Do Vending Machines Take EBT Cards? How Do EBT Cards Work?

Vending machines make it very easy for customers to get access to snacks and drinks via bank cards, as many modern vending machines are now equipped with card readers.

However, do vending machines take EBT card payments?

No, Vending machines are not a commonly eligible option to use your EBT card. The main reason behind this is that EBT cards are not readable by most card readers as a proper payment method.

Most vending machines’ products don’t meet the eligibility criteria to become a SNAP-authorized products.

If you want to find out more about payment methods for vending machines and whether EBT works for them, keep on reading this guide!

How Do EBT Cards Work?

In order to figure out whether a vending machine will accept EBT cards or not, you should first understand how EBT cards work.

EBT is short for Electronic Benefits Transfer, which is an electronic system by the government that allows anyone who is a participant of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to receive products and benefits from retail stores.

All participants of SNAP hold an EBT card, which is similar to bank cards (debit or credit) and even works like one. While checking out at the cash register, you can slide the EBT card through a terminal, and enter your PIN to purchase the items.

This also applies to the Pandemic EBT system which provides similar benefits but for school meals.

Do Vending Machines Take EBT?

Since EBT cards are processed very similarly to how bank cards do, it’s easy to assume that EBT card payments are accepted in vending machines. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

For starters, you need to know that a vending machine will never sell or accept any form of payment if it can’t process it.

In other words, vending machines need to be programmed to specifically accept EBT cards as a form of payment, and that’s one of the other reasons that prevent vending machines from accepting EBT.

Why Vending Machines Aren’t Eligible for SNAP Benefits?

Retail stores need to be eligible to SNAP in order to accept payments via EBT cards.

However, According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are two criteria of acceptance that any store needs to meet at least one in order to be eligible for SNAP benefits and EBT cards.

Staple Food Inventory (Criterion A)

This category includes stores that offer at least three varieties of staple food stocks that are required for a person’s diet. These varieties include:

Cereals and/or bread
Fruits and/or Vegetables
Any kinds of dairy products
Meat as well as poultry or fish

According to this list, accessory food (which includes snacks found in vending machines) doesn’t meet the requirements for this Criterion.

Staple Food Sales (Criterion B)

These categories include stores with more than 50% of their stock value coming from any of the previously mentioned staple food varieties. Again, not including accessory food that is typically found in vending machines.

Based on these eligibility requirements, most vending machines out there won’t be eligible for SNAP benefits, and therefore, shouldn’t accept EBT payments.

What Are the Current Acceptable Payment Methods for Vending Machines?

Although vending machines are yet to accept EBT payments, there’s a wide variety of methods that you can use to pay for your items. These methods of payment include:

Coins: Many coins are accepted as a form of payment, but the dimes and quarters are the most commonly accepted ones.
Bills: The most commonly accepted bills are the 1, 2, 5, and 10 dollar bills, but newer vending machines that sell expensive items can also accept up to 20 and 50 dollar bills.
Bank Cards: Since the world is becoming more and more cashless, most vending machines now have a card reader that can read and accept payments from both debit and credit cards.
Mobile Payments: Many vending machines nowadays accept mobile banking and payment apps, such as Whatsapp Pay, Google Pay, PhonePe, Paytm, and more!
Gift and Private Company Cards: Some vending machine companies are partnered with specific private company cards and gift cards that allow you to buy their products using these cards.

Petitions to Use EBT Card on Vending Machines

A lot of people are interested in methods to use their EBT fund in order to buy items from vending machines.

Change.org Petition

In fact, there’s a petition on Change.org for the cause of making vending machines accept EBT food stamps as payment in the wake of the pandemic.

According to Naima Fernandez who started this petition, making EBT cards acceptable in vending machines like other forms of payment will help many families get access to food even when they’re low on cash.

Cashing Out EBT

There’s also a common workaround that some SNAP participants do in order to use EBT to buy items from vending machines.

However, according to the NCSL, EBT cards can’t be used to obtain cash, so the legal status of this method isn’t well established.

In this method, participants buy low-priced items from large stores like Walmart or Target, then return their items without a receipt. They then use the cash money in order to buy items from vending machines.

Patent to Utilize EBT Vending Machines

In 2015, patent #10402804 was submitted with a system that makes it possible to buy items from vending machines using EBT.

The patent is deeply detailed and includes all the information needed to make this work, but it’s yet the system isn’t utilized yet.

Wrap Up

With that said, our guide about vending machines and EBT card payments come to an end. As you can see, in most cases, vending machines won’t directly accept EBT if the products in them don’t comply with SNAP benefits authorization requirements.

However, if the card works with a certain vending machine, you’ll only be able to take EBT eligible items, such as candy and chips that apply to Criterion B of the SNAP benefits program.

However, with the patent provided and the petition submitted on Change.org, new cards that are fully accepted by vending machines might be issued.

Do Vending Machines Take EBT Cards? How Do EBT Cards Work?

How Do EBT Cards Work?

Do Vending Machines Take EBT?