Spyke
news·Newsbyccunning

Walmart could lose $2B if SNAP goes dark

The shutdown will halt about $8 billion a month in federal food assistance. Walmart captures 24% of all SNAP shopper spending, according to Numerator’s 2025 SNAP Evolution report—triple Kroger’s share and far ahead of Costco, Amazon and Sam’s Club.

Walmart was the first retailer to accept SNAP online in all 50 states in 2023 and launched the Walmart+ Assist program, which offers half-price memberships for those receiving aid.

“If SNAP payments stop, spending by the lowest income groups will fall,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of data and analytics firm GlobalData. “Walmart gets a plurality of the spending, so it will be hit the hardest.”

This was somewhat epiphanic for me.

I already recognized companies such as Walmart were subsidizing pay through social programs such as SNAP and essential funneling/laundering tax payer money to their executives.

This headline made me further realize they’re not only making taxpayers subsidize wages, they’ve also effectively turned the USD into a form of company scrip. While that scrip can be spent at some other locations I bet a large percent of funneled right back to e.g. Walmart itself. If you already work at Walmart it makes spending your SNAP benefit there easier.

Walmart could lose $2B if SNAP goes darkhttps://www.supermarketnews.com/food-accessibility/walmart-could-lose-2b-if-snap-goes-darkOpen linkView original on lemmy.world

So the federal government subsidizes not only Walmart employee wages, but Walmarts grocery sales too? And Mamdani is apparently crazy for saying New York should run its own grocery stores that actually benefit the community instead of making the Walton family richer.

234
midwest.social

Wait, I wonder, who was funding that message 🤔

Alice Walton, the world’s richest woman, listed her address as a post office box in Bentonville, Arkansas — Walmart’s hometown — when she made a $100,000 donation in August, on top of a $100,000 donation in April. Walton has little history of political giving in New York, beyond donating to pro-charter school groups and candidates. Mamdani has said he opposes the expansion of charter schools.

33

She was one of the first to bitch openly that tariffs means higher cost.

6
lemmy.world

I dunno why it says "If SNAP goes dark" becuase it already did go dark. It's already been a week woth no payments and it looks like nothing is going to change that. SNAP has already "gone dark".

111
ozymandiasreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

judges are forcing the USDA to pay snap this month… latest ruling was by today.
it’s not dark yet

27

Trump administration: "Good! Maybe some of those poors will die and save us the trouble of removing their tents!" [roflol]

19
ozymandiasreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

the USDA is operated by thousands of people, the head is appointed by trump.
if the head of the usda is facing jail for contempt vs maybe getting fired, he’ll fund snap.
and that’s exactly what happened today, ebt was funded. trump is appealing but the money is there.
my state funded it and was waiting for a commitment by the usda, apparently they got it.
trump and his administration have complied with other court orders, they’ve defied some… but they eventually give in when appeals run out.
a big part of the shutdown is that they’ve slipped in legislation to strip judges of their powers to enforce their orders… such as nationwide injunctions, holding people in contempt, and sending federal marshals out to arrest people in contempt of court… they currently still have those powers.
it’s quite complicated.

6
warbondreply
lemmy.world

Was it the head of the USDA withholding funds? I was under the impression that the administration said there were no funds, and then there was no way to release the funds, and then that it would be too complex to do so with any expediency.

Why are they appealing the ruling, do you think?

4

The head of the USDA does what Trump says or she gets fired… but she’s still the one with direct control.
The USDA already has a contingency fund, for this very sort of thing. They were refusing to fund SNAP until a judge forced them too…. they had this money set aside before the government shutdown, and December is still uncertain.
Why they’re appealing it is, id assume, what they’ve been saying about hating all social safety net type programs, and really it’s about rich people paying taxes….
they’re vindictive enough to use any opportunity to fuck with any program as much as they can get away with…

2

Some states were able to use some state funds to pay some SNAP recipients. My family hasn't gotten anything at all in NY state.

5

The only naive oversimplification here is believing that when the USDA is ordered to do something by a judge that means Trump automatically does it.

Snap is dark. There was a court order to turn on the lights. Those lights have not turned on yet. Don't be pedantic if you can't bring the receipts.

