Archived Wic guest

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On Thursday, I had a WIC guest as the last guest on a 5.5 hour shift. The guest had 10 separate WIC checks, and it took about 40 minutes to process all of their transactions, including another non-WIC transaction. Unfortunately, I forgot about compliance and I ended up punching out after 6 hours of work, and I was told by the STL that I had hit compliance. I explained how I hit compliance to them, and I hope that it wasn't a coaching or anything like that.
 
I had almost this exact situation last month. Add in the fact that he was upset that we didn't have enough of the baby formula on his checks and wanted to buy organic produce that wouldn't authorize, and take out the compliance.

Unfortunately for you, this probably will be a coaching, because hitting compliance is a big issue. They'll probably tell you that it's your job to make sure you clock out on time and that you should have called your GSTL.
 
During the transaction with the WIC guest last week, one of the items on their check was large eggs. Unfortunately, we were out of large eggs, and as a substitute, the guest brought extra large eggs. When I scanned the extra large eggs, the message of "Not WIC-able" appeared on my register and I flipped my light to call on the GSTL. The GSTL overrode and allowed the guests to substitute the extra large eggs for the large eggs. I am just curious how this would work since no other GSTLs have overrode an item that was not WIC-able.
 
NewCashierLT said:
During the transaction with the WIC guest last week, one of the items on their check was large eggs. Unfortunately, we were out of large eggs, and as a substitute, the guest brought extra large eggs. When I scanned the extra large eggs, the message of "Not WIC-able" appeared on my register and I flipped my light to call on the GSTL. The GSTL overrode and allowed the guests to substitute the extra large eggs for the large eggs. I am just curious how this would work since no other GSTLs have overrode an item that was not WIC-able.
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Your GSTL should get a corrective for that. Now your store is not going to be reimbursed for anything on that check. He just gave away everything and took a loss for the store. If he really wanted to make it right he would've just requisitioned the eggs.
 
NewCashierLT said:
On Thursday, I had a WIC guest as the last guest on a 5.5 hour shift. The guest had 10 separate WIC checks, and it took about 40 minutes to process all of their transactions, including another non-WIC transaction. Unfortunately, I forgot about compliance and I ended up punching out after 6 hours of work, and I was told by the STL that I had hit compliance. I explained how I hit compliance to them, and I hope that it wasn't a coaching or anything like that.
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It's your job to keep an eye on the clock and not hit compliance. You should've called over the GSTL to process the rest of the checks.
 
LearningTree said:
Your GSTL should get a corrective for that. Now your store is not going to be reimbursed for anything on that check. He just gave away everything and took a loss for the store. If he really wanted to make it right he would've just requisitioned the eggs.
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Since WIC is a state run program isn't it possible that the policies and restrictions due to supervisor substitutions vary from state to state. In my state, if a store has been issued a warning (in danger of losing WIC) they will not substitute at all but if not a reasonable, I don't know the number but based on the number of hours I work and how often it happens, my guess is 3-5 per month are allowed. Now that we have moved to cards, it isn't as much of a worry but we typically had 0-2 checks filled out incorrectly with missing information and that was more of a problem than rare substitutions/make wic-able.
 
While I will concede that it's possible WIC restrictions vary across states, I think we are are 2 different tracks here. I am not considering the store's potential to lose WIC. I am simply considering the reimbursement process. In my state, the state will not reimburse the store if the items on the WIC check do not match what was bought. So in NewCashierLT's situation since the check stated large eggs, and the GSTL overrode it to push through XL eggs, the state will not give that store anything for the entire check, even though the rest of the items matched.
 
LearningTree said:
It's your job to keep an eye on the clock and not hit compliance. You should've called over the GSTL to process the rest of the checks.
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I just read through a couple of threads about hitting compliance and I am going to follow the suggestion of setting an alarm 30 minutes before 6 hours of work elapses so this doesn't happen again. While it is unfortunate that I hit compliance, I will take responsibility for this.
 
I don't care who uses wic like i get it they need help paying for stuff but when it comes to the process especially when its busy as hell its a horrible process! The wic program needs to remove the checks completely and make it a card. I wish wic had a different system! like its sooo freekin long when people use more than one wic check in a transaction. I wish it was updated to a card so it speeds up the process. I am sooooo annoyed of having to scan the check and then the items and then sign the check like dam it takes 5 min per check or longer depending on how huge the transaction is! The killer part is when its insanely busy so I turn my light off because ik its gonna take a while! They really need to ditch the checks and make it a card!
 
