Forage’s Post

Over 1.1 million DoorDash customers are now accessing their EBT / SNAP benefits via Forage 🎉 👏 Awesome seeing this win win win partnership come to life: "The companies say their collaboration is designed to widen food access for more than 14 million Americans living in “food deserts,” and the 40 million-plus people who live in communities where upwards of 10% of households receive SNAP/EBT benefits." "Although 7.2% of all consumers shop for groceries exclusively online, that figure climbs to 10.4% for people who live paycheck to paycheck and have issues paying their bills" More access and choice for consumers. DoorDash reaches more customers and builds denser delivery networks. And Forage now serves customers on DoorDash, Uber, Shopify, and more.

We're thrilled to announce that Uber, powered by Forage, will begin accepting SNAP EBT as a payment method this year. In 2021 alone, Uber Eats enabled 136 million orders to low-income, low-access communities nationwide. Today, more than 17M SNAP recipients live in food deserts, and with Uber Eats they will now be able to more readily and easily order fresh groceries. We are at a historic crossroads, where never before has there been more innovation and partnership between the private-public sector. Grocery and retail are no exception, and we could not be prouder to partner with Uber Eats to feed families and make healthy foods accessible to all. #grocery #payments #paymentsolutions

Instacart is now accepting food stamp payments across 50 U.S. states. Last week, on the heels of the company announcing that Alaska was the latest state to accept Electronic Benefits Transfer for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (EBT SNAP) payments, Instacart also revealed that more than 10,000 stores are accepting SNAP. The company first introduced SNAP as a payment method in 2020. With more than 42 million people enrolled in EBT SNAP, the expansion means that Instacart can now service roughly 12% of the U.S. population.  According to Dani Dudeck, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Instacart, this is in line with the company’s mission to bring healthy and affordable food to more communities. It also marks the fulfillment of a new health and nutrition initiative launched in September 2022, in partnership with the USDA, which outlines a goal to extend these benefits to its more than 650 grocery partners by 2030.  https://lnkd.in/driee4qv #RegiumFinance #business #finance #acquiring #cardprocessing #banking #paymentprocessing #merchants #payments #ecommerce #commerce #EBT #instacart #mobilepayment #prepaiddebitcard #SNAP #USDA

Last note on the credit situation....let's talk about 18-39 year olds. And to put it in perspective, DoorDash is the best way to deliver the message....I got jokes today 😏 . First, you can see below just how different debt is distributed across this age cohort. With mortgages a significantly smaller portion, and student loans being a much larger one, Auto and Credit are a much larger impact (mostly for 18-29). The problem is that these age cohorts are currently running at ~10% 90-day delinquency on Credit Cards and 5%/3.5% respectively for Auto. Both are at or higher than 2008/2009...just as a benchmark. So why DoorDash? It's all about the consumer composition. Before moving on, this has nothing to do with DoorDash's performance...that company has been doing ALL the right things. Its expansion into retail, and dominance in restaurant delivery post-covid, has been really impressive. No doubt they've won the delivery race. What connects DoorDash to these delinquency rates is the risk exposure of its core consumer. 18-40 year olds makes up roughly 1/3 of the US population....reports put that age group at roughly 50% of the user base. That's households alone, not spend, so imagine what that looks like. That means DoorDash users are 1.6x more likely to be among this cohort going into double digits delinquency rates for credit cards. Sure, you can use a debit card to order, but we have NEVER experienced a situation where card-driven purchasing, via a mobile platform, is working against delinquencies like this. It isn't just DoorDash, its any brand/retailer that drastically over-indexes to this age cohort. Luckily platforms like DoorDash, and almost every online retailer, has some form of buy now pay later 🙃 . What could happen? This is an example of an air pocket in the market. One is a bump, but the more pockets the more risk for a more intense drop. Further...imagine what happens if this age group has been driving a lot of the consumption growth overall. What does that do to the macro numbers? Some things to think about... This closes out my week of yelling from my virtual front porch....will give you a break, but keep an eye on next Friday's PCE release. #consumerbehavior #retail

Optimization at pickup and drop off doesn't completely fix the wage issue but it definitely helps. Investment in automated collection points by retailers at pickup and by multi-family properties, work campuses, etc. at drop off can dramatically improve transactions/hour for drivers. When it comes to labor, the majority of the cost is not in the last mile but in the last 100 feet. Check out FreshPost and Minnow Technologies, Inc. for two examples of where automation is helping to improve earnings for drivers while offering a more convenient and sustainable solution for customers.

𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬 & 𝐂𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 In May this year, United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a new Surgeon General Advisory calling attention to the public health crisis of loneliness, isolation, and lack of connection. Loneliness might be the new growing epidemic and it is affecting also senior citizens around the world in urban settings where everything is fast-paced and increasingly digitized. That's why a Dutch company Jumbo Supermarkten came up with an idea to combat loneliness at the grocery store checkout. This Netherlands-based supermarket chain with over 700 stores, introduced the concept of 𝐊𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬𝐤𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐚, which translates to “𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭,” a special lane for customers who are not in a rush and could use a little talk with the cashier. Kletskassa is not exclusive to senior citizens. They welcome anyone whose day could improve by taking it slow and having a little chat. Personally, I think that initiative serves the cashier team's emotional needs too. I doubt if retail staff joins the work because of the high pay and short hours. These conversations also answer the human need of both sides to feel heard and seen. I wonder if there is a follow-up to measure the effect on employees' and customers' satisfaction.

Check out my new column #GroceryTechBasket! This week's column highlights developments to online #SNAP payments. Good news for #Alaskans and others who use SNAP, which is now available Target, Amazon, Walmart, Safeway & via Instacart in the Last Frontier. - Winsight Grocery Business

Pay to work? Latin America delivery giant Rappi is now charging its drivers a weekly fee. The move is part of a bigger shift away from the fundraising model among gig work platforms, and companies are feeling the pressure to turn a profit. “Food and goods delivery digital platform work is already some of the most precarious, underpaid employment in Brazil,” Gonzalo Martinez de Vedia, Brazil program director at labor rights organization Solidarity Center, told Rest of World. “Any new fee that subtracts from wages in that equation throws the sector further into substandard conditions.” Johnny William Cruz Borges, director of social impact at the competitor app iFood, told Rest of World the company has no plans to introduce a similar fee. “For us, delivery drivers are platform workers, and as workers, nobody pays to work,” he said. What do you think about charging workers a weekly fee? Read the full story https://lnkd.in/eqZSZ6vS