By Rick Brink, DeCA public affairs specialist
Facebook-friendly version: Commissary CLICK2GO, the Defense Commissary Agency’s online shopping and curbside pickup service, extended its services Oct. 25 to commissary customers in all 50 states who participate in the Electronic Benefits Transfer/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or EBT/SNAP. Click here to read the full story online.
FORT LEE, Va. – Commissary CLICK2GO, the Defense Commissary Agency’s online shopping and curbside pickup service, extended its services Oct. 25 to commissary customers in all 50 states who participate in the Electronic Benefits Transfer/Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or EBT/SNAP.
“We’re pleased with the ongoing evolution of our online shopping program to be able to offer its convenience to our customers,” said DeCA Director and CEO Bill Moore, “There’s a catch, though, that for now, and until some electronic payment issues are resolved, EBT/SNAP customers can shop online, but will have to go inside the store to pay for their purchases.”
EBT/SNAP is only available in the U.S., not at overseas locations. Customers use a card that’s similar to a credit or debit card to access their benefits. The EBT/SNAP account of a participant is debited to reimburse the store for food they purchase. The Commissary CLICK2GO payment processor currently only accepts Mastercard, VISA, Discover and American Express for online and curbside payments, which is why EBT/SNAP participants have to go inside the store to complete their purchases.
“I can assure you we are working to resolve the issues as quickly as possible, but we don’t have a timeframe, yet, of when that will be,” Moore said. “This year we finished an all-out press to expand Commissary CLICK2GO worldwide, and we are continuing to make it better as we strive to be the grocery store of choice for our patrons worldwide.”
-DeCA-
Just talked to EBT user at JBLM commissary and here is how things are going there- the self checkout is no longer available to EBT payment users at all. This is discriminatory and unexplainable as to why this is happening.
When the shopper was told to go through the regular check out line, the cashier could not complete the transaction because the system was showing monies owed for nonfood items. All of the customer’s items were food. The manager had to have a different clerk re-ring the entire order because the system could not store the transaction from the first register.
On the re-ring, the manager and clerk worked together to out think the new checkout systems in place. The system could not identify the reduced orange stickers on two meat packs and was trying to charge customer as nonfood at that point.
Once the clerk figured it all out, the manager learned a few things, and the EBT payment went through correctly, the customer left but still did not understand why EBT has become so hard to use with these new cashier systems in place, especially since so many military families depend on EBT and WIC to get by!
Why only in the 50 states ? Why not in the US territories also ? We use the same SNAP/EBT benefits with the same federal funds. How come the commissaries don’t accept the SNAP/EBT payments there?