Trump proposes cutting food stamps for delivered boxes of food.

[officeguy]

I wonder if buying truckloads of stuff would be more economical, thus getting MORE overall food for the recipients?

Yup. Quite a difference between buying chicken drumsticks by the 48 pack at Costco and picking them up in 3 packs at the local grocery. Having Amazon and Walmart compete on the food box delivery contract would definitely provide more bang for the buck for both the government and the recipients (unless of course the recipients are not actually in need of food assistance and prefer to convert their snap cards into cigarette money with the aid of crooked store owners).

A couple of years back there was an article in the NYT about the cyclical economy of Woonsocket, RI. The town is in in the dumps and lives on a monthly cycle whenever the food stamp money gets loaded on the cards. The local budget grocer gets truckloads of meat the day before the cards are loaded and sells 'bundles' and 'boxes' of meat to the local food stamp recipients. By week 2, most have eaten their way through the pile and they hit the food bank for basic staples. Not the most efficient way of managing the resource.

 

[GURPS]

A couple of years back there was an article in the NYT about the cyclical economy of Woonsocket, RI.

HQ for CVS is there ......

 

[mitzi]

My question is who is going to deliver these packages of food. With all of the SNAP recipients, who and what are the resources for these deliveries?

 

[Bird Dog]

My question is who is going to deliver these packages of food. With all of the SNAP recipients, who and what are the resources for these deliveries?

Amazon ships over 1,000,000 packages a day....it be done

 

[PeoplesElbow]

But you'd agree there are some folks that can't do that, yes? Elderly with little to no savings not making it on SS. Special needs folks who may only have a job making low pay, or no job at all. There are certainly people in this country that could use the help of the collective, unfortunately, that is lost on people that abuse the system.

Absolutely, however that is also abused. I know a boy that is in his mid 30's that is more or less high functioning but not all there. He drives, has a job etc but just isn't quite right. His sister is considered his guardian and she controls how much he works because if he works any more "it messes with Joey's money". Guess who gets Joey's money and gives him an allowance from it?

The boy really doesn't understand and in general is a great, responsible kid, this came from his mother that racked up $50k in credit card debt, got her brother to pay it off for her and then continued to do it again. Poor kid didn't understand why the house, lawn tractor, car was repossessed and his mom's tractor trailer full of scrap booking supplies had to be auctioned off when she died.

 

[Chris0nllyn]

My question is who is going to deliver these packages of food. With all of the SNAP recipients, who and what are the resources for these deliveries?

I have a feeling it'll turn into a cluster ####. I like the idea, but don't like the idea of it being shipped to your door. That adds cost. Not to mention everyone's soon-to-be newfound food allergies. Now you've got the govt. running a custom food box delivery service for free.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

So what? Be a man. If you can afford it what skin off your back is it to give a fellow human a bottle of water.

I’d say it say more about you than him

I should have just told him no. That is actually door to door sales 101, ask for a small favor like a drink of water and then ask for the large favor, buy our $2000 vacuum cleaner.

 

[Sapidus]

I should have just told him no. That is actually door to door sales 101, ask for a small favor like a drink of water and then ask for the large favor, buy our $2000 vacuum cleaner.

You really showed that thirsty salesperson. How dare he ask for a bottle of water.

Real Christian of ya

 

[Gilligan]

You really showed that thirsty salesperson. How dare he ask for a bottle of water.

Real Christian of ya

But since you despise "christians"..where does that leave this tread and your lame participation in it?

 

[PeoplesElbow]

You really showed that thirsty salesperson. How dare he ask for a bottle of water.

Real Christian of ya

I never claimed to be a Christian, in my 44 years I think I have been in a church 4 times.

I also don't keep bottled water at home I use a PUR pitcher and help save the world from less plastic bottles.

 

[mitzi]

Amazon ships over 1,000,000 packages a day....it be done

I need to rephrase. How much is shipping these packages all over the country going to cost the taxpayers? This idea is ridiculous. Revamp the system on who is eligible. I know a doctor (yes, a physician) who's mother is here from another country (legally) and has a SNAP card. The system is broken. A single person not working gets nearly $200 per month yet a single person on SS Disability or a senior who gets Social Security Retirement (both less than $1000 per month income) gets less on the SNAP card than the 20 year old who doesn't have a job. I know someone who receives about $700 per month disability and their SNAP is $60 for the month. I just don't get it.

