Aldi Lawsuit Claims Grocer Discriminates Against California Consumers Who Use SNAP, EBT Benefits

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Aldi has been hit with a lawsuit that alleges the grocery store has unlawfully discriminated against California consumers who use Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) benefits to purchase groceries online.

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The 22-page complaint contends that Aldi has illegally imposed higher grocery prices and different transaction terms on California consumers who use SNAP/EBT benefits to purchase groceries online than on consumers who use other payment methods. Per the suit, Aldi does this by either charging customers’ SNAP benefits for non-SNAP-eligible costs—such as delivery, fulfillment and convenience fees—or by baking those costs into higher grocery prices for SNAP/EBT users.

According to the filing, Aldi’s unlawful pricing terms violate equal-treatment rules set by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and its Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which instruct SNAP-authorized retailers to offer eligible food items purchased with SNAP/EBT at the same prices, and with the same terms and conditions, as foods purchased with other payment methods. 

The case further alleges that Aldi’s online SNAP/EBT pricing terms mean that consumers’ SNAP benefits are “depleted” to pay increased prices attributable to services for which SNAP benefits cannot be lawfully used.

“Federal law separately limits SNAP benefits to the purchase of eligible food,” the case states. “SNAP benefits may not be used to pay delivery charges, service charges, convenience charges, or other non-food fees associated with an online grocery transaction.”

The complaint conveys that federal law requires SNAP-eligible retailers to offer a split-tender payment system with which consumers can separate SNAP-eligible food charges from non-food charges and allocate the latter to a separate payment method. Per the lawsuit, Aldi does not provide a mechanism with which customers who use SNAP/EBT benefits on the Aldi Express web link can enter a different payment method for “ancillary” charges such as delivery fees.

Instead, customers’ SNAP benefits are used to “absorb” these costs, the suit says.

The filing states that the plaintiff bought groceries online from the Aldi Express Storefront, which allows customers to purchase groceries from the defendant with SNAP/EBT benefits, and was charged $25.45 for the purchase, with only $19.34 of the transaction charged to an EBT card.

The lawsuit says that shortly after that transaction, “at almost the same time,” the plaintiff made a purchase for the same items from the Aldi, Inc. online storefront, which does not allow consumers to use SNAP/EBT benefits to pay for their purchase. This time, however, the plaintiff was charged $22.61, the case says.

The only difference between the two transactions, the class action lawsuit stresses, was the method of payment.

The suit argues that even if Aldi is not improperly charging consumers’ SNAP/EBT benefits for non-SNAP-eligible fees, the retailer is nevertheless violating the USDA’s and FNS’s equal treatment requirements by funneling customers who use benefits to a purchasing platform that charges higher prices. 

“[Aldi]’s conduct unfairly imposed higher grocery prices and materially different transaction treatment upon economically vulnerable consumers utilizing SNAP benefits to purchase essential food items,” the case summarizes.

The Aldi class action lawsuit seeks to injunctively prohibit the grocer from continuing to use business practices that allegedly violate federal laws and regulations governing SNAP and EBT transactions, on behalf of California individuals who use SNAP benefits to purchase groceries online from Aldi.

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