Costco said it would accept food stamps nationally, in an expansion of a New York City program that was announced in May after local politicians placed pressure on the company. Food stamp enrollment has soared nationwide, and in New York it has surged to 1.6 million.
Company executives hope to have food stamp acceptance in place in half the company’s 407 warehouse-style stores by Thanksgiving, according to Richard Galanti, chief financial officer of Costco. “Even though it impacts a very small percentage of our members, we believe it’s the right thing to do,” Mr. Galanti said.
Mr. Galanti said in New York, the company had attracted a small number of new members who paid the $50 annual membership fee and then began using food stamps. But he added, “Our decision to accept food stamps was not done because of the hope we should procure extra customers.”
The policy, which was detailed by the chief executive, James D. Sinegal , in an interview with The Seattle Times, has been in development over the last few months. While the company had once protested that it was difficult to configure its computer systems to accept food stamps — given that Costco sells many other products besides food — Costco has now embraced the idea. “The reality is: if we are going to do it, let’s go ahead and do it,” he said.
(Source: NY Times)
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9 Responses
Ugh! This makes me feel sick!! While I scrimp and budget my hard-earned dollars, those on food stamps will now be buying Costco items with my paycheck?!? Shame on our yidden who are working for cash and/or not trying to earn more because it may shterr their benefits, while they buy shabbos treats and premium food items at Costco with my tax dollars!! Maybe you don’t expect more from goyim but any Yid who goes to Costco with food stamps should be ashamed of themselves!
So, Outatownmom, you are saying you would rather let the goyim spend your hard-earned dollars on their Thanksgiving turkey and ham, than having a Yid buy their Shabbos treats?!?
And, by the way, if I were you, I wouldn’t be too concerned. If you are “scrimping and budgeting your hard-earned dollars”, chances are that you are not paying too much into the food stamp program anyway!
outatownmom?
Uh…What on earth was that rant about?!
As far as I know, Costco is not a luxury store, nor boutique for “premium items”… In fact, many people go to Costco specifically because of the excellent prices on larger sized items- it is a place for people who BUDGET!!! Shouldn’t you be *happy* that those who you think are sticking their hands into your pocketbook are *budgeting*?!
Perhaps you misread and thought it said Wegmans?!
One additional point: The money you pay in taxes is not yours. It’s taxes. You can’t keep that money, and you’re never gonna keep that money- if you do keep that money, it is YOU who is stealing. I’m sure you wouldn’t do that. No one is taking YOUR hard earned money- taxes aren’t yours. They do come out of YOUR paycheck, but they aren’t yours. At the same time that your paycheck of net pay is being generated, monies are being allocated to taxes in your name. It never was yours, and you’re not giving a donation to the government- it is legally money that cannot go into your hands, but rather, goes directly from your employer to the government. If you are a 1099, you can have the money “come into your hands” and give it to the government yourself, but it’s still not yours (you will hopefully get your social security taxes back when you become of age). So stop getting apoplectic over *your* money- it’s not. If you want to live in this country, and enjoy the privileges of the US of A, you need to pay taxes. Get used to it. No individual, even if they *do* shop in Wegmans, is taking away *your* money.
Mrs outatowwnwoman if someone doesn’t have enough money there is nothing wrong with food stamps.Don’t start accusing every one. But you do have a Good point that frum jews should not use them in non jewish stores.
#3, congratulations. It’s rare to hear someone openly express such wickedness out loud. So let’s hear it again: “The money you pay in taxes is not yours…No one is taking YOUR hard earned money- taxes aren’t yours…It never was yours”. Such chutzpah. Who earned that money? Me. Who created that value? Me. So how is it not mine.
Get this straight, Mr. Anonymous: every penny that is taken from me in taxes is MINE. I earned it, and it belongs to me; if not for my work that value would not exist in the world. You did nothing for it, and have no claim on it whatsoever. You have it because I know that if I don’t pay up you will send people with guns after me, to steal everything I have, kidnap me, beat me up, or kill me. That doesn’t make you right; it makes you a gangster, a mafioso. There is no difference between the IRS and a mafia protection racket; I have to pay both, for the same reason – because if I don’t they will hurt me. But at least the made man, as he collects his take, doesn’t pretend that the money is his, and that he’s not a thief.
