EBT glitch creates chaos, clear shelves at Wal-Mart

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Customers at Wal-Mart created a frenzy Saturday night when a technical glitch gave food stamp recipients an unlimited balance on their EBT cards.

Shelves were cleared at two separate Wal-Mart locations in Springhill and Mansfield, Louisiana when customers realized their cards were not showing limits. The EBT system failure was caused by a power outage which affected recipients in several states.

The stores were soon ransacked as hoards of people arrived and quickly filled their shopping carts with goods.

Police soon arrived at the scene to control the crowd and assist the store’s employees. According to KSLA, Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd said the store was packed with people.

“It was worse than any black Friday,” he told the NBC affiliate.

Upon his arrival, Lynd reported the situation to Walmart’s corporate office and explained that the EBT cards were not prohibiting any purchases. Regardless of the glitch, the spokesman reportedly allowed recipients to use the cards anyway.

“We did make the decision to continue to accept EBT cards during the outage so that they could get food for their families,” Wal-Mart spokesperson Kayla Whaling told KSLA. She said the company was “fully engaged and monitoring the situation and transactions during the outage.”

The cards provided unlimited funds from 7 to 9 p.m. – but Lynd says an announcement was made over the store’s loud speaker once the cards were properly functioning again. This quickly prompted customers to leave the store and abandon their overflowing shopping carts in the aisles.

One woman was detained for racking up a $700 shopping bill while her EBT card only had a balance of 49 cents.

The store’s corporate office eventually decided to release her and did not press charges upon her compliance to leave behind the food.

Both stores were left in chaos as videos and images emerged documenting the mess that was made. Employees worked late into Sunday to help restore the damage that was done. 

Lynd says police presence was required to ensure no shoplifting or thefts were conducted. In the end, no arrests were made.

Follow Lilly Workneh on Twitter @Lilly_Works