14
Gerudoreply
lemmy.zip

But that is exactly what is happening. They are ignoring the courts.

11
lemmy.world

No state has received full funding for their snap/ebt as of this morning. Some funds are being released by the federal government to states but not fully, not uniformly, and with serious delay. I can't find any credible evidence that anyone has definitely received their full November benefits as scheduled. In fact, the USDA has told states they can't fund the cards and then be reimbursed by the federal government under current rules and the USDA has stated, as of this morning, that they will not fully fund benefits due to the shutdown.

I don't believe you are telling the truth.

4

they have defied and appealed rulings, some have been upheld and complied with….
what you’re talking about is what they want to do and one reason why the government is shut down right now.

1
lemmy.world

Don't count your chickens until they hatch. Or in this case, don't count your SNAP until it's actually in your pocket.

20
lemmy.world

I'm truly shocked that they actually paid. That's some good news. I'm glad the people in need are getting when we owe them.

4
Breezyreply
lemmy.world

My mothers has not been paid nor is pending. Some states used state funding to pay out, most have not.

9

Yeah I’m always saddened to see anecdotal “it works for me” or “it doesn’t work for me” comments about something like this, where it’s super complex and until we know the rules are in place and enforced, we should assume it is not working for those who need it.

6
tomselleckreply
sopuli.xyz

Justice Department announced they are appealing, so who knows?

12
Gladaedreply
feddit.org

A piece of paper is worthless. Can't buy anything with that.

10
Resonosityreply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

So odd seeing libs talk you down in this thread, and not do basic research.

I haven't really been following all of this because I don't need SNAP (yet), but it seems like it's not hard to figure this out with Google.

Hopefully more states figure out how to allocate the USDA's emergency funds before more people starve.

2

it’s doomer stuff i think… they can only scream about how horrible everything is.
if anything good happens, no it didn’t.
that or bots.
seems like a bot thing to not have live google access

2

yep, i saw that and: fuck… fucking fucks….
seems like some will still be funded?
Happy Thanksgiving, btw

1

The article is from Oct 29. I doubt the SNAP situation is news to many on the fediverse. I shared it more so because A) What a tone deaf headline, and B) To share the epiphany it caused me.

15
lemmy.world

California is paying full SNAP benefits starting this morning. California cares. Trump, Mike Johnson, and The entire GOP couldn't give less fucks about anyone else.

5

It's the Democrats fault because they won't cancel health care so we have to cancel food assistance - every republican I know

2
fedia.io

Considering that Walmart is one of the largest corporations benefiting from deliberately underpaying their workers and telling them it's the government's job to feed them, I find that my field of fucks is barren.

65
lemmy.world

SNAP is basically a tax break for walmart. Underpay the staff and let the government cover their food, which is often bought at walmart.

45
lemmy.zip

Oh no. Not Walmart. Leave it to America to be more concerned about the shareholders and not the people within the borders.

55
lemmy.world

We can be concerned about both things equally, can't we?

Edit I used the word "concerned" because I was responding to the comment above me and he said "concerned". "Interested" would be a more suitable word because this is an interesting topic. We're interested that Walmart is taking a hit and we're also interested that snap people are taking a hit. It's interesting. Tragic for the snap people but interesting for the demise of walmart.

-7
lemmy.zip

Nah. Having seen small towns crushed when Walmart comes in and all the mom & pop shops close. So then your options to shop are Walmart or Amazon or drive to the next town. Fuck em.

15
IIIreply
lemmy.world

Why would anyone avoid their local Walmart just to drive to the next town to use their Walmart?...

2

You ask that question, in a lot of rural areas the small walmart in town is run down and doesn't get as much stock. It reduces slowly over time until shopping at that walmart is a waste of time and people go to the next one. So Walmart closes down the "Underperforming" walmart forcing people to go to the bigger one few towns over, centralizing and cutting the amount of staff/delivery locations walmart has to deal with, making them more money.

5

Can’t get in the car and say “no, not that one. Let’s go the nice one”if you don’t put in the work.

3
lemmy.world

Why are you as equally worried about Walmart shareholders as you are starving people?

