Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Beer Sales Spike When Food Stamps Hit

When monthly food-stamp distributions fall on a weekend, beer sales to that population jump – by up to 7%.

According to a new study, the day of the week food-stamp funds are distributed seems to be influencing monthly beer sales among the population eligible for the benefit. The findings were released in a paper this month by Elena Castellari and Chad Cotti of the University of Connecticut, and the University South Carolina’s John Gordanier and Orgul D. Ozturk.

Close to 23 million households receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, widely known as food stamps, according to the latest government data. The jump occurs even though beer is not an approved item for purchases using food stamp.

But jump in beer-buying only appears for food-stamp-eligible households and not for the non-eligible households, according to the report titled “One More Saturday Night: Food Stamp Timing and Monthly Consumption Patterns.”

(via WSJ)

8 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Germans consider beer to be "liquid bread".

    ReplyDelete
  3. so, beer is being rung up as something that IS categorized as "eligible". such as soft drinks or energy drinks (which are "allowable" IF there is a nutritional label).

    it is surprising that Tree House does not contract with the HHS/USDA to concoct a whole-nutrition drink (like ensure) as a madatory allotment. c'mon michelle, you need to put your crony-nanny skills to work in that "passion" hobby of yours! make that revolving door work from hawaii!

    ReplyDelete
  4. there must be "SNAP eligibility" courses at community colleges.... check out the site! it's as complicated as IRS forms. not to mention map-reading skills for retailers.

    www.fns.usda.gov/snap/eligiblility



    ReplyDelete
  5. I know from experience...Food Stamps are often sold for cash.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Well, my first post was shorthand for "Every dollar not spent for food is a dollar more to buy BEER." ok?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Let's make food stamp eligibility contingent on not having a monthly cable TV payment. If you have cable, you really don't need the handout.

    ReplyDelete