72 Hour Warning: Grocery Stores Across The Country Turn Away Hungry Shoppers As EBT System Crashes
Abandoned carts full of food were a frequent sight in grocery stores Saturday morning, as the EBT food assistance debit system stopped working without warning.
According to a Xerox spokesperson, a routine system check by the vendor resulted in system failure, leaving assistance recipients across the country with no way to buy food.
Xerox spokeswoman Karen Arena confirmed via email Saturday afternoon that some Electronic Benefits Transfer systems are experiencing temporary connectivity issues. She said technical staff is addressing the issue and expects the system to be restored soon. U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Courtney Rowe underscored that the outage is not related to the government shutdown. Xerox runs EBT card systems for 17 states and all were affected by the outage. (source)
Users of EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) cards in California, Ohio, Michigan and several other states are unable to make purchases due to connectivity issues.
But it gets worse…
Xerox is notifying retailers to revert to the manual system, meaning SNAP customers can spend up to $50 until the system is back online. SNAP recipients should call the 800 number on the back of their card, and Xerox will guide them through the purchase process. (source)
However, that system is not working either – it’s “closed for maintenance.”
Shoppers left carts of groceries behind at a packed Market Basket grocery store in Biddeford, Maine, because they couldn’t get their benefits, said fellow shopper Barbara Colman, of Saco, Maine. The manager put up a sign saying the EBT system was not in use. Colman, who receives the benefits, called an 800 telephone line for the program and it said the system was down due to maintenance, she said.
“That’s a problem. There’s a lot of families who are not going to be able to feed children because the system is being maintenanced,” Colman said. “No one should put maintenance in during the daytime.” (source)
Despite the fact that government workers report orders from the Obama administration to “make life as difficult for people as we can”, the nation is assured that the EBT failure is in fact due to server issues and NOT due to the government shutdown.
Keep in mind that the truckers are also on a general strike this weekend, protesting in Washington DC against high gas prices, rampant unemployment, and corruption in the US government.
Between October 11th and 13th they have called for a general strike, asking truck drivers around the country to refuse to haul freight, a move that could carry with it a significant impact on the American economy.
The protest calls for truckers to make their way to Washington D.C. in a massive convoy in an effort to call attention to, among other things, the Benghazi cover-up, the recent attack which killed 25 members of Seal Team 6, ever rising fuel prices, and claims that President Obama has engaged in treasonous crimes. (source)
Things are already starting to get ugly. ZeroHedge posted the following Tweets:
NOBODIES EBT CARD IS GOING THRU AT WALMART
— Jazmen Ashley (@jazmen04o25) October 12, 2013
“@Creamteam_bitch: Government done shut down the #EBT cards in Ga… These folks going crazy in walmart lol”swearrrr
— J A N A E (@JanaeHudson) October 12, 2013
Walmart just made an announcement on the intercom that EBT for the state of Georgia is down…there are now full carts Left everywhere #awk
— Kelly gentry (@KellyKgentry23) October 12, 2013
EBT is down so Walmart is complete chaos right now, so glad I’m leaving in 2 hours
— Chelsey Oliveira (@chelseyoliveira) October 12, 2013
EBT down at walmart and MF going crazy!
— Lorena Bobbitt (@iNoUliKmYdReAdZ) October 12, 2013
I almost just killed some people at Walmart, EBT is apparently down today #madhouse
— cassidy davis (@cassEdav) October 12, 2013
Working at walmart while EBT is fucking up <<< I just might get shot today. Lol.
— . (@_KaylaJeann) October 12, 2013
This is your 72 hour warning. If you don’t already have a two week supply of food and water, now might be a good day to go stock up, just in case this is the beginning of a bigger crisis. The first three days after a major event are your window of opportunity to get prepared, based on the just-in-time food supply in grocery stores and the amount of food most people store in their homes.
If the EBT failure continues, look for the situation to get progressively worse.
Thank you to NinaO!
Video Update: EBT System Crash:
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Boo Hoo…NOW you blue states know what it feels like when I have to pay for my food and you have me pay for yours too. It isnt FREE FOLKS! VOTE FOR OBOMA AGAIN PLEASE! SIX KIDS YOU HAVE TO FEED WITH MY MONEY…BOY OR BOY THIS IS GREAT, finally you get your reality check.
