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Post by no1inparticular on Oct 12, 2013 14:12:35 GMT -6
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Post by rocket on Oct 12, 2013 15:24:52 GMT -6
mine worked fine. They did away with the old link cards and mailed out new cards with a different look . If you use your old one ,it won't go through.
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Post by seaturtle43 in hostile forum on Oct 12, 2013 17:18:01 GMT -6
While that may be true with some Rocket, the problem is system wide due to problems with an upgrade.
Published October 12, 2013 Associated Press
People in Ohio, Michigan and 15 other states found themselves unable to use their food stamp debit-style cards on Saturday, after a routine check vendor Xerox Corp. resulted in a system failure.
The electronic benefits system experienced a temporary shutdown during a routine test of Xerox back-up systems, company spokeswoman Jennifer Wasmer said Saturday.
"While the system is now up and running, beneficiaries in the 17 affected states continue to experience connectivity issues to access their benefits. Technical staff is addressing the issue and expect the system to be restored soon," Wasmer said in an emailed statement. "Beneficiaries requiring access to their benefits can work with their local retailers who can activate an emergency voucher system where available. We appreciate our clients' patience while we work through this outage as quickly as possible."
U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Courtney Rowe underscored that the outage is not related to the government shutdown.
Shoppers left carts of groceries behind at a packed Market Basket grocery store in Biddeford, Maine, because they couldn't get their benefits, said fellow shopper Barbara Colman, of Saco, Maine. The manager put up a sign saying the EBT system was not in use. Colman, who receives the benefits, called an 800 telephone line for the program and it said the system was down due to maintenance, she said.
"That's a problem. There's a lot of families who are not going to be able to feed children because the system is being maintenanced," Colman said. "No one should put maintenance in during the daytime."
She planned to reach out to local officials.
"I'm trying to reach out to everybody because I'm not thinking of me an adult who can figure out things. I'm thinking of the simpler person in the world who is sitting there trying to just do basic shopping to feed their kids. You don't want children going hungry tonight because of stupidity," she said.
Colman said the store manager promised her that he would honor the day's store flyer discounts next week.
Ohio's cash and food assistance card payment systems went down at 11 a.m., said Benjamin Johnson, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Ohio's cash system has been fixed, however he said that its electronic benefits transfer card system is still down. Johnson said Xerox is notifying retailers to revert to the manual system, meaning SNAP customers can spend up to $50 until the system is back online. SNAP recipients should call the 800 number on the back of their card, and Xerox will guide them through the purchase process.
Illinois residents began reporting problems with their cards -- known as LINK in that state -- on Saturday morning, said Januari Smith, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Smith said that typically when the cards aren't working retailers can call a backup phone number to find out how much money a customer has available in their account. But that information also was unavailable because of the outage, so customers weren't able to use their cards.
"It really is a bad situation but they are working to get it fixed as soon as possible," Smith said. "We hope it will be back up later today."
In Clarksdale, Miss. -- one of the poorest parts of one of the poorest states in the nation -- cashier Eliza Shook said dozens of customers at Corner Grocery had to put back groceries when the cards failed Saturday because they couldn't afford to pay for the food. After several hours, she put a sign on the front door to tell people about the problem.
"It's been terrible," Shook said in a phone interview. "It's just been some angry folks. That's what a lot of folks depend on."
Mississippi Department of Human Services director Rickey Berry confirmed that Xerox, the state's EBT vendor, had computer problems. He said he had been told by midafternoon that the problems were being fixed.
"I know there are a lot of mad people," Berry said.
Sheree Powell, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, started receiving calls around 11:30 a.m. about problems with the state's card systems. More than 600,000 Oklahomans receive SNAP benefits, and money is dispersed to the cards on the first, fifth and 10th days of every month, so the disruption came at what is typically a high-use time for the cards.
Oklahoma also runs a separate debit card system for other state benefits like unemployment payments. Those cards can be used at ATMs to withdraw cash. Powell said Xerox administers both the EBT and debit card systems, and they both were down initially.
Like Ohio's Johnson, Powell said that Oklahoma's cash debit card system has since been restored, but the EBT cards for the SNAP program were still down. Powell said Oklahoma's Xerox representative told them that the problems stemmed from a power failure at a data center, and power had been restored quickly.
"It just takes a while to reboot these systems," she said, adding that she did not know where the data center was located.
Powell said that some grocery store cashiers had been speculating that the federal government's shutdown caused the problem, but state officials have been assured that that is not the case.
"We are hopeful it will be up this afternoon but we were not given a specific time frame," she said.
David Akerly, a spokesman for Michigan's Department of Human Services, also confirmed that residents in his state have reported problems using their cards.
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Post by father of two on Oct 12, 2013 21:18:28 GMT -6
Saw signs up today at Aldis and Krogers. Hopefully nobody went without food today.
