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Stop & Shop, a New England grocer with more than 400 stores, said it is enabling online orders for pickup and delivery for customers using electronic benefits transfer payment services in four states.
The Quincy, Mass.-based grocer, which is owned by Ahold Delhaize USA Co., said consumers using SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) EBT benefits in Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and New York, can shop and pay online. In Connecticut 209,000 individuals are enrolled in the SNAP program. The other states did not disclose how many SNAP enrollees they have.
As with most other online grocery orders, users must create an account with the store and add their SNAP EBT cards as a payment method to the account. When shopping, they enter an amount to spend from the balances on their SNAP accounts and enter an online PIN for authorization. Any remaining sum above this amount is charged to a credit or debit card or a checking account. Though there are no fees for using a SNAP card, Stop & Shop charges $2.95 for all online orders and either $6.95 or $9.95 depending on the overall order value.
“With over 90 stores beginning online ordering for pickup or delivery, Stop & Shop will join our other participating food retailers in boosting the availability of food for families and individuals, including older adults and people with disabilities who may have challenges getting to the store,” Deidre S. Gifford, Connecticut Department of Social Services Commissioner, said in a statement.
Other grocers have offered online SNAP EBT ordering services. Aldi is working with delivery service Instacart on such a service. Warehouse chain BJ’s Wholesale Club made it available earlier this year to customers in Florida and North Carolina. Processor Fiserv Inc. also has been actively promoting its platform for processing these transactions.
