Two Louisiana Walmart stores will have to foot some lengthy bills, after a glitch in the state's food stamp system lifted spending limits, causing chaotic shopping sprees in the aisles.
Police were called into the Mansfield, La. and Springhill, La. Walmart locations on Saturday to help maintain order, after shoppers realized their usual food stamp cap had been temporarily removed. All-out races through the superstore, as customers shoved as many items as they could carry into their arms and shopping carts.
"I saw people drag out eight to ten grocery carts," Springhill Police Chief Will Lynd told ABC. One person managed to make it out of Walmart with $700 worth of groceries.
But a spokesperson from the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services said that the stores that decided to disregard the emergency protocol limiting sales up to $50 per cardholder would have to pay the difference. The retail giant, he told ABC, will most likely be responsible for any items purchased over that set ceiling.
After the Department clarified their policy, Walmart told ABC News that the event was "isolated" and the retailer doesn't think it made any material impact in U.S. business.
The power outage that happened in the middle of a routine maintenance test caused the system to shut down for two hours, according to Xerox, the company that hosts some of the framework for the Electronic Benefits Transfer system, who spoke with KSLA.
But Walmart employees were instructed to keep the registers running, despite the glitch.
"We did make the decision to continue to accept EBT cards during the outage so that they could get food for their families," Walmart spokesperson Kayla Whaling told KSLA. She added that Walmart was "fully engaged and monitoring the situation and transactions during the outage."
The retailer might be kicking itself soon, since the bill of extra transactions could be a huge one.
Lynd reported that shoppers weren't "unruly," but the aisles were still in complete chaos.
"It was definitely worse than Black Friday. It was worse than anything we had ever seen in this town," Lynd told ABC. "There was no food left on any of the shelves, and no meat left. The grocery part of Walmart was totally decimated."
Most other grocery stores in the area decided to observe the rule, and turned away customers using EBT cards until the limits were set in place once more.