A little harsh in some respects, but the majority of the people who have worked hard all their lives paying into the same corrupt system you pay into are also on the EBT system, and it’s these people you have to feel for mate. Over here we have food banks, a drop in centre where people can get their free food and supplies. Now, there are people that abuse it, and there are thousands that have no choice to use it after they found themselves unemployed.
They’re people mate, human like yourself. Instead of falling for the social division tactic, show some heart man… seriously… i know what its like to work hard and support those that cant be arsed, its unfair and riles me up, but i dont mind paying taxes when i know i’m helping people that have paid into the same old corrupt system… the only people in the wrong here as they are here too is the government, they are happy for people like you to get angry.
Very eloquently spoken my friend. I couldn’t agree with you more. It’s the few that ruin it for the many.
thats the spirit mate, and nicely spoken at that, we need to remember who the bad guys are here, they can spend gazillions on nothing and starve us out, no matter how lazy or sick or whatever people are all 50 milliion of them (us) still dont add up to spit compared to the govs thievery, not to mention the bankster gangsters, so have heart get your head right and dont become polarized, focus man
I agree wholeheartedly with Andrew. Iamdiogen, you are either ignorant of what is going on in the world or you are a major part of the problem. If you have a problem with feeding the poor yet you don’t have a problem with Corporate welfare you are the problem.
Proverbs 17:5 Whoso mocketh the poor reproacheth his Maker: and he that is glad at calamities shall not be unpunished.
Proverbs 21:13 Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.
Proverbs 22:2 The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.
James 2:5-6 Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Luke 16:20-25 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Luke 6:20-26 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets. But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:11-12 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
This verse is not a castigation of the poor. This verse has to do with disorderly and busybody people hanging out with the Thessalonian Christian congregation Paul was addressing, not doing anything worthwhile, causing trouble and apparently living off the congregation’s good graces. You cannot make a doctrine out of one such verse, lifted out of context and, clearly, conflicting with verses above (and many others) where the Lord expects the poor to be helped.
This is the classic root of false doctrine, for bad scripture exegesis, 2 Thes. 3:10 not saying you’re to let poor people starve, obviously! Incidentally, how many millions of people who want to work can’t find a job with living wages? To claim all these people have opportunities is a big lie, we all know many, many reports of hundreds and thousands of people applying for a few jobs, no work, period, and working people unable to make ends meet for low paying jobs or being stuck with only part time.
Get real and stop trotting out Bible verses out of context, because you disdain the poor, who need mercy and help, which the Lord actually commands compassion towards many places in the Bible and warns the careless and careless rich of very hell. Try properly reading the Bible for a change, try considering who Paul was actually writing to and referring to, the actual situation, instead of trying to put forth some Johnny-one-verse false doctrine to further oppress the weak God commands and warns you to love as yourself.
2 Thessalonians 3
6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.
7 For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;
8 Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you:
9 Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us.
10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.
There are poor who are diseased and abandoned by family, or widowed with no family.
And there are the foolish, people who spend money on worthless things (coveting their neighbor’s possessions). Why do you spend your money on anything other than food? -Jesus
Show me a poor person with an EBT card that does not have a flatscreen tv, uneccessary utilities, brand new clothes, a fresh haircut, a car, a house payment or large rental payment, a college education, store-bought furniture, pets, washer and dryer, cd’s, video games, no family or friends, no church nearby to help them, no stranger to help them and then I will believe they are poor, and need foods tamps to feed their family. I am not rich by any means but I am frugal mother, and I know better to do without unnecessary things first, so that I can pay for food and shelter. I would turn to family and friends or a church before I turn to this wicked government. People will more likely do without ‘luxuries’ if it means they have to ask a person (especially one they know) face to face for money.
Hello! As an outsider I would like to know what you, brothers and sisters in the U.S really think of the situation there? Are you really going down? Because what I can gather from different sources, information points that you really are screwed, civil unrest about to break?? 1 million government workers on unpaid vacation? ObamaCare… I can’t even say what that sounds like here in Finland… People are not getting food? How many people are there by the way on food stamps/EBT? 50million? 100 million?
