Two Walmart stores in Louisiana had their shelves stripped bare of food in just two hours, when a glitch meant that EBT cards were not showing any limits on purchases. When the glitch ended, shoppers simply abandoned their carts in the aisles and left the stores.
The stores with the problem were located in Springhill and Mansfield, Louisiana. When word got out that EBT (or “Food Stamp”) cards weren’t showing any limits on a customer’s purchase and that Walmart was nevertheless honoring those cards, both stores experienced a maddened shopping frenzy. The Springhill store eventually had to call the police to help employees dealing with the swarms of people stripping the shelves.
Empty shelves in Walmart
The run on food began when the EBT system went down in several states, after Xerox, an EPT vendor, had a power outage. In some places, the cards didn’t work at all or stores refused to accept them. In Louisiana, however, some of the cards just stopped showing any spending limits. (Keep in mind that the money shown on the cards isn’t the card holder’s, but is government – i.e., taxpayer – money.) When Walmart learned about the problem, it made the decision to accept the cards so that people wouldn’t go hungry. It almost certainly didn’t expect that the cards would be abused.
When the system went back on line and the cards started showing their upper limits again, people simply abandoned carts where they stood and left the store. Walmart employees then faced the daunting task of restocking the shelves, since the devastation was similar to that following an earthquake. It’s not clear whether Walmart had to declare refrigerated and frozen foods a loss, or if they were able to restock them.
Both Walmart and the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services have pointed out that they were tracking all purchases during the two hour window and that they will follow up on fraudulent purchases.
Source: mrconservative