yamaha
PowerDork
10/15/13 9:38 a.m.
http://news.msn.com/us/wal-mart-xerox-blame-each-other-for-food-stamps-spree
NEW ORLEANS — Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Xerox Corp blamed each other on Monday after Louisiana food stamp recipients stripped bare the shelves of some Walmart stores when a computer glitch left their debit cards with no limits.
Managers of Wal-Mart stores in the small, north Louisiana towns of Springhill and Mansfield alerted police on Saturday night that throngs of shoppers had flooded into the stores and were buying groceries using electronic benefit cards that contained no credit limits.
EBT cards are debit-type cards issued under the state's food stamp program and coded to show the amount of money available for individuals to spend. Food stamps are a federal government subsidy program for low-income people that is administered by the states.
When word got out Saturday that the EBT cards were showing no limits, card holders rushed to area Wal-Marts to take advantage.
"Some people had eight or 10 shopping carts full of groceries," Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd said on Monday.
Xerox said on Saturday that its systems that process EBT transactions suffered an outage stemming from routine testing of backup generators that malfunctioned. Louisiana was one of 17 states affected by the outage.
Kayla Whiting, a spokeswoman at Wal-Mart's Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters, pointed to Xerox as the source of the problem and referred further questions to Xerox.
Xerox corporate spokesman Bill McKee provided a written company statement saying that Xerox has a "documented process for retailers like Wal-Mart to follow in response to EBT outages."
But the statement left unclear who would cover the unauthorized spending, and it referred further questions to Wal-Mart.
Louisiana officials said they had no intention of being left holding the bag. "The outage was the result of failures by our contractor, Xerox," said Trey Williams, a spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services.
He said emergency procedures in place with Xerox allow retailers to call a phone number and receive authorization for purchases any time the EBT system is down. "Some retailers chose not to follow the process," he said. "Those businesses are only being reimbursed for the (maximum) amounts on individual cards," he said.
Williams said that amounts transacted above the cards' available balances were returned to Wal-Mart marked "as insufficient funds."
He could not provide an estimate of the total amount of overspending or say who will cover it in the end. "That's a conversation between Xerox and the retailer," he said.
CARTS FULL OF GROCERIES
Springhill's Lynd arrived at his town's Wal-Mart store at about 7 p.m. local time and found a few hundred shoppers jamming checkout lines with carts filled to overflowing.
Lynd said he told the manager that the store had a right to refuse service, but the manager said she had contacted Wal-Mart headquarters and was told to accept the cards.
The shoppers "decimated the grocery section of Wal-Mart," Lynd said.
The shoppers broke no laws, Lynd said, adding that police intervention was not required to disperse the crowd. At about 9 p.m., Wal-Mart said that the glitch had been fixed and the EBT cards were again showing appropriate spending limits.
"When they heard the announcement, people just left their carts in place and walked out of the store," Lynd said.
Mansfield Assistant Police Chief Gary Hobbs reported a similar scene in his community. He said that several other grocery stores in the area temporarily stopped accepting EBT cards when they became aware of the glitch, but Wal-Mart continued.
For video footage:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57607332/ebt-benefit-card-glitch-sparks-walmart-shopping-sprees-in-louisiana/
I 
'd
Nice people. They flooded the store, then when they had to pay for it dumped their sit and ran. Nice, high quality people there. 
Article said:
But the statement left unclear who would cover the unauthorized spending,
uhh...I know who should be responsible - the toothless unwashed masses who chose to abuse a flaw in an already questionable handout system. If I exploit an error at an ATM, the bank holds me accountable, yes?
These people KNEW what they were doing was wrong. They all knowingly committed theft. Lock them all the berkeley up and take away their hand outs.If you are going to abuse it, you don't get it. Period.
And to think of all the times we keep getting told "There's not as much fraud in the welfare system ad the right wing nutjobs make it out to be." REally? E36 M3 like this shows me you're wrong.
yamaha
PowerDork
10/15/13 9:55 a.m.
In reply to 4cylndrfury:
To be honest, we'll never hear about if they do anything or not, but they have a transaction log of who the cards were issued to, and video evidence. What needs to happen is at least being removed from that program due to exploitation. Criminal charges, restitution, etc should all be considered as well.
I think you are discounting Walmarts part in this. They clearly knew there was no way those were proper purchases, and yet still processed them. I agree that Walmart should shoulder most of the cost of this.
Bobzilla wrote:
...They all knowingly committed theft. Lock them all the berkeley up...