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Post by gizzy on Oct 12, 2013 23:32:48 GMT -6
I felt sorry for the woman working the self checkout lanes at Kroger. I seen the sign and asked her how bad she's been yelled at by customers not able to use their LINK cards. She said, "Alot". I jokingly told her that she should know it's her fault since she's a Kroger employee! She got the joke and had a laugh. Again... I felt sorry for her and all other employees that had to deal with it.
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Post by longarm on Oct 13, 2013 9:10:39 GMT -6
A lot of food was left in shopping carts and frozen food thawed out waisting alot of food.
It hard to believe technology can lead to people not eating.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2013 9:12:55 GMT -6
A lot of food was left in shopping carts and frozen food thawed out waisting alot of food. It hard to believe technology can lead to people not eating. If the Power Grid ever goes down...
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2013 9:49:46 GMT -6
A lot of food was left in shopping carts and frozen food thawed out waisting alot of food. It hard to believe technology can lead to people not eating. Responsible people would have put the perishable food back where it belonged, they will be returning to shop again when the cards are active. Can you imagine the outrage and rioting if the LINK or EBT cards were disabled due to lack of funding or collapse of the system? A lot of us are getting tired of paying high taxes to support irresponsibility, perhaps the time has come to quit paying them and just see what happens.
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Post by rocket on Oct 13, 2013 10:29:12 GMT -6
It is fixed ,I was there today and my card went thru.
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Post by oldtimer on Oct 13, 2013 13:39:25 GMT -6
A lot of food was left in shopping carts and frozen food thawed out waisting alot of food. It hard to believe technology can lead to people not eating. Responsible people would have put the perishable food back where it belonged, they will be returning to shop again when the cards are active. Can you imagine the outrage and rioting if the LINK or EBT cards were disabled due to lack of funding or collapse of the system? A lot of us are getting tired of paying high taxes to support irresponsibility, perhaps the time has come to quit paying them and just see what happens. I would love to see the government stop doing the handouts for just one month. I used to think deadbeats who didn't work were the idiots. Now in starting to think I'm the idiot for working.
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Post by rocket on Oct 13, 2013 15:16:08 GMT -6
What will happen if they stop giving food stamps ,would be a riot to start and people kicking in doors to steal food even kill to get it. Could even start to see cannibalism in this country,people eating other people.
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Post by greekgod on Oct 13, 2013 16:24:42 GMT -6
It is fixed ,I was there today and my card went thru. rocket, No wonder you hate all forms of Government! When your Government supported, i.e. taxpayer supplied , LINK CARD doesn't permit you to walk out with the food you put into your shopping cart, which is your "birthright" as a "God Fearing American", then ALL FORMS OF GUBMENT IS BAD, FEDERAL, STATE AND ESPECIALLY LOCAL. Hey rocket, the Federal Government doesn't need to confiscate your guns, they can just take away your Link Card. Gee, when I took Economics 101 in college , the argument was centered around "Guns or Butter". But then it was about the Federal Budget on Defensed Spending or Social Programs. So what happens rocket? Will you "march on Washington D..C" with your gun, as your Second Amendment gives you the right to have, to protect your Link Card as you currently enjoy? Which way would you aim you gun? g
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Post by Blue Star on Oct 13, 2013 17:55:20 GMT -6
That was pure speculation that food spoiled! Many stores reported getting it put away!
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Post by theactualtruth on Oct 13, 2013 18:52:11 GMT -6
What will happen if they stop giving food stamps ,would be a riot to start and people kicking in doors to steal food even kill to get it. Could even start to see cannibalism in this country,people eating other people. Turns out if you do a service for someone they give you this green colored paper and when you go to buy food they just trade it for this green paper everytime..... have never had a problem with that. As for rockets comment if you have the capability of kicking in a door or hunting and eating another human how come they cant get a job? Most people on food stamps would sit on there couches and die if they didnt get stuff for free so i wouldnt really worry about being eaten.
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Post by greekgod on Oct 13, 2013 20:18:04 GMT -6
What will happen if they stop giving food stamps ,would be a riot to start and people kicking in doors to steal food even kill to get it. Could even start to see cannibalism in this country,people eating other people. rocket, Sorry, I'm not buying into your "extortiorn"! I don't need to "pay" for your Link Card, so you won't kick down my doors to "steal food, even kill to get it.". Yep, you do argue about your Second Amendment Rights. Sorry, I don't OWE YOU A LINK CARD! I also hope the the NRA begins to realize that there are those that need to be scrutinized better at the NATIONAL LEVEL. There is a "four letter word" that will provide you and your family with food, without "kicking in anyone's door", or even owning a gun. Here we go now, look it up, it's in the Dictionary, sit back, take a deep breath, it's not that bad of a word, and usually not written on walls, here we go now.............. W-O-R-K! Are you Okay? g
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