Abandoned carts full of food were a frequent sight in grocery stores Saturday morning, as the EBT food assistance debit system stopped working without warning.
According to a Xerox spokesperson, a routine system check by the vendor resulted in system failure, leaving assistance recipients across the country with no way to buy food.
Xerox spokeswoman Karen Arena confirmed via email Saturday afternoon that some Electronic Benefits Transfer systems are experiencing temporary connectivity issues. She said technical staff is addressing the issue and expects the system to be restored soon. U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Courtney Rowe underscored that the outage is not related to the government shutdown. Xerox runs EBT card systems for 17 states and all were affected by the outage. (source)
Users of EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) cards in California, Ohio, Michigan and several other states are unable to make purchases due to connectivity issues.
But it gets worse…
Xerox is notifying retailers to revert to the manual system, meaning SNAP customers can spend up to $50 until the system is back online. SNAP recipients should call the 800 number on the back of their card, and Xerox will guide them through the purchase process. (source)
However, that system is not working either – it’s “closed for maintenance.”
Shoppers left carts of groceries behind at a packed Market Basket grocery store in Biddeford, Maine, because they couldn’t get their benefits, said fellow shopper Barbara Colman, of Saco, Maine. The manager put up a sign saying the EBT system was not in use. Colman, who receives the benefits, called an 800 telephone line for the program and it said the system was down due to maintenance, she said.
“That’s a problem. There’s a lot of families who are not going to be able to feed children because the system is being maintenanced,” Colman said. “No one should put maintenance in during the daytime.” (source)
Despite the fact that government workers report orders from the Obama administration to “make life as difficult for people as we can”, the nation is assured that the EBT failure is in fact due to server issues and NOT due to the government shutdown.
Keep in mind that the truckers are also on a general strike this weekend, protesting in Washington DC against high gas prices, rampant unemployment, and corruption in the US government.
Between October 11th and 13th they have called for a general strike, asking truck drivers around the country to refuse to haul freight, a move that could carry with it a significant impact on the American economy.
The protest calls for truckers to make their way to Washington D.C. in a massive convoy in an effort to call attention to, among other things, the Benghazi cover-up, the recent attack which killed 25 members of Seal Team 6, ever rising fuel prices, and claims that President Obama has engaged in treasonous crimes. (source)
Things are already starting to get ugly. ZeroHedge posted the following Tweets:
NOBODIES EBT CARD IS GOING THRU AT WALMART
— Jazmen Ashley (@jazmen04o25) October 12, 2013
“@Creamteam_bitch: Government done shut down the #EBT cards in Ga… These folks going crazy in walmart lol”swearrrr
— J A N A E (@JanaeHudson) October 12, 2013
Walmart just made an announcement on the intercom that EBT for the state of Georgia is down…there are now full carts Left everywhere #awk
— Kelly gentry (@KellyKgentry23) October 12, 2013
EBT is down so Walmart is complete chaos right now, so glad I’m leaving in 2 hours
— Chelsey Oliveira (@chelseyoliveira) October 12, 2013
EBT down at walmart and MF going crazy!
— Lorena Bobbitt (@iNoUliKmYdReAdZ) October 12, 2013
I almost just killed some people at Walmart, EBT is apparently down today #madhouse
— cassidy davis (@cassEdav) October 12, 2013
Working at walmart while EBT is fucking up <<< I just might get shot today. Lol.
— . (@_KaylaJeann) October 12, 2013
This is your 72 hour warning. If you don’t already have a two week supply of food and water, now might be a good day to go stock up, just in case this is the beginning of a bigger crisis. The first three days after a major event are your window of opportunity to get prepared, based on the just-in-time food supply in grocery stores and the amount of food most people store in their homes.
If the EBT failure continues, look for the situation to get progressively worse.
Thank you to NinaO!
Video Update: EBT System Crash:
Just another “glitch”? Testing in California, Michigan and Ohio? Three states that are in deep sht. Wait till it all goes south for real.
Missouri is Shut down too!
Is Oregon’s EBT shut down?
Unfortunately, we are likely to see a lot more of this sort of thing moving forward, “shutdown” or not. I used to live in South America, and saw firsthand how banks would close on a Friday, and come Monday, everyone’s money had just taken a haircut in the exchange markets. 50% devaluations in less than a week were not uncommon. Naturally, wages never, ever kept pace with the resultant cost of living increases (sound familiar?). Naively assuming such could “never happen here” is no safeguard from the inevitable. It also ignores the fact it already has happened here, seeing how the US dollar has lost 98% of its purchasing power in the last century.
