Miss. Walmart may press charges in EBT card glitch

[bodecea]

Alot of people on food stamps do work.

Including military members with families.

So raise the salaries of the military lower ranks...I'd support that, but you probably wouldn't because it would mean increasing defense spending.

I have no problem with that. But I've been around the military, either in or retired almost my entire adult life....there is always junior enlisted with families that are on food stamps or at least qualify.

 

[Moonglow]

Were the cards actually declined?

No, they had no limits on them.

I thought the funds did not come in on Saturday?

they do on EBT cards.

 

[j-mac]

Including military members with families.

So raise the salaries of the military lower ranks...I'd support that, but you probably wouldn't because it would mean increasing defense spending.

I have no problem with that. But I've been around the military, either in or retired almost my entire adult life....there is always junior enlisted with families that are on food stamps or at least qualify.

Yep, I was in, (admittedly some 25 years ago) and the levels of pay were very hard then as well...Amazing that we haven't brought up those salaries...These guys put it on the line for us, if anything, they should get raises before any new entitlements are increased.

 

[R.C. Christian]

Wally is just going to have to eat the loss and shut up but they have enough camera gear to prosecute every punk that walked in there. Tempts me to go look up the video data on their server down there.

 

[Annie]

It certainly appears that what the MS stores had happen, were very different than the LA Wal-marts experienced, when directed by the corporate office to 'accept' the cards w/o ability to verify funds.

The LA debacle seems to me to be a situation of stupidity on the part of the company and dishonesty of some EBT users. The MS seems closer to near riot of feelings of entitlement.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20131014/NEWS01/310140019/

Seems to me that Walmart in MS should press charges where warranted, though from the story doesn't sound huge.

As for LA, if someone thought there was $60 on card and really only $48, tough deal for Walmart. $800 in groceries with $100 left on card? Prosecute.

 

[earlycuyler]

Walmart has not ruled out pressing charges against customers who allegedly attempted to walk out of one of its Mississippi stores with groceries that hadn’t been paid for after a computer glitch left them unable to use their food stamp cards.

“We haven’t made any type of determination. Our focus continues to be on our customers,” Walmart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling said regarding the disturbance Saturday that briefly closed down the Walmart in Philadelphia.

When asked if it was a possibility that the company would file charges, she said, “I wouldn’t say that, but, we are continuing to look into the situation.”

“We’re looking into everything, looking at surveillance video and working with the local police,” Whaling said Sunday.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20131015/NEWS01/310150037/

I would not be adverse to boycotting Wal Mart until they press charges. We all know the theft is going to be passed on to us actual paying customers in the form of price increases.

Hm, I could be wrong, but as I understand it, theft is normally something that's against the law and punished

 

[Quantum Windbag]

People were pissed off Saturday when the EBT system was down.

Which justifies stealing from WalMart how, exactly? It was the government that screwed up EBT, all WalMart wanted to do was prove all the haters wrong by not kicking people that legitimately had the funds when the government screwed up. I understand the government not wanting to eat the consequences of WalMart's policy, I don't understand anyone defending the thieves.

 

[Annie]

Walmart has not ruled out pressing charges against customers who allegedly attempted to walk out of one of its Mississippi stores with groceries that hadn’t been paid for after a computer glitch left them unable to use their food stamp cards.

“We haven’t made any type of determination. Our focus continues to be on our customers,” Walmart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling said regarding the disturbance Saturday that briefly closed down the Walmart in Philadelphia.

When asked if it was a possibility that the company would file charges, she said, “I wouldn’t say that, but, we are continuing to look into the situation.”

“We’re looking into everything, looking at surveillance video and working with the local police,” Whaling said Sunday.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20131015/NEWS01/310150037/

I would not be adverse to boycotting Wal Mart until they press charges. We all know the theft is going to be passed on to us actual paying customers in the form of price increases.

Hm, I could be wrong, but as I understand it, theft is normally something that's against the law and punished

Certainly used to be. Most stores now will ask someone they KNOW has shoplifted to turn the items over to manager, then they tell them not to return. If the person confronted starts to balk, they let them leave. Employees are required not to get into any confrontations with suspected thieves. Seriously, they do not call the police.

 

[High_Gravity]

People were pissed off Saturday when the EBT system was down.