Does it really seem to you too that there is no painless way out?
I wish best luck to you! Be strong, whatever happens. And do NOT surrender.
Hello there. In my opinion, just seeing that people outside our country are showing concern definitely validates the general feeling over here that we are screwed. People are definitely struggling, and it is getting scary. It makes me sad to see their division tactics working, and I only hope that we can learn to work together in this. Thanks for the well wishes.
Thank you Jabberwocky1111. What about the rumors of foreign troops in the U.S? Seems that there is something big happening… I just watched our (Finnish) national television news, and they said: ” If U.S politicians will not get into a conclusion by thursday about the debt thing, that may have unpredictable severe consequences all over the world.
Well, that strenghtened my fears of what’s coming. Usually they are not so serious on the news. Our news agencies are controlled by exactly the same people as in your country (Jews) so I am not sure what to think.
We are somewhat lucky that our country is so small (only 5 million people), but our land is quite big compared to population, and we have clean waters, forests etc. So there might be a way to
get the politicians out. Like I said, we’re controlled by the Jews also, but people here are getting so pissed at them right now, so it could after all end well here. REVOLUTION
Even Finland is being choked by Zionist banker bastards? Damn… that blows. Finland is one of the places I was considering as an asylum seeking refugee family, along with Iceland, Paraguay, Uraguay, and Chile as a last resort. Seems only far north or south in smaller countries that “freedom” means anything anymore…. I can say that this “exceptional” country of the U.S.S.A. is not the star spangled awesome bastion of freedom we so proudly brag about it being,to the point of annoying every single other nation on Earth. We act like we invented “freedom”…. WE DIDN’T, and we need to shut the hell up about freedom NOW, because WE ARE NOT FREE. We sing the anthem and think it applies to us. It doesn’t. The current population of the US is the most pampered, spoiled, lazy, and self centered mass of humanity on the entire planet… We have precious few people with the backbone to fight left. Those who have seen combat, such as myself, are looking for escape routes like rats in a burning barn.
@thefallseeingeye – you might want to consider the difference between a hell hole and a biased press before considering not moving to another country – there is a difference
Many stores in SC no longer able to take enter, credit or debit cards.
I am not sure if I understood you correctly, but do you mean that you can’t even pay with CREDIT OR DEBIT CARDS for your food? So technically they don’t accept money, or is the electronical payment system down so that only cash is an option? WTF, it’s gonna be one hell of a time for you people in the U.S if they stop selling you food…
Which is why I don’t keep money in the bank! Unfortunately, we have no choice about direct deposit from work. We have our paychecks directly deposited. Now, I hope I will have access to it before that is messed up!
CASH ONLY !!! THAT”S WHY I WENT AND TOOK ALL OF MY MONEY OUT AT THE ATM>>>ATLEAST THE MAXIMUM ALLOWED>
HURRY !!
They are trying to incite riots and theivery…so they can pull “martial law”.
Saw those signs at 3 stores today….the lady at the register said “Government is shutting down everything, Cash ONLY “. Yes, they no longer can accept debit or credit cards either !
So, went and told my son….so he could dump the last $30 on his card and he had prayed it would go through…we got to the car with his groceries and BOOM !! ….guess what??? Now, he has another $200.00 on his card brand new…should have been maxed out ! Now he’s buying groceries for the food bank.
Husband and I went and took ALL of our money OUT of the bank !
This is terrible, yet perfectly timed to create mass panic and hysteria. Our overlords have decided to punish those who are most disadvantaged , First take away the good jobs then remove health care finally stop your food what next shut of the water.Does this government want mass chaos?
All a diversion to keep our eyes off the middle east…. just like magic, it is all about misdirection. We have the ability to print endless amounts of money (for now). The EBT thing is a distraction. However, given the significant amount of folks who cannot survive without EBT… sure is a huge lever to pull to make things happen.
And 6 kids? Umm… I think condoms cost less than one Federal Reserve Note. For five Federal Reserve notes you would probably have enough income to support the one child.