14

Ok then go back & re-read my comment & the comment I was replying to, and swap the word "concerned" for "interested."

3

Equally would be tough for me. The cutting shifts of the workers will suck though. That's near $ billion that doesn't need to be shelved and onwards. (Possibly ordered).

5

That's so much money. It's immensely frustrating that any assistance programs we come up with ultimately become a massive wealth transfer to big companies.

SNAP, subsidized student loans/forgiveness, Medicaid/Medicare, etc. The market will just happily absorb the free taxpayer money and then still raise prices on everyone because of the increased demand.

49

and then still raise prices on everyone because of the increased demand.

Ostensibly because of increased demand, actually due to greed.

18

In a world not run by the rich, for the rich this wouldn't be an issue. Just tax large corporations over a certain size at a slightly higher rate and redistribute it back down to the poorest, turning it into a loop.

12
leminal.space

This isn't new for Walmart. They have 'how to apply for food stamps' employee programs. They have food drives for their employees during the holidays b/c they can't afford food. All while taking in obscene profits.

44
leminal.space

They have ‘how to apply for food stamps’ employee programs.

It took me forever to understand this wasn't just a roast of Walmart, but that they were speaking literally. It sounds dystopian as hell.

10
lemmy.ca

Yes millions of people can't access food, but have you thought about the impact this is having on Walmart's profits?

42
cdf12345reply
lemmy.zip

Walmart gets it both ways. They get to under pay full time employees to the point they are eligible for snap, then they make money when people use snap in their stores.

The American taxpayers are basically subsidizing Walmart.

28

I never considered the second point. Holy hell US lawmakers are captured by special interests

8
lemmy.world

Sounds like the waltons are getting it 3 ways then, since they seem the types to enjoy just the misery of it all.

2
lemmy.world

I think its important for people to know there are consequences for supporting fascism. Walmart has been donating to conservative PACs for decades and the Waltons themselves tilt even harder than the company.

9

I don't disagree, it's just so fucking frustrating that people can scream from the rooftops for months/years that "this is bad, bad things will happen" and people will ignore them until it affects them personally or it affects a company's profits.

The problem is all the people starving, not Walmart losing less than 1% of their profits. But apparently that less than 1% profit loss is what people listen to. It's disgusting.

10

Honestly? If it's what gets people to be fed, I'm okay with doing it because people starving is bad for the economy.
I'd rather we did at least the bare minimum for the right reason, but I'll accept the wrong reason. At this point, hoping for more than the bare minimum seems unrealistic when we're most likely to get the wrong thing for the wrong reasons.

4
lemmy.world

I'm sure they'll just get a handout directly from the government instead.

3

"Our profits are in the RED, pls give money daddy govt 🥺🥺" but also somehow still makes record-breaking profits.

Remember kids, when a company says their profits are in the red, that does not mean they are losing money - THEY STILL MADE A PROFIT. Just not as much profit as last year.

5
fodorreply
lemmy.zip

Oh, would you prefer to ignore the blatant corruption? ... If minimum wage (Walmart wage) were living wage, far fewer people would be on food stamps.

1

One point would be WalMart has 2B in lobby money to make it stop

1
lemmy.ca

What the article doesn't mention is how many of Walmarts employees are on SNAP themselves.

32
AxExRxreply
lemmy.world

Thats what i thought they were referencing at first. That Walmarts were going to be shutting their doors as all their snap subsidised employees started quitting in search of jobs that they could actually put food on the table with.

10
plz1reply
lemmy.world

Walmart tends to blight communities of similar jobs, once they are established in those communities.

6

Exactly. They corner the market and destroy local industries because Walmart can sell items for a cheaper price

4
feddit.org

That's an aspect of social security nets that's rarely talked about: They stabilize domestic demand and thereby the local economy.

26

Food assistance programs are a huge subsidy/bailout program for big ag.

10
lemmy.zip

I think it does get talked about plenty. But not to the people that need to hear and understand it. You certainly won't hear about it on Fox News or Truth Social.

7
feddit.org

Maybe it is different in the USA. I'm German. There's plenty of people here who can explain to you why social security is good ethically, but you have to search long and hard for somebody who is able to explain some of the reasons it's also the smart choice economically, let alone media who will let them finish their sentence.

