USDA email warns stores: discounts for SNAP users could violate federal law

Restaurants, food banks, nonprofits, and other organizations have stepped up to offer assistance to the 41 million Americans who have been thrust into limbo this month regarding SNAP benefits that have been halved. But retailers are prohibited from offering discounts on groceries.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has sent notices to retailers alerting them that they can’t offer special discounts to customers affected by the lapse in funding. Despite skepticism about the authenticity of these reports, the USDA confirmed the veracity of the notice to Fast Company, though a spokesperson didn’t provide any additional comment.

“You must offer eligible foods at the same prices and on the same terms and conditions to SNAP-EBT customers as other customers, except that sales tax cannot be charged on SNAP purchases,” the notice reads. “You cannot treat SNAP-EBT customers differently than any other customers.”

The USDA has sent out these notices despite the government shutdown that began last month.

‘EQUAL TREATMENT RULE’

The USDA appears to be invoking the “equal treatment rule” in an unprecedented way: The rule was intended to ensure that retailers couldn’t discriminate against SNAP recipients by charging them more for eligible items. Now, the USDA wants to ensure that grocery stores don’t charge these customers less for eligible items.

What’s also unusual is that grocery stores, at their discretion, regularly offer discounts to customers for a variety of reasons — including designated discount days for seniors. 

ACTION FOR SNAP VIOLATIONS

It’s unclear what penalties, if any, the USDA will impose on retailers who ignore this rule and offer discounts to SNAP beneficiaries. However, a discount apparently is considered a SNAP violation, and the Food and Nutrition Service within the USDA is tasked with monitoring such violations.

“FNS takes immediate administrative action to ensure stores that violate SNAP rules no longer participate in the program,” reads a March 2025 fraud notification letter sent to retailers and posted on the USDA website. “Retailers that commit program violations will face consequences, including losing the ability to accept SNAP benefits. Retailers who commit program violations may also be subject to monetary penalties, fines, and/or criminal prosecution.” 

RETAILERS THRUST INTO LIMBO

Some locally-owned grocery stores had promised discounts to SNAP recipients, along with DoorDash and Instacart, which deliver groceries for hundreds of grocery store chains. 

DoorDash sees no issue in waiving or reducing service and delivery fees for SNAP beneficiaries, as the company announced it would do previously, a company spokesperson told Fast Company. The company is among a group of pilot retailers for online SNAP that received a blanket regulatory waiver issued by FNS that waives the equal treatment requirement, said the spokesperson, who shared a copy of that notice.

Instacart also received a similar waiver from FNS and had offered SNAP customers a 50% off their next grocery order, though a company spokesperson didn’t explicitly confirm to Fast Company whether it would continue with this offer.

At least two retailers had offered discounts to struggling customers and retracted them after receiving the notice from the USDA, according to Catherine Rampell, an MSNBC anchor, in a post on the X platform.

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