Golden State Advantage aka "Food Stamps"

I was talking with the Department of Social Services representative at my local One-Stop center and she told me the good news.  When I was first laid off I called DSS to see if I qualified for any of the programs.  The only one I might have qualified for was "food stamps", but because I owned my car and had both a retirement account and a pension I was not qualified.  However, starting in February 2011 they are no longer counting "property" towards your eligibility for services.

So, I visited my local DSS office and filled out some paperwork last week.  I had an appointment yesterday, had to fill out more paperwork, get my photo taken, get my fingerprints taken, and watch a video of the services offered.  They sent me home with my "Golden State Advantage" card, which is like a debit card.  This morning I checked and $80 had been loaded on the card, so I hurried off to buy some food.

I am ashamed to say that I decided not to use my regular grocery store for my first use of my EBT card, afraid of the stigma I guess.  I went to a local discount grocery store (Cookie Crock) and gathered some different categories of food, which was challenging as I was not given guidelines of which food was eligible and which was not.  I grabbed some produce, some junk food, some canned food, a cooked chicken, bread, cheese, and some soda pop.  When I went through the register the guys helped me out with the process of checking out.  They were so respectful and helpful.  Luckily there was no one behind me in line because I was a bit slow learning which buttons to choose, etc.  I appreciate the patience of the register guys.

Turned out that most of the food, including the junk food and soda, was eligible for the card.  However, I was surprised to find that the cooked chicken was not eligible.  Apparently, prepared hot food is not covered.  I found an FDA site that explains which food is covered and which is not.  One interesting item on this list is "energy drinks", apparently if there is a nutritional label it is covered but if there is no nutritional label it is considered a supplement and is not covered.

Although I am thankful that I was approved for a monthly food stamps allowance of $87.00, I am upset that no one gave me a pamphlet about how to use the card, perhaps it is "in the mail".  I could easily have purchased my own chicken and cooked it at home, that would have saved me almost $6 in cash.

Follow-up:  For people who are new to the "EBT" card, each store has a different process for using the card.  I have used it at 4 stores and they are all different.  I am almost used to having to announce, or having the register announce, to the whole store that I am using food stamps!!  Today, because I had less on my card than the amount of the purchase, it rejected my card.  I had to take it to the special register where they could check my balance first and then process only that amount!!  The computer should know that, right?  If I had been in a regular line instead of the self-checkout line I would have held up the line and everyone would have known why.  This is not right!!  So not only do I have to learn several different processes for using the card, I also have to keep in mind how much is left on the card and not go over or it will be rejected and I will have to be embarrassed yet again, ARGGGGHH!!

Another Follow-up:  So, I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting at the beginning of my second month for my next installment of food stamps.  I called each day to see if the balance was $87.00, and finally pressed the right sequence of numbers to get to a list of topics that might answer my questions.  Of course I never had the option of speaking to a live person!!  The bottom line was that the date your food stamps funds are added to your card is the last number of your claim.  Of course mine is "9", so I have to wait until the 9th of the month to get my food stamps cash on my card.  See, this is why there should have been a packet mailed to me explaining all of this.  I feel like I was sent out into the ocean with a paddle with no boat!!

Yet another Follow-up:  Sometime last weekend I realized that I had been waiting for the quarterly report to come in the mail, or at least an email with a link to the report.  I did some online searching and it turns out that I was supposed to turn it in the first week of the month, and it was considered late by the second week of the month.  I went into the office in town this morning and got quite frustrated.  The gal who was helping me was a bit rude to me while she was helping me figure out the problem.  Apparently, they had me registered as homeless because the only address they had in their records was my P.O. Box!!  Of course, they have it noted in my record that I pay rent and utilities, so I don't know how that happened.  She went off to get my quarterly report form and when she came back she told me that there was a glitch in the system and they had me as not needing to do a quarterly report.  OK, so the report she gave me starts next month.  I was asking her lots of questions about the process, since no one ever explained this process to me, and she copped an attitude.  I lost it and stormed out telling her that it was hard enough to come in this office in the first place, and that she was not dealing with this situation well.  If they had given me a proper orientation in the first place this would not have been a problem.  I am hoping that because I will be filling this out and turning it in the following month that I will get a reprieve from any income I have starting next month.  One of the good things is that they don't stop benefits during a quarter.

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