9

I pay attention to more liberal/educational media sources. This sort of subject is pretty common on, for example, National Public Radio (NPR). I'm pretty sure their popular series, Planet Money, has covered SNAP and other social support programs multiple times. I mean, just as an example: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/26/981686254/socialism-101

This sort of thing is why the Trump administration immediately pulled funding for public radio and television in the US. Can't have people learning things that contradict their propaganda.

6
piefed.social

Similarly, I expect that a lot of airline CEOs are calling their pet Senators after Trump announced plans to scale back air traffic controllers.

24
lemmy.world

Yea they are calling for more scale backs so they can implement "priority pricing" or bidding or some other price gouging technique. Run half the planes but still make the same if not more profits.

13

SNAPs is about 25~28bn over two months for them (so likely 28/680 of their revenue) but that somehow totals to a 2bn hit on net profit (over two months).

So those 3.7% of gov subsidized will lower their profit by 10%. Which means they have even larger profit margins on SNAP articles?
(20/12 = 1.6bn/month ... and they estimate a -1bn/month hit)

Yeah, fuck them, that family was always garbage.

1
lemmy.world

Probably more. Their starving employees will be stealing food from them to survive.

18
sh.itjust.works

This is the only good news from trump's term. The waltons losing money in this way exposes who they are, and might piss them off enough to do something.

16

The waltons losing money in this way exposes who they are, and might piss them off enough to do something.

As much as I hate the idea of corporate interests having that much influence over the government (any government), someone richer than him complaining could be the only thing that gets through Trump's mushy head.

8
treesquidreply
lemmy.world

He's saving them so much in taxes that they can just lose $2 billion and be fine with it. The Walton family is worth almost $500 billion. They don't give a fuck about this.

3

If a rational person was in their situation, they would see the benefit of taking the loss and making it back. But I don't know if you become a billionaire by having a healthy relationship with money.

4

Waltons only own 45% of walmart now. There are a lot of non-billionaires that will be pretty pissed if the stock slumps. But many of those will just be regular joes, not the rich folk who have divested and planned ahead.

2

I’ve seen a lot of tik toks that are just veiled racism posts. “Oh look now that snap is gone the store is empty and I don’t see any ghetto people!” Like brother white people are the biggest recipients of snap.

2

Lmaooooooo

Get fucked.

Also sad how many people there apparently exist in "food deserts" that a Walmart is their only option.

16
sopuli.xyz

I'll be quite honest, Walmart's bottom line would be the least of my worries personally

14
Madziellereply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

Even regional grocers will feel this too. Any snap loss, is loss where ebt is accepted. So many different markets..

8

I'm more worried about the SNAP recipients. Small businesses second and Walmart not at all.

2

The starving people are why Walmart is losing money; they have no foodstamps to spend at Walmart. They care about the profits, so this is news more for the detached that don't understand how not feeding people by withholding aid hurts them, too.

4

Interesting how this billionaire family is making so much money off food stamps.

12
thelemmy.club

Walmart gets financed via gov SNAP on two fronts - they sell stuff (for profit) for gov SNAPs, & their employees' wages have to get subsidized by gov SNAP (for their profit).

Also only the stores net 20bn a year to the family (& other shareholders), so it's a shame we are talking about them losing 2bn (over two full months) and not their full-time workers going hungry.

Also the SNAP program is 100bn annually (for 40m people) & 25bn~28bn of it gets spent in Walmart stores (their total revenue is about 680bn & they employ a large percentage of underpaid workers).

Here is a perhaps more informative link:
https://www.newsweek.com/walmart-set-to-lose-billions-from-snap-benefits-stopping-in-november-10945862

11
midwest.social

Tbh the vast majority of people that work at walmart are probably paid above SNAP qualifying wages, unless someone has kids and their spouse doesnt work or is severely underpaid. When I worked for walmart stocking shelves they were paying $18.75 in that market. Daytime people made like $17.25 without the overnight differential. That is well over the limit to get SNAP for a single person. Plus they do offer pretty good benefits, and gave accrued PTO. And a humane break system that is standardized even in states where they dont have to offer it. I realize they dont pay as much in other markets, but they are generally above the average starting wage in any given area.

