I was on them during a rough financial patch and it's a wonderful system.

It's set up like a reloadable gift card (but you don't reload it, public assistance does that - the amount depends on number in family, any income, etc) with the security of a PIN-required card, in which you're given a set amount each month to spend strictly on food items (no beer, cigarettes, or lottery tickets). If you don't spend it all in one trip the balance stays on the card for the rest of the month until you use it again. But like a cell minutes plan, there is no roll over. And since the supermarket computer registers are able to categorize and separate accepted and unaccepted purchases, you can still shop for other things in the same trip and just pay for them separately when it comes up as a balance after you use the card to pay for the food.

Some food establishments accept them. Make sure they are advertised as such (one take and bake pizza place where I lived in Montana accepted them). And most retailers don't know that it's food stamps because it goes into the system as an EBT. less

I was on them pretty much my whole life until adulthood, because my dad lost one job after another. I remember when it was actually paper and not a card, but I was pretty little. It was always pretty embarrassing for my family since you could tell pretty easily what you were paying with.

It was better when it started being put on a card, but it was still bad because our card usually didn't work. My mom would have to hand the card to the cashier and they would have to manually put in the numbers on the card onto the register. You wouldn't believe how many people look down on people with food stamps. We got dirty looks quite a few times, and sometimes even rude comments. less

So, I was talking to a girl at work and found out she was on Food Stamps. I hadn't known anyone on them before and the first thought I had was of these little white stamps with some sort of dollar amount on them. Then I started wondering about if you bought something that was less than the amount of the food stamp, what happened to the change?

Well she informed me that its no longer actual stamps, its more like a pre-loaded card. I hadn't known that. Did you? less

So, I was talking to a girl at work and found out she was on Food Stamps. I hadn't known anyone on them before and the first thought I had was of these little white stamps with some sort of dollar amount on them. Then I started wondering about if you bought something that was less than the amount of the food stamp, what happened to the change?

Well she informed me that its no longer actual stamps, its more like a pre-loaded card. I hadn't known that. Did you? less