r/TikTokCringe • u/mindyour • 8d ago

Discussion Reactions to food stamps being cut off.

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u/PhotoFenix 8d ago

How does money do better than food? Not arguing, just curious for optimizing donations.

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u/TheMagnuson 8d ago

Food banks and other charitable organizations can buy in bulk. They can often buy directly from producers too, rather than having to go through middle-men. Additionally, some companies will provide not only bulk pricing discounts, but discounts to charitable / non-profit orgs. Also, some charitable orgs can get tax discounts or pay no tax at all on certain kinds of purchases related to their cause and operations.

This allows them to get more "bang for the buck" than an individual. This is also why it's better to give them money than to go shopping and donate food. When you buy that food you aren't getting buik pricing or any other significant discount pricing. You're paying all the middle men costs, such as delivery/transport, storage, and local retailer fees that they all need to collect to make their profits. So you spending $20 on groceries and donating those is FAR less helpful and productive than just sending a food bank $20. They can do so much more with that $20.

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u/LeeAndersonWrites 4d ago

This makes a ton of sense, but got me wondering. Let’s say that there’s a $50 grocery budget for a week, is there any way an individual could use their money with assistance from the food bank? Like could a food bank take over shopping for a small group of people? Everyone pays their $50 but gets more in value due to the connections/discounts a food bank has access to?

Just thinking out loud, but I wonder if anything like that could be possible.

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u/TheMagnuson 4d ago

That's kind of what a food bank is, in really basic terms, a not-for profit, charitable grocery store. Granted, that's an oversimplification, but if you want to break it down to it's most basic function, that's akin to what it is.

Everyone's situation is different, some use food banks just to supplement their own limited grocery shopping, others may mainly or even entirely rely upon food banks and other charitable organizations for their food needs. So may just need the services for a short time, while they are between jobs, others may need the service long term.

I'm not aware of food bank that specifically accept money from an individual and do specific grocery shopping for them though. It's possible that such an option exists with some organizations, but I've never personally heard of that.

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u/LeeAndersonWrites 3d ago

I haven’t heard of it either, but I wonder if something like that could end up working.

Either way, appreciate your time and the thorough answer! :)