Most smaller companies I ever worked for were significantly shittier in how they treated/paid workers than Walmart is. Walmart is honestly too soul crushing of a place to work; without them offering half decent shit to work there literally nobody would

5

That makes sense. Based on the numbers there they average 1%-3% of their employees on SNAP in any given state. They legitimately arent paying people SNAP wages as many seem to believe

3

I would not be surprised to read a headline soon stating "Walmart to receive government subsidies for lost SNAP revenue."

Regardless if SNAP has been funded.

10
lemmy.zip

And it's Walmarts fault. Has been. Always was. Always will be. This is literally their economic model at play.

FUCK EM.

10

The Waltons were major named donors to the Heritage Foundation.

2

Walmart also relies on the government to cover their employees health insurance and food assistance. They might have to start providing health insurance to their employees otherwise we might to start hearing about quiet quitting again.

9

Walmart saves money by not paying a livable wage, they save money by not paying taxes, they receive money from the taxpayers who paid into snap. No wonder why they keep making profits year after year.

9
lemmy.world

Its funny to me when SNAP is a focal point all the press stops talking about the farmers but obviously somebody is supplying walmart with 2 billion in products.

8
lemmy.dbzer0.com

So? What's two billion to Walmart? They shit that kind of money.

8
MrMakabarreply
slrpnk.net

2billion per month. So that means 24billion in a year. Last year Walmart had an income of 19billion.

11
lemmy.zip

It's a notable chunk of their operating profit, and I assure you their shareholders will take note.

9
y0kaireply
lemmy.dbzer0.com

They made 169 billion in profit this year. They aren't hurting at all.

0
lemmy.world

God no lmao that’s like their entire market cap. That’s probably total revenue with a 5-10% profit margin

2
lemmy.world

Wow I had no idea they were that close to a trillion dollars. Time to monopoly bust!

2

“Facebook sure seems to make a lot of money doing political interference and propaganda, maybe we should regulate it for doing psychological experiments on our kids…….. NAH FUCK THAT…..throws 10 million on META calls

1

I mean or the democrats. Nancy and Husband made about $100 million investing in the companies they should have been regulating. I didn’t expect trump to do any kind of consumer protections. I expected the democrats to do this shit 10 years ago. After they lost an election to trump due to Facebook amplifying Russian disinformation

1
lemmy.zip

That's revenues. Not profit. If you don't understand the difference you're talking out your ass.

1

While you're correct that I conflated gross profit with net income, that still doesn't make it the same as revenues, and if you can't tell the difference, you're talking out of your ass.

1

Walmart sounds like a real freeloader. From low-paid employees with little or no benefits needing public welfare to get by and then catering to those same kinds of people on government assistance for shopping.

8

they don't need the welfare to get by, but supply/demand and economies of scale, if their sales volume drops, their prices certainly won't be rolling back to make up for it. They will be laying off more workers, automating more positions, and raising prices. They didn't make the system, but they definitely positioned themselves to take advantage of it.

1

It’s interesting how these working class subsidies feed the donor class. Hospitals (even the “non”profits have 7 figure earning CEOs) and places like Walmart (Waltons = $420+ billion) lose money when subsidies like Medicaid and SNAP see cuts. The circle of capitalism.

8
pawb.social

Oh I’m sure we’re all really sad for Walmart. My toilets and papers go out to the Waltons.

Fuck articles like this. Walmart fucks over people all the time. They’re part of the problem. There are people out there who are scrambling to get food. I couldn’t give even the smallest of fucks for Walmart.

Further it isn’t a “loss”, it’s projected revenue that they’re not getting. I’m not losing money if I don’t work, I just simply don’t earn it.

Gods know the Waltons don’t earn their money.

7
leminal.space

I view this less as a sympathetic article and more like a slice of schadenfreude pie.

