Grocery stores worry about Trump's pullback on SNAP (food stamps)

[left-of-center2012]

Grocery retailers around the country have growing concerns about President Trump's plan to reduce food-stamp spending by $130 billion over the next decade, reports the Wall Street Journal. That would amount to a 20% reduction in the program's $63 billion annual budget.

Why it matters: Retailers are already facing stiff competition from grocers like Whole Foods with Amazon's backing. Now, they may lose sales from low-income consumers because of regulation.

More stringent requirements would reduce the number of consumers who are eligible for the food-stamp program.
Rather than receiving benefits on cards, food stamp users would receive benefits in boxes of cereal, beans, canned fruits and other government purchased food through wholesale channels.

Industry concerns:
The food industry operates on a 1% profit margin, Alex Baloga, chief executive of the Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association, told the journal. Any SNAP loss could be devastating to the industry.

The nation's biggest retailers would lose key revenue sources.
SNAP accounted for 52% of total sales in big box stores like Walmart and Target in 2017.

https://www.axios.com/trump-snap-pullback-worries-grocery-stores-61830c25-dfba-4141-a31b-d9bf0a8b83fe.html

[enid602]

1. Retailers

Most major retailers treat SNAP recipients like shit.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

2. The Trump Administration believes......

that those needing additional Food assistance do not need to eat. That they should subside on what little they have to spend in the first place.

[Ohiogal]

3. Remember that asshat Jason Chaffetz who said

Poor people who don't have food have no one else to blame but themselves because they spend all their money on luxuries like smart phones!!

I guess Jason thinks all poor people only deserve ramen noodles and canned cat food ....

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Small town grocers and drugstores are vulnerable

Their margins are slim. They may be affiliated with grocers' associations, small food distribution/marketing firms, or small town pharmacists networks/chains, but their traffic varies and their advertising struggles to offer value one week and scalps the next two weeks just to keep the foot traffic up. I could see many not survive when SNAP support falls. In the Great Recession one store near me closed for about 18 months, ostensibly for new owners and a remodel. The remodel was a paint job though they completed the rest of it about 5 years later, and since then, of course, prices have gone up to pay for it all. But for people who drop their retirement income there because they can't travel far it is a lifeline.