 

[officeguy]

My question is who is going to deliver these packages of food. With all of the SNAP recipients, who and what are the resources for these deliveries?

UPS Ground, Fedex Home Delivery, USPS, Amazon Parcel.

For a family of four the snap benefit is somewhere in the $500-600 range. Lets say 1/2 of the stuff gets delivered in the nonperishable box, $20 or so for a ground shipping bill is not going to eat much into the savings. For the younger tech-savy, there is an online portal to put in next months order. For the older folks who may not have internet access, there is an order form in the box that has the current months order already pre-printed with a the allowance, prices and a checkbox next to each item to indicate whether the consumer wants to change the count. Order form goes in a pre-paid envelope back to the supplier.

 

[mitzi]

UPS Ground, Fedex Home Delivery, USPS, Amazon Parcel.

For a family of four the snap benefit is somewhere in the $500-600 range. Lets say 1/2 of the stuff gets delivered in the nonperishable box, $20 or so for a ground shipping bill is not going to eat much into the savings. For the younger tech-savy, there is an online portal to put in next months order. For the older folks who may not have internet access, there is an order form in the box that has the current months order already pre-printed with a the allowance, prices and a checkbox next to each item to indicate whether the consumer wants to change the count. Order form goes in a pre-paid envelope back to the supplier.

I need to rephrase again. Who is going to pay for the shipping? The government?

 

[This_person]

I need to rephrase again. Who is going to pay for the shipping? The government?

My personal choice would be that no one ships them - they are made available for pickup. Since you need to go to the grocery store to use the card, what difference would there be?

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I think they should give out 25lb bags of rice and 25 lb bags of beans, no processed junk there and it lasts forever. Wheat germ is a good nutritional item that holds up very well, infact is is a favorite among preppers.

 

[SamSpade]

I need to rephrase again. Who is going to pay for the shipping? The government?

What I've seen so far suggests very strongly that being able to purchase food in large quantities, the savings more than offsets
any shipping costs.

I don't get why people are losing their minds over the fact that the government is giving away free food which includes things
like fresh vegetables. What they don't like is it used to be a great big check, and now it's just FREE FOOD.
You know, sometime in the future the government will do something stupid like provide a clothing allowance or free phones
and people will complain that they didn't get to pick it out.

And the fact is this - one in seven Americans are on food stamps. The number of people on it has nearly doubled since
this century began, but the number of poor or the number of Americans - has NOT.

If the government can save money by giving away actual food to supplement people's food needs, why is that bad?
My gut tells me that when I offer a sandwich to a homeless man who wants five or ten bucks but refuses the sandwich -
which he tells me he needs to buy - I don't believe him.

 

[mitzi]

My personal choice would be that no one ships them - they are made available for pickup. Since you need to go to the grocery store to use the card, what difference would there be?

That's my thought. The government delivers to some food pantries. I've seen the trucks. I think Southern Maryland Food Bank receives it and distributes to some of the pantries. Also, in this article 45.4 million people are on the program. The government is really going to ship 45.4 million individual packages every month? This is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard of. Packages will be stolen, the poor delivery person will be in one neighborhood all day with SNAP packages. This will not work. Eliminate the sodas, snack foods, candy, etc. being included and there's a huge savings there.

https://www.snaptohealth.org/snap/snap-frequently-asked-questions/

 

[officeguy]

I need to rephrase again. Who is going to pay for the shipping? The government?

In the end yes, the government as the entity funding the program will pay for it. Whoever gets the contract would build it into their price. If a shipper like weight watchers or blue apron contracts to ship X million pounds per month on a set schedule, the prices they get from the parcel haulers are considerably lower than what you or I pay retail. The savings that can be realized by cutting out the markup from local retailers is going to make up for it.

 

[Lurk]

:shrug: Seems like a good idea.

The manufacturers of Newport cigarettes will go bankrupt if this plan is adopted.

 

[mitzi]

The manufacturers of Newport cigarettes will go bankrupt if this plan is adopted.