Pretty sure it's a lot cheaper to just keep giving them food stamps. Prison is expensive.
slefain
UltraDork
10/15/13 10:11 a.m.
Theft plain and simple. The cards used are all on record. Deduct the purchased amounts from future EBT benefits.
Even cheaper is to revoke their benefits. They knowingly scammed the system. That should be grounds for immediate removal from the system. Sorry... you committed theft. You scammed the system designed to HELP you get on your feet. Sorry... berkeley you. You no longer deserve to be part of society. When you KNOWINGLY steal from people trying to HELP you..... you are just about the lowest form of scum on this earth.
yamaha
PowerDork
10/15/13 10:18 a.m.
In reply to aircooled:
Prison is expensive indeed........I fully support loss of EBT benifits though. Perhaps felonies that they hand off as "Plead guilty to this class D in exchange for community service" just so they end up with something worth while slapped on their record.
I can handle a lot of low life people.... but a thief makes my blood boil. This many thieves at once REALLY makes me angry.
aircooled wrote:
yamaha wrote:
...I fully support loss of EBT benifits though...
[Argument accepted]
THINK OF THE CHILDREN
[Argument regected]
I know this was meant in jest, but to the actual "TOTC" argument, they should have though about that before having them, shouldn't they? Then they had another opportunity to TOTC before committing a felony. WEll, life has consequences. Welcome to life.
logdog
Dork
10/15/13 10:26 a.m.
This thread needs that iceberg picture.
Instead of handing out food stamps, we need to actually hand out food. Whenever I see some berktard at the grocery store buying Code Red Mountain Dew and Funions with an EBT card, I want to punch them in their throat and then point and laugh at their crushed larynx . Need to suckle at the welfare teat? Here is a box of oats, a bag of rice, a bunch of carrots, a bag of apples, and some ground round. What? Thats not good enough? Then get a goddamned job.
Say there is a vending machine at work, and every spot is filled with whatever your preferred drink is--water, gatorade, pepsi, coke, dr. pepper... whatever, it is a vending machine just for you. The cost is all the same. Now, say that someone figured out that E8 has a glitch and gives you 2 every time. Do you go for E8 every time, or do you say, that is wrong, I'm going to get one at full price?
If I'm in a position where I'm getting food stamps, I'm probably not thinking about what is right and wrong, I'm getting my family a feast. I think that they should revoke the benefits until they have "paid for it" either with real money or in time (i.e. if they bought $500 worth of food and they get $100 a week, they wait 5 weeks before they get the benefits back)
4cylndrfury wrote:
Instead of handing out food stamps, we need to actually hand out food. Whenever I see some berktard at the grocery store buying Code Red Mountain Dew and Funions with an EBT card, I want to punch them in their throat and then point and laugh. Need to suckle at the welfare teat? Here is a box of oats, a bag of rice, a bunch of carrots, a bag of apples, and some ground round. What? Thats not good enough? Then get a goddamned job.
I agree. Last time I went to the Wal-Mart on the shady part of town, the woman ahead of me had Lobster, Crab Legs, organic and name brand everything, as I was buying macaroni and cheese for $0.40 a box since it was on sale.
Walmart sells Lobster where you are? Damn.... i think my area is way E36 M3tier than i thought.
yamaha
PowerDork
10/15/13 10:34 a.m.
In reply to Pseudonym:
Ehh, I couldn't even support removing them for a slight amount of time......
I also agree with 4cyl......I'm tired of being stuck behind EBT/snap users who are only buying a candybar, soda, cigs and booze. Give them physical food instead, I will bet fewer people would take that than the ebt benifits
yamaha
PowerDork
10/15/13 10:35 a.m.
In reply to Swank Force One:
LOL, we do in Muncie at the walmart and meijer.
Swank Force One wrote:
Walmart sells Lobster where you are? Damn.... i think my area is way E36 M3tier than i thought.
Frozen. I know the meijer has live lobster, not sure about the walmart.
yes...lobster...for the children
Modern day Oliver Twist said:
Please, sir, I want some more...lemon butter sauce
nocones
SuperDork
10/15/13 11:05 a.m.
Just this morning I was behind a woman in need of a link card. I could tell of her plight and desperation by the fundamental neccesities she purchased from my local quick mart. I was proud of the work my tax dollars did providing her with the sustenance required for life: 2 king sized reeses penut butter cups, a bag of spicy pork rinds, and a 44oz mountain dew. I felt good for the kids.