J.P. Morgan’s computers are glitching again.
Much thanks for the heads-up Miss Daisy…
****as a side note, I was alerted this past Monday by a corporate CEO (a customer/friend of mine), that the recent meeting between Obummer & the heads of various “too big to fail” banks, had nothing to do w/ the debt default approaching….
The truth is, that Obummer was informed that the bankers can no longer control the oscillations occurring in the “DERIVATIVES MARKETS”….
Look for some real SHTF fireworks….soon!
Now that is some believable info..derivatives.
Trailer park trash with IPhones complaining about not getting their handouts. How’s that “Hope and change” working for you now?
Hey Jerry, suck a dick. Go cry a river like Boehner. I heard Kleenex’s stock has gone up 100 points.
agreed. these assholes always blame the guys at the bottom- whose jobs are outsourced and given to illegals. instead of the puppeteers worth trillions who call the shots and rig/control the system. jerry and idiots like him do what the NWO want us to do- kill each other- while they and their roles get off scot free!
divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book…they get the 99% to blame the 47%, meanwhile the 0.1% is laughing all the way to the bank
Jerry.
There is no more ‘Hope’ and all the ‘Change’ has been negative. The folks are now suffering from Govt dependency. By that I am not saying welfare only, but also many farms and businesses cannot survive without the big massive debt bubble rolling around.
There are not enough tax payers to even come close to paying off even a fraction of the debt generated in past 7 years, especially past 5. Thus, confiscation of ownership is around the corner.
I wonder if the ebt card holders think their situation is going to get better or worse by 2016?
Never rely on the goverment to eat! they have been saying it for a long time!
Daisy
Manos and I have not heard from you nor Burt for quite some time despite numerous e mails from both of us..
Please contact us asap..
Thanks
possee
Possee ~
I think it must be an issue with my email address. I am writing you right now with a better one – the other has become glitchy.
Sorry to have worried you!
Daisy
Same here Daisy…..need to hear that all is o.k….I have had my p/c reformatted and a new ‘protection’ installed, so don’t need to send ‘3’ times anymore! (:..take care, S.
All these dirtbags on EBT need to get a job! I was shopping today with my hard earned money. This dumb chick with a grocery cart full of JUNK CRAP food came unglued when she found out EBT was down. They almost called the paramedics for her. Wake up people! Welfare, EBT etc is gone!
Their not all dirt bags…. R u serious! People who talk like this is true scum bags…. Not everyone uses and abuses the system… I get a card to provide for a child that doesn’t even belong to me… Ya im a scum bag for opening up my home to a child whose mother abused her, so they are helping me with an EBT cash card to help with her essential needs, daycare, food, clothing etc… Which honestly I hope they go after her biological parents for reimbursement… Those are the ones getting the hand outs, by having the government take their children away, which than the government has to pay for said children, and than on top of it pay for the parents to go to counseling, DV classes, Parenting classes, UA’s… All to help the parent who only fucked themselves to begin with… but than to place a child with some one else and say here take care of this child basically for free.. we will give you $128 each month to pay for this said childs food, childcare, and clothing etc.. and the rest is up to you….. F the damn system!
dingbat. this is NOT an issue of public assistance. it is a dry run for ALL plastic payment cards to go down- whether EBT, debit, cc, pre-paid gift cards, master or visa.
cant wait till your checking is stopped and your withdrawal card is halted by another ‘glitch’. then you’ll get the message doofus
Not all on ebt. Are dirtbags I work ever dam day. Husband works day and night. Hard when u got 19year old trying to go to callage.anda15year old boy who likes to play sports.so fuck u basterd
If you are not overfed, and overmedicated you are not doing your part to support the corporations. Walmart is more dependent on welfare than the poor that receive it, same as the pharmaceutical industry is dependent on Medicare, and Medicaid.
I work and I am a full time student court reporter. I have 3 kids 2 boys and 1 step daughter. I have worked my ass off my whole life for EVERYTHING i have EVER had…my family struggled growing up and I struggle still…and it isnt from “hand outs” its from being taught to fend for your self. Like I was saying…I WORK, go to school and take care of mine, and you know what at the end of the day sometimes I still need alittle help. I have gone several years without foodstamps because I at the time was making enough to not need the assistance, however, due to the economy just getting worse and lay offs I am now needing the assistance and I have a job. Do your homeword having a job or not having a job does not determine who does and doesn’t get food stamps. Know what your talking about
I wonder if any of these folks had cash or a checkbook as a backup system?
