USDA rule opens WIC to online grocery orders, but states must opt in and shoppers pay any delivery fees

The Department of Agriculture has issued a final rule that lets WIC benefits be used for online grocery orders, ending a federal bar on authorizing internet vendors. The rule was published in the Federal Register on November 6 and takes effect December 7, 2026. It does not bring online shopping to everyone at once: each WIC state agency decides whether and when to offer it.

WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, served an average of 6.9 million people a month in fiscal 2025, USDA says, and participants included around 40% of U.S. infants in its latest estimate, for 2023. Most shoppers now use an EBT card at one of about 37,368 authorized stores, the fiscal 2023 count. USDA says the aim is to give WIC families "the same shopping options as non-WIC shoppers."

What happens when

Who pays the delivery fee

Benefits cover food, not delivery. Under the rule, a retailer may not bill a state agency for delivery, service, convenience or bag fees on a WIC purchase. If a fee applies, the shopper must be able to pay it another way. Federal WIC money cannot be used, though states may use non-WIC money, including state, tribal or nonprofit funds.

USDA estimates the average online order will carry $10.66 in delivery and service fees in 2027. If 44 state agencies take part by 2031, it projects about 158,607 households ordering home delivery each month, paying about $22.14 million a year.

Commenters split on this. Some said federal funds would help in special cases, such as rural or remote areas, disabilities and disasters. Others said WIC money should go to food packages and to reaching everyone eligible. Some also asked that stores be allowed to waive delivery fees for WIC customers. USDA declined, calling that change outside this rule, and said an outright ban on such fees could discourage stores from offering online options.

What USDA expects, and what it scaled back

USDA now assumes about half of the 88 state agencies, or 44, will start online shopping within five years, with two or three internet vendors each. Its 2023 proposal assumed 80 agencies and 400 vendors, the final rule says. Once 44 agencies take part, USDA projects that about 961,252 participants would order online once a month, 28% of those in participating agencies.

Those are USDA's projections. It also expects federal WIC food spending to rise about $315 million from fiscal 2027 through 2031, because online groceries sometimes cost more and easier shopping should lift redemption of benefits. It values participants' saved travel time at about $103 million over those years.

Some agencies are already testing this under waivers, which the rule replaces. Subgrants have gone to 22 state agencies. A national resource site for WIC online shopping lists New York State and Kansas among programs working with Walmart's existing WIC system, and a project in South Dakota and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe with an independent grocer, Buche Foods. Agencies with offline EBT cards cannot offer online shopping until they switch systems, USDA says.

Other changes for shoppers

• Benefits from unfilled items go back to the participant's balance and stay usable through the end of the benefit month. Agencies may allow up to seven more days.
• Cash refunds remain barred. WIC shoppers get the same treatment as other customers in a food recall.
• Agencies may load benefits remotely, which USDA says could mean fewer clinic trips between appointments.

USDA received 1,664 comments on the 2023 proposal, with more than 1,070 broadly in favor and about 10 generally opposed. Many commenters still pressed for more help: a national vendor approval process like SNAP's, federal money for system costs and support for small stores. USDA rejected the national process, saying the law gives vendor oversight to state agencies. It also dropped plans for five-year vendor agreements and new state staffing standards. Because availability will vary, the local state or tribal WIC agency is the body that can say what applies to a given family.