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human
What are food stamps and how exactly do they work (German with no clue here)

Hi Reddit,

I just read that Wal Mart is going to cut Food stamps and noticed that I don't have a clue how this whole food stamps / coupons system in the US works.

First of all, are food stamps some kind of welfare for the poor or are they the same as coupons for supermarkets?

Some time ago, I saw an episode of that Honey Boo Boo crap (as I got curios wathcing South Park), there the fat mother cut out dozens of coupons and took them with her to Wal Mart. As in Germany we normally don't have such coupons that often (discounts are normally offered to all customers for special products and a "disount price" is displayed instead of the regular price tag).

So are these coupons just some special rebate thing, do people get stuff for free, are there any limitations (I mean, the fat Boo Boo mother cut out like 50 or so)?

Thanks for enlightening me :)
gpt
Food stamps (aka SNAP, or EBT depending on the context) is a social welfare program from the US government (not state, county, or city level, meaning it's available everywhere in the country).

People with little or no income can apply for this program. While it used to be printed currency, now it's an electronic payment card. From the point of view of the user, it's very similar in operation to a credit card, though the user has to enter an electronic pin code as well.

The program only allows purchase of food. Alcohol, cigarettes, medicine, and other non-food items are not covered and retailers will not apply food stamp money towards the purchase of those items.

Frequently, the program includes something called "cash aid" which DOES allow the purchase of those restricted items.

Each month, the user will receive a specific dollar amount of food stamps and a specific dollar amount of cash aid (usually smaller). The program usually doesn't provide enough money to live on and is meant to supplement income from other sources (other social welfare programs or employment).

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Coupons are NOT a social welfare program. They're actually a form of marketing and come in two varieties: retail coupons and manufacturer coupons.

Retail coupons provide discounts for specific items purchased at a specific retailer. The idea is to get customers to come into the store in the first place (increasing the odds of them purchasing other items). Generally speaking, retailers will only honor coupons they themselves produced. This is not always the case, of course, but it is designed to build brand loyalty with a particular store.

Manufacture coupons are somewhat uncommon and are usually related to a promotion of some kind being run by a manufacturer instead of a retailer.

As an example, a Sony camcorder might include in the box manufacturer coupons for half off Sony cassettes for the camcorder. Manufacturer coupons are also commonly used where a product is a prize. For example a "life-time supply" of Joseph Farms cheddar cheese would be awarded as a large number of manufacturer coupons, each good for one free block of cheddar cheese from Joseph Farms. Manufacturer coupons are accepted at most retailers as the manufacturer reimburses the retailer for the product.

Both types of coupons have specific products or groups of products that they a valid for use with. They also have all sorts of different discounting rules.

Most common discounts one item by a specific dollar amount "$3.00 off". They can also discount by a percentage "50% off". Retailer coupons can apply to the whole purchase "$10 off your purchase". They can also apply to groups of items "Buy 3 [item a] an receive 1 [item b] for [discount]". They never, however, result in a negative till balance; a store will never pay you for using coupons. That "$10 off the purchase" coupon usually has some kind of stipulation about the minimum total purchase.