Meijer has officially announced its decision to start accepting the use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits on its Meijer app, therefore providing a more convenient option for customers to pay for groceries like fresh produce and milk. According to certain reports, the new payment capability, which went live across all of Meijer’s Midwest stores last week, makes it possible for SNAP participants to pay for their Meijer app orders using an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card. In the current context, such a facility not only means greater accessibility to healthy food and beverages, but it also comes at a time when families living in Midwest are expecting $40 each month in summer EBT benefits for each SNAP-eligible school-aged child to buy groceries. Markedly enough, these aren’t the only benefits that Meijer will deliver at the disposal of all beneficiaries, considering it will also aid their case through meaningful produce discounts. This involves the continuation of Meijer’s 10% discount on SNAP purchases for qualifying produce. The company will be able to do so through a waiver granted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture back in 2022. Another way Meijer has been enhancing the beneficiary experience all this time is concerned with a dedicated home delivery facility. To contextualize the same, we must take into account the company’s decision to launch a free Home Delivery back in November 2022. Right within the same year, Meijer began accepting SNAP benefits for Meijer Pickup and Home Delivery orders on Meijer.com. Not just on its website, but in 2023, the company also became the first retailer nationwide to accept SNAP benefits through the Flashfood app, which by the way, allows customers to purchase surplus close-dated food at a deep discount.
“Meijer is a family company committed to serving other families across the Midwest,” said Calli Schmid, Vice President of Grocery for Meijer. “By accepting SNAP benefits on the Meijer app, we are providing participants with more options and flexibility to shop for the groceries they need and want, while also reducing barriers that may prevent them from eating well.”
Owing to the development in question, SNAP participants can now shop for more than 100,000 items, including fresh produce, meat, dairy, and pantry staples, and they can pay for them with their EBT card digitally or in store. The stated faction of participants can also link their EBT card to their Meijer account online or at any Meijer Customer Service desk. Once they do, they can seamlessly use their EBT card as a payment method on the app and choose from various delivery and pickup options.
The whole runner delivers a rather interesting follow-up to Meijer’s recent efforts towards enhancing accessibility of food times. You see, in April only, the company doubled the value of a previously offered discount on select milk products back. Hence, it is now offering 40 percent off any brand or size of 1 percent and fat free milk. This, on its part, came after Meijer announced that it is the largest – and the only retailer in its six-state footprint – selected to partner on Healthy Fluid Milk Incentives (HFMI) projects, which were established by the 2018 Farm Bill to promote milk as part of a healthy diet. Keeping that in mind, the company was also awarded a grant by Auburn University’s Hunger Solutions Institute to participate in the “Add Milk” initiative and incentivize SNAP participants to purchase fluid milk.