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CoolLife24 said:
I don't care who uses wic like i get it they need help paying for stuff but when it comes to the process especially when its busy as hell its a horrible process! The wic program needs to remove the checks completely and make it a card. I wish wic had a different system! like its sooo freekin long when people use more than one wic check in a transaction. I wish it was updated to a card so it speeds up the process. I am sooooo annoyed of having to scan the check and then the items and then sign the check like dam it takes 5 min per check or longer depending on how huge the transaction is! The killer part is when its insanely busy so I turn my light off because ik its gonna take a while! They really need to ditch the checks and make it a card!
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Some states have made it a card
 
Do you guys have to ring up everything first to get the exact amount, void everything and then ring everything up again as WIC?
 
Part of me would like to see my state adopt a digital version. But most of me knows that the format isn't going to make much of a difference.

At my store, most of our WIC recipients have got their shit together enough that it really only takes a few seconds longer for me to verify their items against the voucher, input the number and dates, and get a signature. The part frustrates me the most with the paper voucher is having to ring multiple transactions when the guest is using an entire month's worth of their program benefits in one trip.

For those guests who either can't understand the program or are trying to play games by selecting merchandise that isn't approved - it depends entirely on how POS is programmed to respond to non-matches. Since I would lose the ability to verify in advance of ringing, I expect a lot more complaints over being expected to pay out of pocket for items that don't appear in their benefits.

BullseyeBabe said:
Do you guys have to ring up everything first to get the exact amount, void everything and then ring everything up again as WIC?
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I've only ever had to void if the guest doesn't tell me up front that it's a WIC transaction.
 
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My state has a WIC card. Super, super easy to do! We scan all items like normal, guest runs their WIC card, we get prompted to print a receipt that shows the guest their beginning WIC balance, hand it to the guest (they never read it), they enter their pin #, out comes their ending balance receipt, and then the guest pays the remaining balance. Remaining balance is for non-WICable food items, non-food, whatever.

If they have SNAP too, that card gets swiped after WIC.

It's all very easy and much easier to process than paper vouchers.
 
WIC rules must be super lenient in my state because my last job we had like 9,000 non-WIC items processed every week and all that would happen was getting bawled out by the store manager. I would've loved it large if we had lost WIC status though because I was often the only cashier and it always held up my line like nothing else
 
Our state has gone to EBT cards for WIC & SNAP, very easy.
Only prob is our store isn't allowed to take WIC (too close to regular groc stores) although super Ts can so we frequently have to deal with a select few WIC recipients who refuse to believe we can't accept WIC & I end up having to call over leadership.
Dealing with that is way above my paygrade.
 
Apparently my store used to take WIC, then a grocery store was built near us so they stopped letting us take it, so we get people with carts full of food all the time who are shocked to find out we don't take it, even though it's been like 5yrs. 🙄
 
That's really a thing being too close to a grocery store? We share a parking lot with a grocery store.
 
Some states don't allow big box stores to accept it if they're too close to a "real" grocery store, because heaven forbid we compete with a mom and pop store like Kroger/Wegman's/etc. 🙄
 
Nah, just a way to make it just that much harder for poor people to eat. Gotta make them make two stops for their groceries and other necessities instead of one stop.

My state does not appear to have that issue, as we have a "real" grocery store less than a mile away, but they still have the paper checks with the ridiculously specific, yet not-entirely-well-stated-on-the-check requirements. We had lost the ability to sell WIC until recently because of it.
 
PackAndCry said:
Some states don't allow big box stores to accept it if they're too close to a "real" grocery store, because heaven forbid we compete with a mom and pop store like Kroger/Wegman's/etc. 🙄
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This.
Our state has a non-competition clause for stores not 'primarily' grocery.
 
My state clearly doesn't have an issue with proximity either, as I have a major grocery store in the same shopping center.

I'm also amused at the list of participating stores in my town. 7-Eleven????
 
PassinTime said:
My state has a WIC card. Super, super easy to do! We scan all items like normal, guest runs their WIC card, we get prompted to print a receipt that shows the guest their beginning WIC balance, hand it to the guest (they never read it), they enter their pin #, out comes their ending balance receipt, and then the guest pays the remaining balance. Remaining balance is for non-WICable food items, non-food, whatever.

If they have SNAP too, that card gets swiped after WIC.

It's all very easy and much easier to process than paper vouchers.
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omg if we only where i live we had this!
 
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