The no-checkout-line brick-and-mortar grocery store opened by Amazon in Seattle “is supposed to represent the pinnacle of convenience,” says Future Tense, a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University. “But the convenience isn’t for everyone: The Amazon Go store doesn’t accept food stamps, a customer service representative confirmed.”
According to Future Tense, “It’s common for grocery and convenience stores to accept EBT [electronic benefit transfer] cards.” Amazon is part of a two-year pilot program that is testing online ordering of groceries by food stamp recipients, and last summer, it offered a discount price for its Prime program, which delivers goods in two days, for people with EBT cards for food stamps and welfare benefits.
According to USDA data, roughly 260,000 companies are authorized to redeem food stamps. Supermarkets and superstores handled 81 percent of food stamp sales in 2016.