Now You Can Use a Snap EBT Card To Buy Groceries on Uber Eats
Initially available for Albertsons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Walgreens and Duane Reade grocery orders, the program will expand to include more retailers.
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If you’re among the many millions of Americans who use SNAP EBT (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefits Transfer) payments to buy groceries, we probably don’t have to tell you that, if you wanted to use them to order food on Uber Eats, you were out of luck. Until now.
Uber Eats has announced that, as part of a new initiative to expand food access, it is now accepting SNAP EBT payments for grocery orders placed on the Uber Eats app, beginning with several popular stores across the country. Those stores include Albertsons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco and Vons supermarkets in addition to participating Walgreens locations nationwide and, in New York, Duane Reade stores.
Using technology from the mission-driven payments company Forage, the initiative will expand to include more retailers in the months ahead.
While it sounds like you cannot use your benefits to pay for your Uber Eats delivery fee, Uber is offering EBT cardholders a $0 delivery fee deal on their first three SNAP-eligible orders. It’s also offering SNAP EBT users a three-month free-trial Uber One membership, which includes unlimited $0 delivery fees, when an EBT card is linked in the Uber Eats app.
Photo courtesy of Uber Eats
“With this rollout, we are taking a significant step forward in ensuring that everyone has access to the fresh food they need, especially those without access to reliable transportation for whom food delivery can be a lifeline,” Hashim Amin, head of grocery and retail delivery at Uber, North America, said in a statement. “We believe that everyone deserves the convenience of delivery, regardless of their payment method.”
The initiative will allow users to browse through a broad array of SNAP-eligible groceries available for delivery from their local Albertsons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Vons and Walgreens stores. And Ofek Lavian, co-founder and CEO of Forage, said he looked forward to working with Uber to “accelerate the onboarding of retailers accepting SNAP payments” in order to “enable families to conveniently order their groceries through Uber Eats, and ultimately expand access to healthy food for millions of low-income Americans across the country.”
Jessica Johnston, senior director of the Center for Economic Well-Being at the National Council on Aging, hailed the expansion of SNAP EBT benefits acceptance to Uber Eats as a way of removing “barriers that prevent older adults from accessing healthy food, especially those facing transportation challenges or limited access to grocery stores.”
“This gives older adults more choices and flexibility” and helps “promote health and independence,” Johnston said in a statement.
More information about the SNAP EBT payment option and its availability at your local Abertsons or Walgreens store can be found on the Uber Eats app or website.
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