SNAP Retail Service Center Offline Due to Shutdown

WASHINGTON – According to the Food & Nutrition Service (FNS), approximately 2,500 stores that failed to complete the reauthorization process for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were withdrawn from the program effective December 21, 2018. However, many of these stores may not have realized this until December 26 or later when stores were no longer able to process SNAP EBT payments.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which includes FNS, is one of the departments affected by the lapse in federal funding caused by the government shutdown. As a result, FNS is unable to assist these stores that failed to complete SNAP reauthorization prior to the shutdown because the agency’s retailer management system and the SNAP Retailer Service Center are offline, and the retailer management team is furloughed.

Once the government shutdown ends and normal operations resume, affected store owners are encouraged to contact the SNAP Retail Service Center at 1-877-823-4369 for assistance with next steps. It is anticipated that FNS will have a long backlog of applications, reauthorizations and other issues from the shutdown to work through and retailers should note that the agency’s response time will be longer than normal.

During the reauthorization process, FNS gives SNAP licensed stores the opportunity to respond to a reauthorization notice and the retailer receives at least two letters from the agency to the store’s mailing address and a robo-call reminder to the phone number on record before withdrawal occurs. For this reason, it’s important that SNAP-licensed retailers keep their contact information updated with FNS.

In terms of SNAP benefits, the Agriculture Department announced a plan to fund food stamps through the end of February for the more than 39 million Americans who rely on the Program.