PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — Virginians using SNAP can now use their benefits to receive online grocery delivery and pickup for Food Lion via Instacart — a grocery shopping service.
The SNAP program began allowing online grocery ordering in May 2020 with partners such as Amazon and Walmart, though benefits were not to be used to cover the cost of delivery.
The initial partnership with Food Lion and Instacart launched in North Carolina in early February, and now, throughout Virginia alongside Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Details are as follows, per Instacart:
- EBT SNAP online payment will now be available at more than 180 Food Lion stores across Virginia.
- EBT SNAP beneficiaries will be able to use their benefits for online grocery delivery and pickup at Food Lion.
- Customers will now be able to shop and select from Food Lion’s EBT SNAP eligible products. Once items are added to their cart, customers will be able to select how much of their benefits they would like to allocate to the order.
- To help subsidize costs for EBT SNAP beneficiaries, through March 16, Instacart will waive delivery and/or pickup fees on up to the first three EBT SNAP orders for each customer with a valid EBT card associated with their Instacart account.
This latest expansion follows the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s most recent approval allowing Instacart and Food Lion to launch this SNAP online partnership.
Instacart and Food Lion have partnered since 2016, and currently offer delivery and pickup across the region from more than 600 Food Lion stores.