Which justifies stealing from WalMart how, exactly? It was the government that screwed up EBT, all WalMart wanted to do was prove all the haters wrong by not kicking people that legitimately had the funds when the government screwed up. I understand the government not wanting to eat the consequences of WalMart's policy, I don't understand anyone defending the thieves.

I didn't justify anyone taking anything dude.

 

[earlycuyler]

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20131015/NEWS01/310150037/

I would not be adverse to boycotting Wal Mart until they press charges. We all know the theft is going to be passed on to us actual paying customers in the form of price increases.

Hm, I could be wrong, but as I understand it, theft is normally something that's against the law and punished

Certainly used to be. Most stores now will ask someone they KNOW has shoplifted to turn the items over to manager, then they tell them not to return. If the person confronted starts to balk, they let them leave. Employees are required not to get into any confrontations with suspected thieves. Seriously, they do not call the police.

Yeah, saw that when I worked part time at Home Depot. The loss prevention was more concurned with catching employees stealing then customers. This whole thing is such a stupid mess.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Walmart has not ruled out pressing charges against customers who allegedly attempted to walk out of one of its Mississippi stores with groceries that hadn’t been paid for after a computer glitch left them unable to use their food stamp cards.

“We haven’t made any type of determination. Our focus continues to be on our customers,” Walmart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling said regarding the disturbance Saturday that briefly closed down the Walmart in Philadelphia.

When asked if it was a possibility that the company would file charges, she said, “I wouldn’t say that, but, we are continuing to look into the situation.”

“We’re looking into everything, looking at surveillance video and working with the local police,” Whaling said Sunday.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20131015/NEWS01/310150037/

I would not be adverse to boycotting Wal Mart until they press charges. We all know the theft is going to be passed on to us actual paying customers in the form of price increases.

Not sure if the people can be accused of theft because they technically "paid" for any items that left the store, and followed proper procedure, i.e. went to a cashier, had the items rung up, then "paid" for them and left.

I am curious to know if WalMart did follow proper EBT procedures (if they exist) on what to do when the system glitches like this.

The option of making anyone who overbilled on thier card have it deducted from future purposes (say 1/4 of the value of the monthly benefit per month until paid back) would be preferrable to me, and would lessen the "TEH CHILDRENZ" whining if it was done all at once.

Everyone knows roughly how much money they have in their EBT account. There was a woman who was checking out when the system came back on that had 49 cents in her account and $700 worth of food in her cart. She wanted to leave with the food, and the police had to tell her she had a choice between leaving the food and going to jail.

Wal-Mart stores in Louisiana picked clean during EBT card outage - Behind the Storefront - MarketWatch

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Who would act worse? A poor person with a none working EBT card or a banker that lost all his dough and was broke?

The scumbag would act worse.

FYI, being a scumbag has nothing to do with income or wealth.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Not sure if the people can be accused of theft because they technically "paid" for any items that left the store, and followed proper procedure, i.e. went to a cashier, had the items rung up, then "paid" for them and left.

I am curious to know if WalMart did follow proper EBT procedures (if they exist) on what to do when the system glitches like this.

The option of making anyone who overbilled on thier card have it deducted from future purposes (say 1/4 of the value of the monthly benefit per month until paid back) would be preferrable to me, and would lessen the "TEH CHILDRENZ" whining if it was done all at once.

It's not payment when the card is declined

Were the cards actually declined?

The system was down, which means the cards were being declined. WalMart announced it would use the honor system and trust people not to lie about how much their cards held, and got stripped bare.

 

[boedicca]

People were pissed off Saturday when the EBT system was down.

Which justifies stealing from WalMart how, exactly? It was the government that screwed up EBT, all WalMart wanted to do was prove all the haters wrong by not kicking people that legitimately had the funds when the government screwed up. I understand the government not wanting to eat the consequences of WalMart's policy, I don't understand anyone defending the thieves.

It doesn't.

This is a disgusting display of low moral character.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

People were pissed off Saturday when the EBT system was down.

Which justifies stealing from WalMart how, exactly? It was the government that screwed up EBT, all WalMart wanted to do was prove all the haters wrong by not kicking people that legitimately had the funds when the government screwed up. I understand the government not wanting to eat the consequences of WalMart's policy, I don't understand anyone defending the thieves.

