The shutdown will halt about $8 billion a month in federal food assistance. Walmart captures 24% of all SNAP shopper spending, according to Numerator’s 2025 SNAP Evolution report—triple Kroger’s share and far ahead of Costco, Amazon and Sam’s Club.
Walmart was the first retailer to accept SNAP online in all 50 states in 2023 and launched the Walmart+ Assist program, which offers half-price memberships for those receiving aid.
“If SNAP payments stop, spending by the lowest income groups will fall,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of data and analytics firm GlobalData. “Walmart gets a plurality of the spending, so it will be hit the hardest.”
This was somewhat epiphanic for me.
I already recognized companies such as Walmart were subsidizing pay through social programs such as SNAP and essential funneling/laundering tax payer money to their executives.
This headline made me further realize they’re not only making taxpayers subsidize wages, they’ve also effectively turned the USD into a form of company scrip. While that scrip can be spent at some other locations I bet a large percent of funneled right back to e.g. Walmart itself. If you already work at Walmart it makes spending your SNAP benefit there easier.
IIRC food stamps have always been an FDA program, which means the stakeholders are producers, not consumers. It exists as a form of subsidy for farmers. But it looks like the Waltons have managed to get a good chunk.
It’s run by the USDA (US Department of Agriculture). But you’re otherwise correct, so I’m assuming that was a typo.
It’s not just a social program to feed the poor and disabled. In fact, that’s just a side effect of the need to ensure that someone buys the food that the farmers are producing.
Both ends of the SNAP pipeline get fucked. A truly distressing portion of both ends also voted for it.
I suspect Walmart will be fine. They might close a few stores, fire all the employees, and put the final nail in the coffin of some communities they’ve been slowly killing for years, but they’ll still be supporting fascists and enslaving Americans long after this episode of history has been
forgottenrewritten.I’m not American and often confuse the TLAs. (Yes I know it’s four.)
This article and the dozens of relevant videos it links to talks about the conflicts of interests between promoting the commercial interests of producers, and protecting the health and safety of consumers. Guess which one typically wins out!!