Beta test.
Best buy some more ammo..
You won’t find any since I bought it all!
BA-HAHAHAHA!
Calm down Barbara. The government never helps me buy food. The problem is not that the food stamp system is broken. The problem is that you are dependent on government to support you and your kids. What are you going to do when it stops permanently? Take a hint, and take responsibility for yourself. You have been warned.
Keep it down… Make more jobs. Fire everyone in the white house while you’re at it. CLOWARD-PIVEN people!!
This reminds me of why I got into permaculture in the first place…i don’t have a tell-lie-vision but I was at a friends house and I saw (I don’t even remember when or why exactly) Saskatchewan ‘farmers’ at food banks and thought…we trust these people to feed us? I wonder how many small scale farmers don’t even have their own home gardens…geesh. I almost moved to Indiana instead of BC where I live now. It (America) seemed okay in those days. I’m no longer welcome in the US and really…whoop-dee-do. I fell for ya’ll.
The reason why those farmers are at the food bank is because places like Walmart drive the market prices so low that they can’t survive. Check your facts before you start harping about farmers not trustworthy enough to feed you. Who else will?
I mentioned it because farming has become ‘soil mining’ and even the farmers with access to land…don’t often have kitchen gardens! Farmers used to be more resilient then they seem to be now. You wouldn’t see Joel Salatin with his polyculture farm in a soup line…just saying.
Another “routine” failure by Xerox. It’s to be expected. Think of this: all of these transactions, and all of these vendors, are in India.
I had a feeling something like this might happen. Before receiving our food stamp benefits for the month, my oldest daughter and I inventoried our freezer, dry goods and canned foods. I bought what we thought we might need for the rest of the month, with the exception of anything that cannot be frozen and may go bad before we could use it. I wish I could stock up more, but that is difficult to do when you are on a tight budget, have a child with a food allergy, and are trying to avoid foods full of chemicals.
I was wondering when this was going to happen
No problem, time to poach one of the Governor’s deer.
Soylent green, anyone?
I thought the movie was a bit “out there” at the time. Not so now.
They were testing something I bet.
They were testing whether the poor would riot on Day #1 of a Food-Stamp shutdown.
What would happen if they shut off SNAP for good??
The poor, lacking any other food-source, would EAT the RICH!!!
Properly cleaned and slathered in Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce, they would be some good eatin’.
There are some families who do not abuse the system who need a hand during these times. Not everyone on food stamps is white trash. Just because u have some ignorant people who abuse the system doesn’t mean everyone is that way. Stop stere
I don’t mind helping someone that needs help, but the government is innately corrupt.
Anyone with common sense already has 6 months food stored. Joseph stored 7 years of food in the Bible. In 6 months from now you can grow your own food.
Yeah then Joseph sold the grain when the drought came eventually taking everyone’s land. He was the first real banker and the model they have followed ever since. If you are going to quote scripture, don’t be misleading. God doesn’t like that.
Who really knows what God likes, not me.
You are incorrect Miek. The Torah teaches that the Egyptians sold their land to Pharaoh. Yoseph didn’t take anything.
As you said, “If you are going to quote scripture, don’t be misleading. God doesn’t like that.”
Also your criticism is unwarranted as Sam Hajian didn’t say the Egyptians grew their food after six months. He was pointing out the Wisdom of having a food reserve.
Oh no! You mean those people would be expected to pay for their own groceries rather than use our money to pay for them? Poor things. We feed our SIX kids without any type of hand-outs at all. It’s called WORKING, doing without things we don’t need and budgeting.
The truth is the Federal Reserve Bank Corporation (FED not a bank) fully underwrites our economy – not the tax payers. The collapse of our business cycle is directly related to the 1. Collapse of credit issued by the FED to the financial sector / banksters for consumer loans; 2. Collapse of the Real Estate Value due to the folly of the sub-prime mortgage lending fiasco and 3. Predictable Collapse of our consumer-debt-driven economy. As Margaret Thatcher said: “It’s the debt stupid.”
