Effect of the Pilot Food Stamp Program on Retail Food Store Sales

Excerpt from the report Summary: Dollar sales of retail stores in the pilot Food Stamp Program were up 8 percent, after adjustment for seasonal variation, from sales reported prior to initiation of the Program, according to data from a representative sample of stores in areas of Detroit, Mich., and selected counties in Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Sample stores from which sales information was obtained accounted for from 50 percent to nearly all of estimated total retail food store sales in all areas except Detroit where the test sample of stores was drawn to represent only low income-sections of the city. Combined sales data from all test areas indicated that after the introduction of food coupons, both meat and produce sales increased in about the same proportion as total sales. Sales of products classified as groceries and all other items were 9 percent higher in September-October, 1961 than in April-May, 1961, before coupons were introduced. Dairy products, eggs, and in some instances frozen foods, were among the items included in this group.