American Thinker
I am with you 100% on that one.If you read in between the lines Israel is not giving up the Iran issue and pressing for more controls and the removal of processed Uranium,while they still sit on all of their Nukes.Guess what American Blood is going to be spilled over that and WWIII will pursue. As far as the Freeloaders are concerned they had the same opportunity when the USA was still in its Haydays to make a Go of it,they choose the easy way out and took Wefare.
Yes now you cant find a Job oh just a minute we still bring in Mexicans that will do low paying Jobs that should have been filled by those Freeloaders. I am not talking about Disabled people and yes if you do not have the means to support a large Family,dont have one.
I had chosen to be childless,therefore I can afford a flat screen TV and Internet,and I still worked two Jobs but then I am not born in America.i
Evabody just take a deep breath, and go twerk in front of the customer service counter.Dem will beg and skreem “we give up” and let youse have your EBT’s back…..soulchickengizards
Yes we CAN!
Change you can BELIEVE in!
Schwarza mamzer.
VOTE FOR THE SCHWARZA MAMZER SON OF A WHORE AGAIN PLEASE!
This is a test. Just to see what the reaction is when they shut down the whole thing. That’s when it will get ugly.
Grocery stores turned away ‘hungry shoppers’??? You’re being a bit of a Drama Queen, aren’t you? It was down for about 2 hours and the ‘gimme dat’ crowd tried to capitalize on it and get multiple carts of food when they knew they only had a few dollars and cents on their card. And what happened when the system came back up? They knew they would be caught, so they left their filled-to-the-brim carts in the aisles and left. And no one goes to the grocery store because they are ‘hungry’. That’s what fast food restaurants are for. You go there to shop for the needs of your family.
“Despite the fact that government workers report orders from the Obama administration to “make life as difficult for people as we can”, the nation is assured that the EBT failure is in fact due to server issues and NOT due to the government shutdown.”
What a incredible bunch of lies… that is the part about the Administration saying to make life as difficult as they can…
Give me a break.
Let me put this simply: In God we trust, everyone else pays cash…..If you don’t earn a living you’re gonna be living lean!!
The urban poor need to start thinking about longterm and not shortterm immediate gratification. They need to reach out to their family and friends that demand money from strangers through the faceless IRS. There are churches and non-profits that feed the poor, I quickly hand out money to homeless or a mother in line who can’t pay for groceries. But demand it at gunpoint via the IRS? Take away my house because I can’t keep up with whatever the government deems is necessary for taxes? It is out of control. THESE are not poor people. If they can afford to get their hair done, go to college (instead of work), they are not poor. They have been sucked into a depressed life that has them taking what they can get. If we can move a family of four into a camper to save 80% on rent, quit college, cut our bills by 75%, others can too. I will shut off the electricity and eat rice and beans, before I have to ask for money for food.
These people need to get off the plantation somehow. I see people quoting the Bible below. The truly poor were usually diseased, orphaned, or widowed. I want to take care of those people. I do not want to take care of people who think they deserve a college education, their house taken care of, free Internet, free cellphone, cheaper utilities, free lunches, free healthcare, paid for by an anonymous person’s income, because they were too embarrassed to ask their family and friends, ie. ask for money to someone’s face. Thou shalt not COVET. How can you possibly compare Lazarus to the urban, vain, materialistic poor of America?
I cannot wait for this system of things to fall flat on its face. Then the urban poor will start taking care of each other and know what really matters when it comes to survival. And they will find out they have more in common with their rural cousins then the superstars and politicians on TV.
Obama gave you a free phone!
Too bad he couldn’t give you a job.
Those people who have their EBT’s shutdown need to sign-up for help with local food pantries in churches and in their communities. This will happen again. The time to prepare is now.
72 hours is up… and were all still waiting…
the stupidity on this website is palpable
I get sick and tired of the really dumb ideas that this Democratic government has.
.
EBT isn’t cash, indeed, put a D in front and you have the truth. They mock us with their “hey, we will feed them and they will vote for us” garbage.
.
People not only buy food with food stamps they trade for other things, they buy other things and some can GET cash which makes NO sense at all.
.
My taxes are paying for the (D)EBT cards – and that means less for me in food but I don’t qualify for food stamps – working poor rarely do.