Food shopping can be a hassle. With busy stores and long lines at the register, the last thing you want to deal with is having your food stamps rejected when it’s time to pay for your groceries. Getting to know which stores take food stamps and which don’t, will save you time and frustration. Does Dollar Tree take food stamps? Let’s find out!
Does Dollar Tree Take Food Stamps in 2024?
Food stamps and EBT are both commonly used names for SNAP. SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, boosts the spending power of the 42 million Americans that need a helping hand to afford their weekly shopping.
Dollar Tree is an authorized SNAP retailer which means you can use your food stamps to buy groceries at Dollar Tree.
One way to recognize which stores in your neighborhood accept food stamps is to look for the SNAP sign in the window or on the door. Some stores may display a sign saying they accept EBT Cards. If you see either sign, you can use food stamps at that store.
EBT stands for Electronic Benefits Card. It’s the card that your food stamps (SNAP benefits) are loaded onto.
There are some restrictions on the items you can purchase at Dollar Tree, however.
What Items Can You Buy At Dollar Tree With Food Stamps?
Your food stamp benefits allow you to purchase most food items, most non-alcoholic drinks, food-producing plants, and vegetable seeds.
You’ll be able to buy food including rice, pasta, cereal, milk, cheese, butter, eggs, meat, vegetables, fruit, canned goods, coffee, and so on.
Most non-alcoholic drinks are covered by food stamps so you can buy fruit juice, smoothies, bottled water, and soda.
You can also use your food stamps to buy snack foods like cookies, chocolate bars, candy, and chips.
If your Dollar Tree is selling food-producing plants, your food stamps also cover their purchase. Food-producing plants include vegetable starts and potted herbs that are sold for growing on your windowsill or planting in a container or garden bed. You can buy vegetable seeds as well, but not flower seeds.
Read Also: Does Dollar Tree Accept EBT Payment
Dollar Tree Items Not Eligible As Food Stamp Purchases
Dollar Tree is a combination store. They sell food items and a wide range of other products. It’s those non-food items that make a trip to Dollar Tree so affordable. Unfortunately, you can’t use food stamps to purchase non-food items.
Normal additions to your weekly grocery shop, like laundry detergent, pet food, toilet paper, soap, deodorant, and shampoo, are not food items, so you’ll have to use a different payment method to purchase those products.
Why is pet food off limits? Well, pet food is food for your pet, but food stamps only cover food for humans.
Vitamins are also off-limits as a food stamp purchase. If a product has a supplement facts panel on the label instead of a nutrition facts label, it’s not covered by food stamps.
You’ll need to check the label on any energy drinks you want to buy as well because some energy drink labels show a supplement facts panel rather than a nutrition facts panel.
How To Pay With Food Stamps At Dollar Tree
Before you shop, it’s a good idea to know how much money you can spend. To find out your food stamp balance, you can call the number on the back of your EBT card, or visit your state’s EBT website to access your account.
The receipt from your last food stamp transaction will also show your available balance. If you get to the store and haven’t checked your balance beforehand, the cashier can run your card and print a receipt showing your food stamp balance.
When it’s time to pay for your groceries, make sure you swipe your EBT card before you pay any remaining balance with another card.
If you swipe a credit or debit card first, then all of your purchases would be charged to that card.
When you swipe your card, enter your 4-digit PIN, then press the “ENTER” key.
If your purchase is over your available food stamp balance or includes ineligible items, you’ll need to cover the outstanding amount with another payment method.
When you get your receipt, you’ll see your remaining food stamp balance printed at the bottom.
Does Dollar Tree Accept Food Stamps Online?
Dollar Tree offers an online shopping service at DollarTree.com. Purchases can be delivered to your door or picked up from your local store, but currently, you can’t use food stamps to pay for these orders.
For online orders, you will need to use another payment method. Dollar Tree accepts:
- Visa credit and debit cards
- Mastercard credit and debit cards
- American Express
- Discover
- PayPal
- PayPal Credit
Can You Use TANF Benefits At Dollar Tree?
TANF or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is commonly known as EBT Cash. This is a cash benefit for low-income families and can be used to pay for many basic living costs including housing, transportation, food, utility bills, clothing, and other essentials.
You can spend your TANF allowance at Dollar Tree, and because TANF isn’t limited to food, you can use it to buy whatever you need.
Does Dollar Tree Take WIC?
WIC is the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children. WIC was established to help provide access to nutritious food for pregnant women, breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to the age of 5.
Retailers in the WIC program have to follow strict guidelines. Stores must be able to guarantee the availability of certain categories of food, and their stocks of those foods must be above the specified minimum level at all times.
Supermarkets are well equipped to meet these requirements, but stores like Dollar Tree
are unable to guarantee minimum stock levels because their product lines frequently vary, and their restocking schedule means they are often out of stock on certain items.
Because of this, they don’t participate in the WIC program.
Can You Use Coupons With Food Stamps At Dollar Tree?
Yes, you can use manufacturers’ coupons to cut your grocery bill down to size, but there are some limitations you need to watch out for.
Dollar Tree will only allow you to use up to 4 coupons per manufacturer per day. For example, if you have 6 coupons for 20 cents off a 2-liter bottle of Coke, and you pick up 6 bottles during your shopping trip, you will only be allowed to get the discount on 4 of the bottles.
But if you have 4 coupons for Coke and 4 coupons for Pepsi, then you can use all 8 coupons.
The product size and variety must match the coupon exactly. If you buy a 32-ounce product but have a coupon for the 24-ounce version, you won’t get the discount.
If your coupon has a discount that is higher than the actual cost of an item, you’ll only get the price of the item discounted, the full value of the coupon will not be deducted from your bill.
Dollar Tree will accept 2 internet coupons per customer per day.
Coupons for free items will only be accepted if the offer is a buy one get one free deal.
Is Dollar Tree Still Good Value?
Dollar stores are great places to bag a bargain on some product lines, but when it comes to food, you’ll get better value at a large supermarket or big box retailer.
Everyone’s frustrated by rising food prices, but Dollar Tree customers have good reason to feel more frustrated than most. The retailer raised prices far above the official rate of inflation, and now their $1 price point, has increased to $1.25.
If you can access a regular supermarket, you’ll find they have lower prices on most food items compared to Dollar Tree.
Walmart’s online grocery service is also an option if you don’t have transport because you can use your food stamps to pay for your Walmart order. You’ll need to use a credit or debit card to pay the delivery charge, but the savings you’ll make will easily cover the cost.
Conclusion
You can spend your food stamps at Dollar Tree stores but you can’t use them to pay for DollarTree.com orders for home delivery or store pickup.
Because food stamps only cover food purchases, you can’t use them to pay for cleaning products, personal care items, or pet food.
Dollar Tree also accepts TANF benefits which can be used to purchase non-food items at the store. However, the retailer does not participate in the WIC program.
If you’ve got discount coupons, you can use them together with your food stamps as long as you follow the Dollar Tree coupon policy.
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