You are like Lovon: “Habonim bonai, vehatzon tzoni, vechol asher atoh ro’eh li hu”. And why? Because “yesh le’el yodi la’asos lochem ro”.
my husband lost his job……and as a result had to enroll in foodstamps. we alwasy went to costco for savings on our household products and our food items. so what is wrong if we can now use the foot stamps here?!?!?!??!?!?! those of you who don’t need food stamps- how lucky for you! what difference does it make where we use the food stamps- jewish stores, or not..bottom line, if one has no money, and went ahead and applied for the food stamps, because they are elligable, why not use it, WHEREEVER you are buying your food!! may we all have parnasa, so we dont have to rely on the foodstamps!!!
Milhouse,
I truly think you have had too much to drink. Firstly, I do not receive Food Stamps, and pay plenty in taxes. Secondly, your rant about the government being a version of mafia is deranged. If you don’t like United States tax system, you are welcome to live anywhere else. You obviously *want* to live here, so you must think the privileges of living in the US of A outweigh the tragedy of paying taxes. And no, the money does NOT belong to you. You might have earned a specified amount, but in the United States, “earning” an amount automatically relegates some of that amount to the government, so no, it’s not “your”, it’s taxes payable to the government. You might not like all the aspects of living here, and this may be one of the downsides, but it’s the facts, and ranting about the mafia doesn’t make it stealing. By virtue of you living here, you agree to pay taxes. By virtue of you living here, you agree that when your gross earnings are calculated, the payroll department generates only the net earnings to you after taxes, and allocates part of the gross figure to the government. That is the arrangement in this country. If YOU don’t pay taxes, it is YOU, and only you, who are stealing from our government. The maintained pavement you walk on, the streetlights that protect you, the police services and fire department that serve you, the schools that educate the next generation instead of permitting them to spend the day on your front lawn drinking beer, the emergency services that kick in when a Hurrican Katrina situation arises- these are paid for by your taxes. If you don’t like the pavements, the police, etc, I imagine you’re already booking a ticket to elsewhere.
I don’t enjoy it either when part of what I earned goes to taxes, but I don’t spit on my illegal immigrant neighbors who enjoy these taxes in the form of free medical care. I know, that my taxes are not mine, they belong to the government, and even if I don’t agree with all of the decisions made in allocating these tax monies, the only way I have influence in changing that is through voting for those who share my philosophies, or running for office myself. The former has little impact, as most of these programs in my area have bi-partisan support, and I’m not interested in the latter. Thus, I have three choices- agree to the arrangement, steal the money, or move. Thinking that the govt. is a form of mafia and not giving just because they will “hurt” you is the rantings of a lunatic, unless you’re being held in this country against your will.
Actually, Milhouse, it’s not YOUR money, it is Hashem’s money. Nothing is ours, and everything is Hashems. He gives and He takes. It is the ultimate decision of Ha Kadosh Baruch Hu, who will decide where and when how HIS money will be used.
8. I am sick and tired of hearing people say “if you don’t like it, move”. Why should I move? I have as much right to be here as anyone else. The US government doesn’t own the land, and has no right to expel me, so to claim that by remaining in the home that I bought, and where I have every right to be, I am somehow consenting to the demands of the armed thugs who take my money is insane. Of course the mafia says the same thing: “if you don’t want to pay your protection money, move your business out of our territory”. How do you distinguish the two? What gives the IRS more right to my money than the mafia has?
9. You are a rasha gamur. Morally, you are no better than a member of the crips or the bloods. There is nothing more to be said.
10. If Hashem were to tell me to give money to someone that would be one thing, but the IRS is not Hashem, any more than the mafia is. If your claim is merely that the fact that my money ends up with the IRS proves that Hashem wanted it to happen, then the same applies to the money that ends up with the mafia, and the money that the burglar takes when he breaks in. It’s still my money, not theirs.
11. Did your father also say “thank you Hashem for giving me so much that I can be mugged and still have enough left over to feed my family”? Or “thank you Hashem for making me so healthy that I can be beaten up and still walk away”? Of course we should thank Hashem for those things, in fact we bench gomel after something like that, but that doesn’t mean we have no claim against the sheigetz who robs us or beats us.