I am sorry to hear this has happened. I think about the many families and children around the country who depend on this for their food.
With hours being cut for workers and the majority of ‘new jobs’ being created being only part time…many people are being pushed onto the SNAP program (food stamps) just to try to stay afloat.
I encourage everyone to start growing some food. Start a garden or container plant on your deck. You don’t need fancy expensive large containers to garden. Storage containers (wash first with a little bleach and water) from the outlet store work just fine. I have grown spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, carrots, onions and lettuce in containers.
SNAP Benefits Will Be Cut for All Participants in November 2013.
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3899
Take care!
KY Mom
Great idea ! As its obvious, times are getting worse, I’ll definitely start looking into gardening and possibly raising my own chickens. Better.for you’re health too. We’re Asian so lots of skills in that area, just never thought we would need it in America. Right? Lol.
Right on MOM!! Be able with no system!
Thank you Daisy (and Nina 0) for the head’s up!
I’m sorry but I tend to disagree with some of you. I have a terminal nerve disease that is no fault of my own. I work part time and I am raising a child that has been abused in more ways than one. I was offered SNAP to help with the food in our home. I just received these benefits a few months ago. We fought so hard not to take them bc I have never taken a hand out from anyone. I can’t believe the ignorance of a lot of you. Some ppl don’t want this but have no choice. This is about our president trying to control us once again not about anything else. Its gonna get worse before it gets better. However I do understand that ppl abuse the system but everybody doesn’t so don’t call us all trash. There are some of us trying to do what is right. I’ve been sick for 11 years and I worked full time until a few years back. I’ve been working for almost 25 years so we are not all trash just trying to make it the best way we know how. Even though my freezer is pretty stocked and I haven’t even used my benefits yet but I will have to and sooner than later. Let’s pull together instead of fighting you are doing exactly what this presidents administration wants. Falling right into their hands. We all have to come together and fight for our Nation.
Let me play Devil’s advocate. What would you have done if Food Stamps were unavailable. Would you blame me or these others who are upset over being forced to pay for food for you and yours. Alison, I am not trying to be mean, but when the system is not there for you and yours will you just roll over and die. Learn to grow. In buckets, in the ground, whatever it takes. Be responsible for yours. Buy seeds they are cheap. My grandma had osteoarthritis so bad she could hardly move her hands. She grew a garden every year. No one blames you for being sick. But blame will be irrelevant when your benefits are no longer available.
Alison, sorry to hear about your situation. I’m not against helping people who still try to do something for themselves and need a helping hand. what everyone really complains about are the people who make a CAREER out of living on our tax dollars, from cradle to grave. people who have no work ethic, no responsibilities, no morality, no integrity, no self-respect, no esteem, etc. people who refuse to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. people who have been told the world owes them a standard of living. If all of the fraud and waste were eliminated from the programs, they would be easier to live with. the programs have been that way from the beginning. people like you who really need help have a difficult time getting it, but all of the losers out here can get it easily. Plus, all of the foreigners in this country are on the programs. there’s not as many people working and paying taxes into the system now as there were before the 2008 financial crisis. the programs will soon run short on revenue and eventually dry up. that’s when all hell will break loose. good luck with your situation. hope things get better for you.
This is nothing.
Someday the petrodollar/banking/credit systems will all collapse & NOBODY will have a functioning currency or cards.
THAT is when the party begins…
Got ammo?
I don’t know if anyone took the time to put the prices together and get the bigger picture but it its so damn obvious that the whole “technical issues with Xerox the vendor is the cause of EBT shutdown, and the because of the government shutdown ” is clearly a cover up! I’ll explain why. This morning I heard my friend calling the EBT to check her balance and see if its up again, the first message you hear from the automated system is that “the EBT system has been restored and there is no need to talk to a customer representative about the EBT shutdown on 10/12/2013.” I believe that the government covered up the real cause , whatever the real intentions were, because that’s what governments do, they lie to their people to keep them from going crazy and creating chaos. Imagine the news would’ve put out “the reason is because the government has completely deminished welfare, there would’ve been people literally robbing grocery stores and neighbors (for $20 LOL!!) Trust and believe, programs such as welfare, WIC, lunch programs, and many other public Assistance programs will be gone very soon. Best solution its for everyone to wake the fuck up and desperately grab any employment opportunity possible . Good luck to everyone! (including myself :(….As a teenage mother struggling to complete college, can someone please post something if the government shutdown will affect financial aid for community colleges, and if so, how severe and how soon? I would also appreciate a reliable source. Thanks! In advance.
