City of L.A now forcing Farmer's Market vendors to accept EBT (Orange: costs, approval)

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by jm1982

I don't get paid , it's a public service to reveal the terrible policies of the city and how they are blowing tax payer money .

I need to get paid. Bring it. Sadly, I have to grind to earn my wages.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

I need to get paid. Bring it. Sadly, I have to grind to earn my wages.

Yes , I know ! Where do we sign up ? Sounds like a sweet gig !

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

How many of the people selling their own produce in L.A. would just go somewhere else if they are not already set up to do mobile charges? Would the fees eat into their profit enough that it would no longer be worth their time to sell a few tomatoes and green beans? That was the point of my original post.

The poster I responded to said NYC, not NY state. I have a suspicion that the price of real estate in NYC would preclude many people from growing small amounts of veggies to sell. There may be pocket gardens and even rooftop gardens but I would be surprised if there are enough of those for commercial purposes.

I have traveled a bit. I've even been to L.A. Had a great visit with a cousin who used to live there. She's moved to Georgia though. I just got back from upstate NY, where I spent a lovely Mother's Day weekend with my MIL and assorted other in-laws. SIL and her hubby have a house on some acreage out in the country and plant a large garden each year. There are cornfields nearby and even a produce market not far from them that takes credit cards. That market is not what I understand as a "farmer's market", though. The owners do sell some of their own produce, but they are commercial farmers.

DH, transplanted from upstate NY, is now a gun toting Georgian but not a redneck. He will have nothing to do with trying to grow anything and does not spend much time outdoors. I am not a gun toter but I do spend some time outdoors in the yard and have been known to get a red neck on occasion. I come from a long line of Georgia rednecks. They were farmers who grew food. For themselves. And to sell for others. One grandfather ran a dairy. He died young, from a heart attack while chasing a cow. I do not know whether any of them toted guns, though, except during military service, going back to the Revolutionary War.

Visiting somewhere isn't living there.

I go to a few Farmer's Markets here, one of them is South Pasadena(which is not City of LA), the people who attend them I'm going to take a wild guess and say they aren't getting EBT. And the farmers who come in are from places like Ventura County. I know because I talk to them.

My comments about rednecks was to point out that painting any area with a broad brush is wrong. You visting LA once(and probably not going to a Farmer's Market) doesn't give you an understanding of a place.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by seain dublin

Visiting somewhere isn't living there.

I go to a few Farmer's Markets here, one of them is South Pasadena(which is not City of LA), the people who attend them I'm going to take a wild guess and say they aren't getting EBT. And the farmers who come in are from places like Ventura County. I know because I talk to them.

My comments about rednecks was to point out that painting any area with a broad brush is wrong. You visting LA once(and probably not going to a Farmer's Market) doesn't give you an understanding of a place.

Boy, you are really reading a lot into my comments that was not there. I never claimed to have an "understanding" of LA. Sheesh.

Again the only point I made was that some vendors at small farmer's markets might find the cost of taking any cards that generate fees - credit, debit, or EBT - to be enough of an expense to take their produce somewhere else and sell it.

[NativeOrange]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

I'll bite. When my parents got here many decades ago, in Southern California, they witnessed a single mother buying food with food stamps. She hid her paperwork so as to conceal what she was using as payment and kept her head down, as though she was embarrassed. One lady in the line noticed and said something along the lines of, "You needn't be embarrassed. It's ok dear, you will pull out of this. I am sure of it." According to my mom, the woman raised her head, turned toward the lady and said something along the lines of "Thank you. You are too kind. I am going through a bad spell now, but I will soon get back on my feet."

This exchange left a great impression on my parents. Laugh if you want to.

This is anecdotal and I've seen a million similar interactions in today's world. The world wasn't a better place "back in the day" either, it was just easier for privileged white folk who were blind to the amount of societal issues that those less fortunate were experiencing. There are several other reasons to believe we are much better off now, but I'll let Tulemutt school you guys on that when needed.

[jm1982]

Originally Posted by NativeOrange

This is anecdotal and I've seen a million similar interactions in today's world. The world wasn't a better place "back in the day" either, it was just easier for privileged white folk who were blind to the amount of societal issues that those less fortunate were experiencing. There are several other reasons to believe we are much better off now, but I'll let Tulemutt school you guys on that when needed.

Tulemutt school us ? That's a real knee slapper !

[Chowhound]

The City of LA won't be happy until they can completely turn the city into a nanny state. It's complete BS that the city is forcing that upon businesses, they should be able to decide what payment form they will accept. So now these small business owners are forced to go out and buy equipment to deal with this silly thing. Every time I've gone to a farmers market it's always a cash only transaction, at least what I've seen.

[Kaphawoman]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

The City of LA won't be happy until they can completely turn the city into a nanny state. It's complete BS that the city is forcing that upon businesses, they should be able to decide what payment form they will accept. So now these small business owners are forced to go out and buy equipment to deal with this silly thing. Every time I've gone to a farmers market it's always a cash only transaction, at least what I've seen.

This says there's only one point-of-service terminal at the farmers market, so individual vendors don't have to do this. The device is free.

http://goodfoodla.org/wp-content/upl.../EBT-FAQ-2.pdf

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by NativeOrange

This is anecdotal and I've seen a million similar interactions in today's world. The world wasn't a better place "back in the day" either, it was just easier for privileged white folk who were blind to the amount of societal issues that those less fortunate were experiencing. There are several other reasons to believe we are much better off now, but I'll let Tulemutt school you guys on that when needed.

My white parents were completely penniless upon arrival. Worse yet, they needed to pay back the airline costs for their respective flights. They toiled, saved, and then started a business to survive. So much for privilege.

You also completely missed the point of this exchange: humility, embarrassment and the temporary nature of the assistance.

[NativeOrange]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

The City of LA won't be happy until they can completely turn the city into a nanny state. It's complete BS that the city is forcing that upon businesses, they should be able to decide what payment form they will accept. So now these small business owners are forced to go out and buy equipment to deal with this silly thing. Every time I've gone to a farmers market it's always a cash only transaction, at least what I've seen.

There are entire countries who are currently transitioning into going completely cashless. The businesses who currently will only take cash will have to purchase probably no more than 1-2 CC terminals, which will be paid for many times over by the uptick in business that they are almost garaunteed to experience with such a shift.

So, I understand the principle of "forcing" a business to do something, but I couldn't care less in a situation where it will, in fact, help said business in the long term. On a personal level, I absolutely hate it when someone rejects something, even something that would objectively benefit them, purely based on petty principles.