Staffing & Redemption Models


The POS device and responsible staff-person should be easily located by customers. The ideal location is a clearly marked, staffed market information table, office or vehicle. Likewise, redeeming EBT scrip should be simple and expedient for market vendors and farmers.

If you do not have the staff or funding to staff an information table, OR you expect to have very high volumes of EBT sales, the staffing and redemption ideas below may be right for you.

If you aren’t sure which will be best, or you have a unique market situation, we are available to help with this. Please contact us!

Staffing models

If the market has no staffed information table, office or vehicle, some creative solutions include:

  • The market manager carries the POS device and tokens with them and wears a conspicuous uniform like a yellow shirt or red cap and a name badge. A sign in the middle of the market says, “To use your CalFresh EBT card, see Mary, wearing a red cap.”
  • A farmer or vendor agrees to do EBT/scrip transactions for the market at their stall
  • The market management sets up a revenue generating activity to pay for the staff time of the individual who operates the POS device and administers EBT scrip, e.g. selling T-shirts
  • A community organization, such as a food bank, staffs the EBT table potentially in conjunction with other funded activities such as nutrition education or SNAP outreach
  • A small increase in stall fees to pay the wages of a person to staff an EBT transaction table at market


redemption models

The vendor reimbursement procedure for EBT Scrip redemption should be fair and manageable for both market staff and vendors. Only vendors of eligible food items may be reimbursed for scrip.

Models for reimbursement systems include:

  • Cash reimbursement at the time the vendor turns in the tokens (or in place of a stall fee)
  • A check written by the manager to the vendor at the time the vendor turns in the tokens
  • A receipt given by the manager to the vendor at the time the vendor turns in the tokens, with a check or cash given to the vendor for the amount of the receipt the following week

It is not allowable for a farmers’ market to take a percentage their vendors’ EBT sales. If your market needs more funding to support the EBT program, you may consider increasing stall fees or taking a percentage of vendors’ TOTAL sales, not just EBT sales.