Introduction
Family Dollar is a famous American variety store chain with stores across the United States of America (except for Alaska, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii).In this article, we will discuss whether customers can use WIC cards at their nearest Family Dollar stores, in detail.
WIC is a special supplemental nutrition program that was introduced to provide women, infants, and children (thus the name WIC) access to healthy food items in the market. For a simpler understanding, one can consider them food stamps that at-risk individuals (which includes pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, children of five years or less, and infants) who require healthy and nutritious foods are given the resources to access these foods via WIC. Thousands of American citizens rely on WIC to feed themselves and their families.
WIC at Family Dollar
Only a few Family Dollar stores across the United States of America accept payments made through WIC cards, but a majority of Family Dollar stores do not accept or allow WIC cards. To find out which Family Dollar branch accepts WIC cards, customers can use the WIC locator (available on the internet) to discover if they have access to any Family Dollar store near them that accepts payments made through WIC cards.
If customers do find one, they can make payments using their WIC electronic cards, vouchers, or paper checks. Customers should remember that they can use their WIC cards/vouchers/paper checks to pay for WIC-approved products only.
WIC-approved Items
As already mentioned above, customers can only buy WIC-approved food items through their WIC electronic cards/vouchers/paper checks. WIC aims to provide individuals at risk (pregnant women, children, infants, individuals with low-income)
Below we have mentioned the food items that customers can buy through WIC
Infant formula
Milk
Whole grains
Legumes and peas
Frozen vegetables
Infant fruits and vegetables
Yoghurt
Meat
Tuna
Cereal (for infants and children)
Fish
Cheese
Tofu
Juice
Soy beverages
The above-mentioned list applies to all the states in the US. Even though this is the standard list, not all states are required to have all the food items. Thus, customers will not find every food item listed above at all the stores across the US. A lot of stores (including Family Dollar) have the above-mentioned items and thus customers can shop worry-free.
Customers need to remember that the majority of Family Dollar stores do not accept WIC payments. Thus, customers are advised to contact their nearest Family Dollar store and enquire if they authorize payments made through WIC cards/checks/vouchers. Customers can use the Family Dollar store locator tool (it is available on the internet) to get the location and the contact details of a Family Dollar store near them.
Other Options
As already mentioned above, the majority of Family Dollar stores don’t accept WIC payments, but customers always have the option of visiting other convenience stores and grocery stores that do accept WIC payments.
Below, we have mentioned some stores that accept payments made through WIC cards/paper checks/vouchers across the United States:
Walmart
Giant Eagle
Publix
Target
CVS
Walgreens
Save a Lot
Kroger
Conclusion
Customers can use their WIC electric cards/checks/vouchers to pay for their required WIC-approved food items, at their nearest Family Dollar store. Customers need to remember that the majority of Family Dollar stores do not accept WIC payments. Thus, customers are advised to contact their nearest Family Dollar store and enquire if they authorize payments made through WIC cards/checks/vouchers.
Individuals also have the option of visiting any of the above-mentioned stores where they can use WIC to initiate payments. Customers should remember that they can only buy WIC-approved items (mentioned in the article) through WIC.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Question1) What is WIC?
Answer) A large population of the United States relies on food stamps (which are now referred to as SNAP), to buy their monthly groceries. Just like SNAP, WIC is a federal program that aims to provide healthy and nutritious food to at-risk individuals like pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, children of 5 years of age (or less), infants, and individuals with low-income.
Similar to SNAP, WIC is controlled and executed by the states, and thus customers can observe an array of variations in the types of stores that accept WIC payments, across the US.
Furthermore, WIC primarily aims to provide the above-mentioned social group healthy food, health care, counselling, and social service referrals to ensure their safety and encourage their social and physical development within the society.
Question2) How can customers pay for their WIC-approved food items at a Family Dollar or any other store?
Answer) Customers can pay for their WIC items at a Family Dollar store (or at any other store for that matter) by using their electronic WIC benefits card, vouchers, or paper checks.
Out of all the above-mentioned options, electronic WIC cards are the most popular and commonly used since they are to be used exactly like a debit card is used at stores during checkouts.
But, before customers can use it to pay for their shopping, the WIC electronic card needs a PIN. While checking out at a store, customers must ensure that each WIC-approved item that they wish to buy is separated from the non-WIC-approved items since customers will have to pay from a different payment method for the non-WIC-approved items.