***meant to “…….and NOT Because of the government shutdown”
I have no problems with a hand up up. My problem is with the hand out! I had quite a few acres that I plowed this spring and announced at my church that I would be providing seeds and plants for a community co-op garden. Out of 60 families, most who get Snap, only 5 of them decided to get involved. Those 5 and mine split a huge amount of fruit and veggies this late summer and fall. Face it folks, Most want it handed to them. How many of you can start a plant from seed, can grow it to fruition. Not trying to be mean, but if you have never started a seed, how would you feed you and yours during true need. When Wal-mart is dead and grocery stores are as well, so will you unless you can grow and hunt your own.
all you people crying about who does and doesnt need fs who gives a fuck some people need them some dont. EVERYONE pays taxes rather you are paying and someone you know or dont know receives ebt who cares dont see yall complaining about the free money you get every year for having your kids–oh but that is an okay hand out huh? SHUT THE HELL UP!
No everyone does not pay taxes. Someone that does not work and receives 100% benefits how is that paying taxes? In addition they also received EIC so this is not a valid statement. In addition the reason people are so entirely pissed about the system is a large percent of then do not want to help themselves. And they will find out when the system fails again and the banks close.
Out of all the subsidies the .gov distributes, food for the poor is almost negligible in the larger picture.
Americans as a whole ARE the 10%. Most people live on less than $2.00 a day.
Sure, there are more takers than producers anymore…it shows in the growing global deficit. It is all unsustainable and can never be repaid. With the current monetary system, if all debt were paid, there would not be a single dollar in circulation, credit or cash. This is how the debt based system is set up. Every dollar is loaned into existence and usury attached to the loan. Nice scam if you’re at the top.
The global economy is dominated by takers at the top…financial firms that shuffle papers and digits and produce NOTHING. On the Forbes Global 2000 list of the world’s largest companies, the first non-financial firm is GE, which ranks 44th.
Bankers own the world. They are strip mining it’s wealth.
What to do? Start by replacing your tire swing with a “banker” swing.
The poor people are not to blame.
Avoid using a debit card and pay with cash.
It’s never a good feeling being beholden to others for your survival, so squirreling away for a rainy day and living frugally are a must!
Make no mistake about it, the Gov’t can ”pull the plug” at any moment, and if people take the time to look, its not hard to see the wheels have been turning quite some time to bring us to this point of shut down and computer glitches. Things are orchestrated and there is an agenda.
The EBT failure should serve as a warning and people should hit every pawn shop with whatever they have to sell, scrap metal, post ads to do yard work, walk pets, pet sit, babysit, collect recyclables that can be traded in for cash, offer to help with harvesting crops, clean houses. Whatever a person can do, whatever skill they posses from sewing, hair dressing, carpentry, painting, ironing, mechanics, it all has value. Barter and Trade is as old as the hills and it works!
We need to cut off all Food Stamp EBT Cards for several years, and get these freeloaders back to work and be self sufficient. We need to stop rewarding failure. Instead of sending money we send them packets of seeds, the next month send then a hand hoe and have them get at it pronto.
All these FREELODERS will die when the Government defaults. That is the Master Plan, as orders to shoot to kill will come into play, against thieves and rioters. It will be the excuse to initiate Marshal LAW, forpopulation control against the freeloading eaters.
not ALL ppl on foodstamps are freeloaders, but the majority are…i speak from experience…I was on assistance when i worked a minimum wage job trying to raise 2 kids after leaving an abusive husband….but I went to school, got a degree, and got back off the system…it took a lot of soul searching and crow eating to accept said assistance…but I went right back to being a tax paying member of society…my step daughter is currently on assistance, but she ALSO is going to school full time and raising my grandchild…and will become a tax paying member of society, if it doesn’t all fall down around us…but I also am acquainted with the type of folks who have the welfare mentality that it’s owed to them. So I have the same sense of outrage, directed at THOSE folks. My stepdaughter also has learned from me, how to be prepared for events. She may shake her head at me, but when it does hit the fan, she will be better off for it…I also agree that this was not only an example of govt benefits but also using plastic in general. We went shopping this weekend, and TG I was able to pay for our purchases myself. *Reminder to self, store more cash*