Food Stamps: Costco and 16 More Grocers Accept SNAP Online for Same-Day Instacart Delivery
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Vance Cariaga
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Nicholas Morine
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Costco members who qualify for food stamps now have another payment option after Instacart said the warehouse club retailer is one of more than a dozen new chains that will accept online food stamp payments for same-day delivery.
The latest announcement further expands Instacart’s lineup of grocery and supermarket chains that accept online payments for food stamps, formally known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. SNAP recipients are now issued Electronic Benefits Payment (EBT) cards for purchases rather than food stamps.
SNAP benefits are available to low-income households to help them buy food. The program is overseen by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and administered at the state level. Benefits are loaded directly onto EBT or similar cards, which can then be used to purchase qualifying food items.
Instacart Announces Major Service Expansion
In a Jan. 30 press release, Instacart announced a series of retail expansions that will allow customers to use SNAP benefits to shop online for groceries for same-day delivery. Others on the list include Food City, Gordon Food Service, Hy-Vee, Schnucks and additional Kroger banners Baker’s, City Market, Dillons, Fred Meyer, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, King Soopers, Marianos, Metro Market, Pick n’ Save, Smith’s and QFC.
The press release did not mention Costco. However, an Instacart spokesperson told GOBankingRates in an email that “Costco will be accepting EBT SNAP via Instacart and through sameday.costco.com.”
Costco became the second warehouse club retailer to accept SNAP EBT cards for groceries via Instacart. The first was BJ’s Wholesale Club, which announced in October that SNAP benefits could be used to buy groceries through the Instacart app and website for delivery in an hour.
Online Grocery Shopping Could Be Healthier, Less Stressful For SNAP Recipients
In this week’s press release, Instacart cited research it conducted with No Kid Hungry and the University of Kentucky showing that online grocery shopping offers “significant advantages for low-income households,” including SNAP families. Shopping online helps families extend food budgets, maximize time savings and reduce stress.
The study also revealed that customers shop for groceries online purchased more produce than in-store shoppers without increasing their total grocery bill.
“By expanding with retailers, we’re giving SNAP families greater dignity of choice, and helping many experience — for the first time — the convenience of having groceries from these retailers delivered to their doorstep,” Sarah Mastrorocco, vice president and general manager of Instacart Health, said in a statement.
To use SNAP benefits to shop at retailers available on Instacart, customers just need to add their SNAP payment cards to their Instacart profile. At checkout, SNAP users can select how much of their benefit they would want to allocate to eligible items in their orders.
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