Big corporations aren't coming out unscathed from this. The big CEOs of today are under the impression that they're as untouchable as 18th century French aristocracy. But they actually rely on consumer profits. Love watching reality slap them in the face as they attempt to get off scotfree while the country burns down around them. No honey, you live there too hahaha

1

I don't see the schadenfreude. The article is very matter-of-fact, and focuses entirely on Walmart itself. In this particular case I think the schadenfreude would be too bitter anyway, on account of all the people who are suffering because of this.

It's not "low income groups will go without food" it's "low income groups will not spend as much" and that's about the only consideration that particular population gets.

I grew up a povvo bitch, granted in a country where that sort of thing doesn't hit as hard. We have social security nets, and every school has free lunches for kids. Even so, I was acutely aware of the situation from a very young age, and the stress of "do we pay the bills or do we have food to eat" is not a fun one. Even today I'm still plagued by the habits and worries formed back then.

No one should have to live under such circumstances.

1

Maybe a massive no-strings-attached nonrefundable bailout after a sacrifice a gift is presented by the Walmart family to the king of the country.

2

Well shit, the dumbasses guzzled down the orange Kool-Aid. Zero sympathy and f-them.

7

All recipients should go shopping as normal and abandon their carts when they cannot pay.

Gum up the works. Waste their time. Make them expend effort they could be spending on profitable endeavors restocking your shit. The lost revenue retailers experience is nowhere near enough.

6

This was somewhat epiphanic for me.

Think of US politics as a business moving large amounts of money around in a capitalist society then things start making sense.

5

Doesn't their CEO make more than that in a year? I'm sure they can pitch in during these tough times.

5
lemmy.world

Never thought I’d see the day where Walmart and target swap places in the corporate shitosphere

4
lemmy.today

Target has recently come under consumer scrutiny for backpedaling on their dei programs and support of the LGBT community the moment trump was elected. So much so their CEO stepped, rightly, stepped down.

Walmart has been known as a shitty company since time immemorial.

2

target is just a bougie version walmart, at least they market themselves to be. and target has been having alot of stocking issues for like the last 5 years in thier stores. target is worst though.

2
lemmy.ca

IIRC food stamps have always been an FDA program, which means the stakeholders are producers, not consumers. It exists as a form of subsidy for farmers. But it looks like the Waltons have managed to get a good chunk.

3
NABDadreply
lemmy.world

It's run by the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). But you're otherwise correct, so I'm assuming that was a typo.

It's not just a social program to feed the poor and disabled. In fact, that's just a side effect of the need to ensure that someone buys the food that the farmers are producing.

Both ends of the SNAP pipeline get fucked. A truly distressing portion of both ends also voted for it.

I suspect Walmart will be fine. They might close a few stores, fire all the employees, and put the final nail in the coffin of some communities they've been slowly killing for years, but they'll still be supporting fascists and enslaving Americans long after this episode of history has been forgotten rewritten.

3

I'm not American and often confuse the TLAs. (Yes I know it's four.)

This article and the dozens of relevant videos it links to talks about the conflicts of interests between promoting the commercial interests of producers, and protecting the health and safety of consumers. Guess which one typically wins out!!

2

Trump might have just dog walked himself into something good 😂. It never fails. He fucks things up so bad that the economy collapses and cost of living goes down.

3
lemmy.world

That's also not including the increased shrinkage and turnover costs to Walmart

As their own workers get desperate, they'll have to choose between going hungry and risking their job. Many will justifiably choose to steal, increasing shrinkage. Some will, inevitably, be caught increasing turnover. Both will cost Walmart

On the other hand, Walmart may see a boon as shoppers who typically spent their SNAP benefits at other stores go to Walmart with the little bit they have left due to the perceived cost savings

2

Walmart makes 20bn a year on the poorest of people in the country, so yeah, they can assume those are all-you-can-eat stores.

1

Even more if a large portion of its customers starve to death.

1
lemmy.world

GOOD! Fuck the family monopolizing the true message he originally had!!! They’re all fucking trash so honestly fuck Walmart!!!!!

-1

Tell that to the “original ‘Walmart’ family” before they sold out and tell that to Drumpf who told us that prices would be lower ON DAY ONE and NOTHING is true. Food prices are still high, no checks of $5k nor recently $2k plus eggs are still grossly high and gas prices are not nearly what he said….

-1