[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/24\/slate-goes-undercover-with-food-stamps#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/24\/slate-goes-undercover-with-food-stamps","headline":"Slate Goes Undercover with Food Stamps","name":"Slate Goes Undercover with Food Stamps","description":"Slate recently wrote a series on food stamps and their effect on the economy. They explored how huge corporations like Walmart pay such low wages, a big percentage of their workforce has no choice but to go on food stamps,","datePublished":"2018-07-06","dateModified":"2018-07-29","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/author\/admin#Person","name":"admin","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/author\/admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26111862ca029071a00a76fae48c51b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e26111862ca029071a00a76fae48c51b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"FoodStamps.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","width":600,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/FS_Logo-2.png","width":100,"height":100},"url":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/24\/slate-goes-undercover-with-food-stamps","about":["News"],"wordCount":800,"keywords":["24"],"articleBody":"Slate recently wrote a three-part series on food stamps and their effect on the economy, focusing mainly on the state of Ohio. They explored how huge corporations like Walmart and Dollar General pay such low wages, a big percentage of their workforce has no choice\u00a0but\u00a0to go on food stamps, all the while posting incredible profit margins that are a bit head-scratching. Can big companies afford to pay their workers more, or are employees destined to stay on food stamps forever?Part One: The Secret Life of a Food StampIn\u00a0this piece, which went online on April 1st, 2014, writer Krissy Clark took a look at the secrecy surrounding how food stamps are used by corporations. She made the good point of writing that while debates about the worthiness of food stamps \u2014 and its recipients \u2014 are constantly in the headlines, one topic that flies well beneath the radar is what actually happens to the food stamps once they leave a person\u2019s card.Once food stamps are spent at a particular store, that store makes a profit on them. But what\u2019s unknown \u2014 with retailers fighting hard to keep that information confidential \u2014 is what they do with the profits, how many food stamps dollars they receive, and what happens to people\u2019s tax dollars. Clark includes an interesting quote from Walmart communications vice president David Tovar: \u201cWe don\u2019t provide our market-share data on any categories like that \u2014 it\u2019s generally proprietary in nature.\u201d What Tovar apparently doesn\u2019t say is it\u2019s only proprietary in nature when it suits them.Part Two: Save Money. Live BetterTovar is quoted again in the\u00a0second part of the series\u00a0(which focuses on the circumstances forcing people into the SNAP program) as he says, apparently with no notice for the irony lacing his words, \u201cWe would love nothing more than a day when we didn\u2019t have to have programs like [SNAP]. But for now, with the economy the way it is, with customers continuing to struggle the way they are, I think it\u2019s really important to be able to help people along the way.\u201dI\u2019m going to go out on a limb here and guess that Tovar\u2019s not on food stamps himself, and therefore far removed from the harsh realities that the program\u2019s recipients face on a daily basis. But regardless of his income level and standard of living, it\u2019s both patronizing and insulting for him to want \u201cnothing more than a day when we didn\u2019t have to have programs like [SNAP].\u201d Walmart is one of the largest employers in the country, and the largest in Ohio, and it can very easily take steps towards eliminating that problem. When a company\u2019s profits are in the billions each year, there\u2019s simply no excuse for paying your workers a sub-living wage.Part Three: Hungry for SavingsThe series wraps up with\u00a0this piece, and it\u2019s no easier to read than the previous two. Clark writes about how Walmart (and other monster-sized corporations) get involved with food banks and other similar projects\u2026yet still don\u2019t raise their wages to a liveable standard. It\u2019s a glaring disconnect between what the company says and what it actually does, and it doesn\u2019t quite feel like Walmart walks the walk it talks.To be clear, Walmart doesn\u2019t just sit idly by on the sidelines and rubs its hands together gleefully at the poverty it\u2019s placed its workers into. They donate food to food banks (that its workers frequent), and are currently \u201cdiscussing the minimum wage\u201d and \u201cthe effect it would have on its business.\u201d But from an observer\u2019s perspective, it\u2019s quite difficult to align their supposed efforts with their actual actions, as they continue to trot out some of the lowest prices \u2014 and wages \u2014 in the country.While the food stamps program undoubtedly benefits millions of Americans, when one-seventh of its population uses them, it points to a much bigger problem. It\u2019s one of corporations allow to run free and loose with their profits, while those on the other end continue to suffer in silence.For the full three-part series,\u00a0click here\u00a0to read it."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ID","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/\/ID\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"24","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/\/ID\/\/24\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Slate Goes Undercover with Food Stamps","item":"https:\/\/foodstamps.org\/Blog\/ID\/24\/slate-goes-undercover-with-food-stamps#breadcrumbitem"}]}]