The food delivery service known as DoorDash has made 45,000 grocery deliveries in San Diego County paid for with food stamps since it began accepting them last June.
Out of the more than 40 million national food stamp recipients, nearly 2 million have entered their benefits information into the DoorDash app.
Cheryl Young heads their policy research team. They’re interested in how the app is impacting food access.
She said a lot of those 45,000 deliveries went to areas of San Diego with more seniors and people with disabilities.
Her team surveyed users paying with food stamps.
“We've heard a lot about food deserts, but almost 50% of people said they have transportation access issues just to get to the grocery store,” she said.
Even for people who can access public transit, delivery gives them more options, according to DoorDash’s head of audience insights Alanna Shipley. They can get big and heavy items, or order more bags of food than they could carry on the bus.
DoorDash isn’t the only food delivery service that takes food stamps.
Instacart led the way in 2020.
The United States Department of Agriculture decides what food stamps can be used for. Currently, they don’t cover delivery fees.
But researchers at the University of Kentucky found people get more food for their stamps by shopping online. It lets them plan ahead, stick to a shopping list and ultimately save money.
They also buy more fruits and vegetables on average than in-person shoppers — $5.24 more — without spending more in total.
Young said people can get more from their benefits shopping online because it’s easier.
DoorDash built a filter into their app that shows what stores in a shopper’s area accept food stamps, and displays only the eligible items.
“As they're building their cart, they can see how much they have left. They can see every single item that's (food stamp) eligible and just click on it and add it to their cart instead of running around a grocery store,” she said.
Shoppers told researchers it’s also less embarrassing to shop with food stamps online. They don’t have to deal with looks from cashiers.
They also said it’s less stressful — not just for people with mobility and transportation challenges, but for new parents who can shop without having to bring young children into the store.
Young said DoorDash is focused on expanding into rural areas, which often face even higher transportation barriers. The problem, she said, is finding drivers.
But there might be a bigger food access fish to fry: About a third of Californians eligible for food stamps haven’t even signed up for them.
