May 12, 2016

MAY 12, 2016 – WASHINGTON, DC – Representing Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the nation’s grocery stores, Kathy Hanna, senior director, enterprise payments at The Kroger Company, testified today at a U.S. House Agriculture Committee hearing entitled, “The Past, Present, and Future of SNAP: The Retailer Perspective.” The panel, featuring a spectrum of perspectives from the grocery industry, offered context on the effectiveness of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

As past chairperson of the FMI Electronic Payments Systems Committee, Hanna has witnessed the evolution of SNAP from paper coupons, to a patchwork regional system with differing administrative requirements, to a nationwide electronic system that has significantly improved efficiencies and reduced the opportunity for fraud and error.

Hanna testified, “According to our partners at FMI, about 9 percent of grocery sales industry-wide are SNAP. That number was higher directly following the severe economic downturn in 2008 and 2009. Even then, with a larger population shopping with SNAP EBT cards, we did not see a slowdown in checkout lines or an increased error rate. The efficiency, ubiquity, low error rate and ability to handle volume increases can all be directly contributed to the streamlined EBT system. These transactions only take a matter of seconds.

“At Kroger, our point of sale system is integrated to automatically prohibit SNAP benefits from being used to purchase non-allowable items, such as toilet paper or alcohol. This efficiency is further enhanced by the fact that the rules are uniform across the country, so we do not have to individually program EBT restrictions, requirements or allowances by state. Not only is this uniformity essential on our programming side, it is key for our shoppers who rely on SNAP to have the same set of rules regardless of where they redeem their benefits.”

She later concluded, “We are always looking for opportunities to improve our operations and our customers’ shopping experience. SNAP EBT has been a great success, bringing efficiencies, consistency and reliability to a program that so many Americans rely on to feed their families. As Congress looks toward the next farm bill, we hope the Committee will consider these successes and efficiencies as they debate changes to the program. We stand ready to work with the Committee to find additional improvements and future technology solutions to ensure we can meet all of our customers’ needs.”

Hanna joined witnesses Jimmy Wright, owner, Wright's Market, Opelika, Ala.; Doug Beech, counsel, Casey’s General Stores, Ankeny, Iowa; and Carl Martincich, vice president of human resources and risk management, Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Ref: Kathy Hanna, senior director, enterprise payments at the Kroger Company, full testimony