It won’t be a snap for retailers to comply with West Virginia’s waiver preventing benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program from being used to buy drinks with sugar and artificial flavorings.
West Virginia’s waiver request was one of six approvals announced Monday afternoon by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
West Virginia’s waiver request has acknowledged a possible cost to institute the changes to be be passed along to the state’s 2,118 SNAP retailers. Retailers would need to update their point-of-sale systems and train staff to comply with the new rules.
“It is going to be a significant financial burden for retailers because they have to update all of their point of sale systems,” Traci Nelson, president of the West Virginia Oil Marketers and Grocers Association, said on MetroNews Talkline.
“They also have to train staff and create customer communication, because there’s going to be a lot of people who don’t understand the changes.”
She said the cost range from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on the systems that stores have and the upgrades necessary to be made.
“Now this will be easier for larger retailers, but for the retailers I represent, the smaller retailers, this could be a significant burden for them,” Nelson said.
The changes for West Virginia are set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2026, allowing for that time for system upgrades, training and communication.
“So I honestly believe that we are going to have to ride this out at least for a year to see what kind of hit our retailers are going to take with this,” Nelson said.
A dozen states, including West Virginia, have now been approved for SNAP waiver requests.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, has emphasized policies in line with the Make America Healthy Again agenda promoted by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who appeared at Monday afternoon’s announcement in Washington, D.C.
“I’m happy now that in West Virginia, taxpayers are not going to be subsidizing soda and these sugary drinks — things that have no nutritional value and are directly linked to obesity, diabetes, a lot of other terrible health care outcomes,” Morrisey said.
Among the first steps is defining what drinks would be affected. Retailers participating in SNAP in West Virginia will be required to implement point-of-sale system changes allowing for real-time adjustments.
That is supposed to allow for price look-up data at the time of purchase to determine whether items are eligible under the waiver. The system allows or rejects items on a per-transaction basis, authorizing or denying each item.
One of the challenges will be defining what is covered.
Under the state’s waiver application, the drinks meant to be removed from eligibility for purchase through SNAP include regular soda, diet soda and zero sugar/calorie soda.
The state’s originally-submitted waiver request says:
“Soda pop” or “soda” means any carbonated non-alcoholic beverage that contains water, a sweetening agent (including but not limited to sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or artificial sweeteners), flavoring, and carbon dioxide gas to create carbonation. This term includes beverages with added caffeine or other ingredients but does not include carbonated water without sweeteners or flavoring.
The waiver request says some liquid cousins would not be included in the waiver request and will remain available for purchase with SNAP: milk and milk products, fruit and vegetable juice or water and water products.
“We see our retailers being very busy training their employees. We’re going to have to bring in specialists for reprogramming of the POS systems,” Bridget Lambert, president of the West Virginia Retailers Association, said on MetroNews Midday.
Lambert, too, said stores will experience a strain.
“Well, the thing is, we have food deserts in West Virginia already, so any type of strain that is put on the grocery industry is not beneficial to the citizens who live in communities where they have, you know, a store that’s just hanging on,” Lambert said.
“The other thing is, in West Virginia we border five other states, and how easy is it to go 45 minutes and get all of your groceries?”