caused issues because that made payment a dollar more than the total.

so rather than just give me the dollar like it sounds like might have been what happened to give change on some of the posts... it had to void then redo the entire ebt transaction. gotta love the logic of computers sometimes!


when it had all settled, the cashier handed me my receipt and tells me "that was unbelievably complicated!"

i'm going... my thoughts exactly! it takes this much craziness to process a single, totally common and ordinary 55 cent coupon for sausage??

i suppose at least it keeps things interesting. here i was figuring i had seen most of the things it might try and do at this store.... but apparently not! though i'm starting to wonder if driving the additional 2 miles to the next closest branch of the store would give me any less beeping...

[loaslaen]

I do know sometimes if the cashier has to "hand ring" the coupons in it'll happen, too.

I had a discrepancy in total last night of $1.50. Don't think the cashier noticed. Didn't get change back and I didn't bother to get a refund either. I do know that the manager had to manually enter a $1.50 Emerald Nuts coupon though, so that seems to verify your post. There's some satisfaction in knowing WHY these things happen. Thanks!

[mother mary]

I always use coupons with my card and have never had any problems with it.

[itzazu2u]

Boy, can I ever relate to every single word in this thread! Much of what has been said was once clear as mud to me. Now less than half is just clear as fog...I can see the light through the haze. :)

[Lindseyjarenjayden]

in texas if you have an ebt and you have non food and food all the coupons will come off the non food first so you might end up paying nothing oop and more on ebt. but here you can even use coupons on wic with no problems with nether and you can put all three in the same transaction go figure i guess texans are lucky