Low-income shoppers at many Mississippi stores had to abandon carts of groceries Saturday after computer problems caused electronic payments for food stamps to fail.
At the Big Star at 400 Cotton St. in downtown Greenwood, business was slow all day after the system went down around 10:30. Two signs posted on the doors warned customers they couldn’t use food stamps.
“It’s hit business real hard,” said Richard Derek Hearn, the assistant manager.
Saturdays are usually a big grocery shopping day, but Greenwood Market Place Co-Manager Orlando Toten said the issues were putting a big dent in business there as well.
“Real bad,” he said. “It’s definitely affecting us.”
Mississippi Department of Human Services director Rickey Berry said Xerox handles the electronic payments for 17 states, including Mississippi. The company had computer problems for several hours Saturday, but it reported that they had been fixed by late evening.
Berry said the problems are not because of a partial shutdown of the federal government.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, informally known as food stamps, provides aid for low-income people. Recipients use electronic-benefit transfer cards similar to debit cards.
Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the nation, and DHS says about 600,000 residents receive food stamps. That’s in a population of nearly 3 million.
U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said his office received complaints about the cards being rejected in several Mississippi counties, in his Delta district and beyond. He said he was contacting federal and state agencies about the situation.
Eliza Shook, a cashier at Corner Grocery in Clarksdale, said many customers were upset about having to go home without food because the payments were failing.
“It’s been terrible,” Shook told AP in a phone interview. “It’s just been some angry folks. That’s what a lot of folks depend on.”
Berry said DHS employees worked several hours to try to resolve the situation.
“I know there are a lot of mad people,” Berry said.
