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Social Security

How can I add my WIC card to Amazon?

Amazon gives a discount for WIC recipients for Prime, but the benefits can't be used as payment on their website.

Update:
In this file photo taken on March 30, 2020, the logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen at the distribution center in Staten Island as workers strike in demand that the facility be shut down and cleaned after one staffer tested positive for the coro
Angela WeissAFP

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, better known as WIC, is a federal assistance program. Like its sister program, SNAP, WIC is one of the most utilized food assistance programs in the United States, with 53 percent of all infants born on the receiving end of help.

Not all foods are included on the support. Help is aimed at pregnant soon-to-be mothers, newborns, and actual mothers. The food on offer reflects this, including items such as: milk, fruit and vegetables, legumes, and juice.

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What is Amazon's relationship with the WIC program?

So when Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2017 for $13.7 billion, stepping for the first time into the grocery sector, it could be expected that the WIC program could be used at the giant.

But the program, using EBT cards, aren't an accepted form of payment at Amazon's website. There isn't a specific reason for this, though one could be the fact that WIC payments are decided on a state-by-state basis, making it potentially difficult for Amazon distribution.

However, WIC recipients can receive a discount on Amazon Prime, making it half price, while entering a brick-and-mortar Whole Foods means you can use your WIC money.

SNAP recipients can use those benefits on Amazon.com, but not recipietns in Alaska, Hawaii, Louisiana , and Montana.