Some store owners didn’t understand! SNAP or EBT cards are exclusively used for families who don’t have normal jobs such as going to any place to work, have children, or in some cases… disabled citizens. Tipically, you only use SNAP benefits to purchase food, and that’s one main founction. A store owner can accept SNAP benefits when he/she sells food at his/her store. However; if a store owner also receives SNAP… due to disability like blindness, deafness, or any forms of disability; he/she can’t use her benefits to restock his/her store. Not just using your EBT card to restock your store is a bad idea, it’s also illegal and fraudulent!
If you are a disabled store owner, and you sell food for your community, you should only rely on your own money what you’ve just made to keep your store active each day. Your profits from your store is key to keep it running… however, you usually use your funds to restock your store with same items, or if you are just rotating items each season; you use your normal business credit card or debit card to buy food and other items to restock your store. If you accept EBT for your customers, this is usual if you sell food products for your customers who rely on SNAP benefits.
Here’s How It Works:
First, you open your first store you want to establish in your town. If you have a normal working job as your default source of income; and you saved at least $2,000 or more in your banking account as a function to start your own store. You dedicated your funds to pay for permits, construction costs, business licenses, and designing of your own store. You continued to work at your same job, and open your store after you signed out of your job. This is useful if you wanted to have extra money in your pocket.
You stock up your store with your desired merchandise of choice. You price each item with a strategic pricing plan as a way to experiment with profits when you sell your first products. Usually, newly established stores can take some time to make some money. If you have a little store, you can sell a dedicated type of merchandise in a compact scale. A store in New York has little amount of products. Most of these stores were ran by individuals, or employees.
The money flows from a customer who is buying your product, the customer receives a product, a customer goes home with a product after buying it, and you receive the money after you sold a product. The products what you sell often runs out, and you restock your store when needed. For example; if you are about to run out of vegan cakes; you use your own money to restock your store with a new shipment of vegan cakes. If customers buy your products, a continuous cycle is established. However; if you accept SNAP benefits, the money flows from tax-payers who pay taxes to fund the SNAP benefits to people who don’t have jobs, or work with a limited time; the customers buy food from you with a SNAP card. If any of your customers buy food from you; you also make money as normal. You still restock your store, and continue to run your business like normal.
Why this cycle continues, because of the following:
- A store owner generates profits via sales of these items – This is common for most people who run a store like a starter, or like a pro. Depending on how you priced items in yoour store. Tipically, high-quality items are priced high. If you strategically buy these items in bulk, you can sell them with a lower price.
- Customers buying from you – this is a start of a process of selling items after you bought items from your desired suppliers what you want to do business with. A customer chooses to buy food from you when they have money to do it. If you have high-profit products like snacks for kids; you can set your store up to sort items priced from lowest to highest.
- You receive money – That happens after a customer buys items from you. This is the end of the cycle. But a cycle continues when you restock your store.
Some Store owners defraud the SNAP system… and this is a problem!
Some store owners has traded SNAP benefits for cash as a way to cheat our system. That can range from trafficking, to selling items that are NOT supposed to be purchased with EBT benefits… and some store owners often use SNAP benefits as a way to restock their stores. Most fraudsters who restock their stores were arrested for SNAP fraud. For this instance, Ahmed Alshami, a store owner has been arrested for defrauding our SNAP benefits for families who need it for their children. He’s currently serving prison time under millions of dollars cash bond. Other fraudsters has caused issues with our program, and laundered money to support terrorism. Many store owners has been taken out of a program because of a fraudulent scheme.
Using your EBT card to restock your store is fraudulent because, these benefits are designed for filling up your food supply at home. If you are poor, you rely on this service to help reduce hunger. If you can make money with your store, use your own money to restock your store,–just like what we’ve mentioned above.
Always think twice as you restock your store. Never use your EBT card to restock stores of any kind! If you were trying to restock your store when out of money, but you made little profit… don’t give up on 1 try to stay in business, even your credit card can be used as a backup to restock your store. If you are planning on restocking your store and your credit card as a backup source of funds, use it. And be sure to pay these bills regularly. A secondary banking account with emergency funding can help restock your store.
What to do if you believe a store owner uses an EBT card to restock his/her store
Report it immediately! This is a fraudulent scheme. If your store is next to the another store where an illegal scheme has started… don’t do business with that store and contact your local authorities. These professionals can do a serious work for you, and they will investigate cases of fraud, and in some cases, a store owner can be arrested for fraud. You may need to implement new rules for your store to help prevent fraud from attacking in the future.
If you’ve learned a lesson from a store owner who committed fraud, take extra caution when you accept EBT at your local store what you owned. Tipically, store owners are always monitored for possible signs of fraud.
Don’t use your EBT card to restock your stores. If someone tries to force you to use your EBT card to restock your store, you have the right to prevent it from happening. You have a secret weapon to protect yourself against being held accountable for fraud.
If your friend restocks his/her store with an EBT card, discourage him/her from doing it. If that happens, report it immediately.