I didn't justify anyone taking anything dude.

Funny, I don't recall saying you did, I was just explaining my view of what happened, yet you feel offended.

Interesting.

 

[High_Gravity]

Which justifies stealing from WalMart how, exactly? It was the government that screwed up EBT, all WalMart wanted to do was prove all the haters wrong by not kicking people that legitimately had the funds when the government screwed up. I understand the government not wanting to eat the consequences of WalMart's policy, I don't understand anyone defending the thieves.

I didn't justify anyone taking anything dude.

Funny, I don't recall saying you did, I was just explaining my view of what happened, yet you feel offended.

Interesting.

Dude what the hell is wrong with you? we have been around here for a while, why would you come at me this way? you addressed the post as if I did defend it, which is bullshit.

 

[Annie]

People were pissed off Saturday when the EBT system was down.

Which justifies stealing from WalMart how, exactly? It was the government that screwed up EBT, all WalMart wanted to do was prove all the haters wrong by not kicking people that legitimately had the funds when the government screwed up. I understand the government not wanting to eat the consequences of WalMart's policy, I don't understand anyone defending the thieves.

It doesn't.

This is a disgusting display of low moral character.

I have to wonder who at Walmart told the LA stores to take the cards without approval? Seems they would be fired by now?

If someone had advised, "Allow up to $30-40, just make sure it's all food," might have made some sort of sense.

I was working at non-Walmart in IL when system wasn't working, we didnt know it was widespread, thought it was 'our store' problem We apologized and told them to 'try back later.' No pay=no goods.

 

[High_Gravity]

Which justifies stealing from WalMart how, exactly? It was the government that screwed up EBT, all WalMart wanted to do was prove all the haters wrong by not kicking people that legitimately had the funds when the government screwed up. I understand the government not wanting to eat the consequences of WalMart's policy, I don't understand anyone defending the thieves.

It doesn't.

This is a disgusting display of low moral character.

I have to wonder who at Walmart told the LA stores to take the cards without approval? Seems they would be fired by now?

If someone had advised, "Allow up to $30-40, just make sure it's all food," might have made some sort of sense.

I was working at non-Walmart in IL when system wasn't working, we didnt know it was widespread, thought it was 'our store' problem We apologized and told them to 'try back later.' No pay=no goods.

Thats what they did here, just put signs the system was down. Nobody got anything free.

 

[Borillar]

Walmart has not ruled out pressing charges against customers who allegedly attempted to walk out of one of its Mississippi stores with groceries that hadn’t been paid for after a computer glitch left them unable to use their food stamp cards.

“We haven’t made any type of determination. Our focus continues to be on our customers,” Walmart spokeswoman Kayla Whaling said regarding the disturbance Saturday that briefly closed down the Walmart in Philadelphia.

When asked if it was a possibility that the company would file charges, she said, “I wouldn’t say that, but, we are continuing to look into the situation.”

“We’re looking into everything, looking at surveillance video and working with the local police,” Whaling said Sunday.

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20131015/NEWS01/310150037/

I would not be adverse to boycotting Wal Mart until they press charges. We all know the theft is going to be passed on to us actual paying customers in the form of price increases.

They should be charged. It's basically looting. The EBT purchases will be honored, and those that exceeded their allotment will have negative balances. But you can't just walk out of stores with merchandise without paying. Walmart should have shut down the EBT system until it was working properly. It was irresponsible to sell in that manner to these unscrupulous people. There are definitely folks who will take advantage of any situation and they need to be held accountable. It puts the whole program in a bad light and anyone receiving food assistance looked at as thieves. They should go back to the old system of food stamps that could only be used for food purchases.

 

[Sunshine]

Those people know what their normal monthly allowance is. To know something is wrong on that end and take advantage of it is pretty much stealing. It was deliberate on their part. They should be penalized for it by being dropped from the system for good.

Well, I haven't heard any statements from Obama like, 'if I had an EBT card, that's the EBT card I would have.' Oh wait, he does have an EBT card. It just isn't called that. Well, I wonder if the White House chef is seasoning dog the way Obama likes it. Maybe some little canned specialty number from China along with his caviar.