I am wondering if this happens to anyone here and how you handle it. I thought one of the reasons they changed it to a card rather than pulling out coupons is for privacy. Every time I go to certain supermarkets, I swipe the card and the cashier says "Debit or Credit" and I have to say "EBT". The other day, a neighbor was standing behind me in line and I really didn't want her to know so I said "Neither"..I don't know if she even heard this. Why can't they assume it MAY be EBT and not make us say this out loud? Some of the machines work better, you just put in your pin number. I would like to know how you would handle this, please. I don't think talking to the manager would help because I don't know if they have meetings with their staff (which is hundreds here) or if there is a way the cashier can know that it's EBT (she can't see the face of the card so I can't blame her and she needs to know to type in something). Any suggestions? I know it's no shame to have this but I don't want my neighbors to know.

Maybe beforehand you could somehow discretely show the cashier the card and ask, "Do you take this card?" or something like that.  Even though you know that the store will accept it, it'll make the cashier look at the card as opposed to them having to ask and will save you the step of having to anwser.   I don't know, just a thought...

I would present my card at the end vs. saying it. I do that when I go to the co-op so they don't even ask.

susie48:

Why can't they assume it MAY be EBT and not make us say this out loud?

They could assume it may be EBT... but without knowing how often it happens, why would they assume that?  But unless a large number of people come through with EBT cards, asking every time woudl slow things down... not to mention that it would still be asking for a verbal response.

susie48:

I don't think talking to the manager would help because I don't know if they have meetings with their staff (which is hundreds here) or if there is a way the cashier can know that it's EBT (she can't see the face of the card so I can't blame her and she needs to know to type in something). Any suggestions? I know it's no shame to have this but I don't want my neighbors to know.

 

I would talk to a manager; there may be a solution you haven't thought of - such as a button option; the cashiers often ask because on some keypads I've seen you hit a button; on others the cashier has to enter the choice.  Also, "debit or credit" has to do with how the purchase is processed - "debit" charges a fee to the user, and "credit" charges a fee to the bank, which is why the need to know.   You might consider asking how they run it - if it's entered as a either a "debit" or a "credit" (it might be neither, I don't know) then you could say whichever one it is.   As far as staff meetings go, I have a couple of friends who work for King Soopers (a grocery chain that's part of Kroger's) and they have monthly staff meetings, usually one/shift, which are mandatory for all staff, as well as written notices that are posted for all staff to read about customer service issues.  It's possible the manager can't help you, but it's also possible s/he can - but if you don't ask, you'll never know.

What gets me is the self checkouts has one button for ebt/debit/credit.  there is no reason why the regular registers could tell the difference without a key punch.

Thanks so much for all of your replies. What I meant was not that they should assume it's EBT but assume that it could be so instead of asking "credit or debit?" they should add "ebt" but even then, I'd be in a position to say what it is. Fortunately, my local market has a machine that just knows and the cashiers do not have to ask. It's rare that I see my neighbors get on line right behind me in the other markets. And the truth it, for all I know, life may have put them in the same situation as myself and they may have the same card. Ya never know!

 EBT stands for electronic bank transfer. It does not mean foodstamps. The foodstamp program is not the only entity to use that technology.

April, could you tell me what else it is used for? If someone sees the card being used for food, wouldn't they assume it's for foodstamps?

Something else to consider... until you posted exactly what EBT meant, I didn't know, and I suspect quite a few other people don't know either.  I've seen it as an option on the self-check and never really thought about it - so even if I heard someone say it, before this thread, it would have been meaningless to me; since it came up with all of the other electronic payment methods (I use store gift cards from a fund raiser frequently) I assumed it was another bank protocol and never thought about it further.

Susie, EBT is being used for anything that can be paid onto and account that is accessed through the Point of Sale method. This has been used for Food Stamps but in San Francisco, since our Treasurer is trying to go paperless on our payroll, they are tring to move to EBT to pay anyone who does not already have direct deposit. My daughter was getting her paycheck through EBT last year too.