WIC National Outreach Campaign – In-depth Interviews (IDIs) among Employees of Food Shopping Vendors

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EXPIRATION DATE: 11/30/2025

OMB BURDEN STATEMENT: This information is being collected to assist the Food and Nutrition Service in developing a National Outreach Campaign to increase awareness of the health and nutrition benefits associated with specific programs. This is a voluntary collection and FNS will use the information to meet the needs and understand the mindsets of current program participants, as well as those individuals who are eligible but do not participate. This collection does not request any personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act of 1974. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-0611. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 1 hour per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22306 ATTN: PRA (0584-0611). Do not return the completed form to this address.

Attachment D-3 Retail Vendor – Cashiers / Customer Service

Individual Interview Guide

Individual Interview Guide Retail Vendor – Cashiers / Customer Service

FINAL 8/1/2024

Target Time ≈ 45-60 minutes of discussion

1. Introduction (5 minutes]

1. Interviewer introduction

2. Remind respondents to be in a quiet place

3. If you need to step away, please do so briefly and come back as soon as possible

4. Anonymity

5. Recording interview for notetaking.

6. Introduction – Share your first name, where you live, your title, your company, and how long you’ve worked in the retail grocery industry

2. Role (5 minutes)

1. To start, I’d like to spend a little time talking about your role at the store.

   1. How long have you been with [INSERT COMPANY NOTED IN INTRODUCTION]?

   2. What are your primary responsibilities in your current role?

[PROBE: check out, shop-backs, customer service?]

3. What do you like most about your current position?

4. What is the most challenging part of your job? What makes you say that?

3. WIC Awareness, Perceptions, and the Shopper Experience (25 minutes)

1. Thank you for that information. I’d like to transition a bit and talk to you about the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, often called WIC. How familiar are you with the program?

   1. What do you know about the WIC program and what it provides for its participants? [PROBE: How it works, participant eligibility, food lists]

   2. If you recall, from where did you first learn about WIC? [NOTE: Keep this conversation brief. A section, below, focuses on training/sharing information.]

2. Next, I’d like to get your thoughts, impressions, or perceptions of the WIC program as it relates to your store.

   1. Overall, what word or phrase would you use to describe your experience working with customers who are WIC participants (i.e., “WIC shoppers”)? By that, I mean helping them with check out or finding the right items?

      1. Why that word/phrase? What specific aspect of your experience checking out/helping WIC shoppers drives that response?

      2. Please describe your typical interaction with a WIC shopper.

      3. How, if at all, does it vary from interactions with your other customers who do not participate in WIC?

2. When you think about all the elements associated with your store accepting WIC…

   1. What are benefits or “positives” associated with the fact that your store accepts WIC.

   2. What aspects of WIC are the most challenging?

   3. [If several challenges mentioned:] Which one is the most difficult? Why?

3. Let’s spend a moment or two talking about the WIC shopping experience.

   1. What, if anything, tends to make the shopping experience difficult for WIC shoppers? [PROBE: Cannot find items]

   2. What, if anything, makes their shopping experience easier? [PROBE: In-store WIC materials (i.e. shelf tags/labels, shopping list, etc.), a helpful store employee?]

   3. How do WIC shoppers know what items are WIC approved? [PROBE: WIC labels? Do you label produce? Store app? WIC app?]

      1. IF STORE/WIC APP MENTIONED: Do you have a sense of how the store and/or WIC app helps WIC shoppers? To what extent do these apps create issues? [MODERATOR: DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN STORE APP OR WIC APP]

   4. What, if anything, has recently made the shopping experience better or easier for WIC shoppers? How have those changes been helpful?

4. Now I’d like to focus on the checkout experience for WIC shoppers.

   1. Let me begin with a few questions about checkout capabilities at your store.

      1. Can any cashier/register checkout a WIC shopper? Why/why not?

      2. Does your store offer self-checkout for shoppers?

         1. [IF YES:] Can WIC shoppers use self-checkout?

            1. [IF THEY HAVE WIC SELF-CHECKOUT:] What about WIC self-checkout works well?

            2. [IF THEY HAVE WIC SELF-CHECKOUT:] What about WIC self-checkout does not work so well?

      3. Do WIC shoppers typically pay for their purchase by first using their WIC card and then pay for remaining items? If so, what issues, if any, typically arise during this process [PROBE: More time consuming? Confusion over what foods are covered?]

   2. What about the WIC program works well at checkout? [PROBE: EBT card easy to use? Self-checkout options are effective? Fewer items rejected for WIC payment?]

   3. What are the most frequent questions and/or issues you have experienced/received when a WIC shopper checks out? [PROBE: EBT card doesn’t work, Wrong sized item? WIC-approved item but not for shopper’s benefit package? Confusion when WIC-approved item does not ring up correctly?]

      1. How are these problems typically resolved? [PROBE: Can you help them or do they need to speak to someone else (e.g. customer service or a manager)?]

      2. Is there a standard procedure when WIC shoppers have an issue at checkout?

         1. If so, what is the procedure?

         2. How, if at all, does it differ from the procedure when customers who are not WIC participants have an issue?

      3. [IF TIME, AND IF EBT MENTIONED, ABOVE:] Are EBT issues predominantly due to the point-of-sale system or user error/issues?

      4. How do you feel when a WIC shopper raises a concern/question during checkout?

         1. How does the WIC shopper usually respond when an issue happens? How, if at all, is a typical response from a WIC shopper different from a non-WIC shopper’s response when there is a checkout issue?

      5. What happens when a customer claims an item is WIC-approved but the item is not approved in your store’s computer?

         1. [IF NOT MENTIONED, ABOVE:] What is the standard procedure if such an issue occurs?

         2. Who does the WIC shopper speak to? [PROBE: head cashier, customer service, store manager?]

         3. How, if at all, are you able to help the shopper in this scenario? [PROBE: explain why item not approved? Call for the correctly sized item? Send them to customer service/manager]

      6. Overall, how are the checkout errors associated with WIC typically resolved? [PROBE: WIC shopper gets a different item? Pays out of pocket? Leaves item behind?]

   4. What would make the WIC checkout experience in your store easier?

4. WIC Training (10 minutes)

1. Before we close our conversation, I want to get your perspective on WIC training. First, have you received any training about WIC policies or procedures in your store?

   1. [IF NO WIC TRAINING:] Do you know if your colleagues received WIC training?

      1. Do you expect to receive WIC training? Why/why not?

      2. Would you like to receive training about the WIC program?

      3. Why/why not? [GO TO c, BELOW]

      4. What specific WIC-related topics would you like to know more about?

2. [IF YES WIC TRAINING:] In your own words, please describe how WIC training happens at your store. What’s it like? [PROBE: Do you have a special staff meeting for WIC training? Does it take place in the breakroom or are you standing around the store/checkout lane? What materials, if any, are shared?]

   1. Who trains staff about WIC? [PROBE: Store manager, head cashier, someone else?]

   2. Who else receives WIC training at the store? [PROBE: All associates, stockers?]

   3. How frequently do you receive WIC training? How frequently do you receive new WIC information or WIC updates?

   4. [IF NOT MENTIONED, ABOVE:] Do you receive special WIC-related materials during these trainings?

      1. What information do the materials contain?

      2. How, if at all, do you use the materials?

   5. How easy or difficult is it for you to understand the information that is shared during WIC training? What makes you say that?

   6. After trainings, how confident do you feel that you can help WIC shoppers if they have a problem during checkout? Let’s use a scale from 1 to 5. A ‘1’ means you are not confident at all, and a ‘5’ means you are extremely confident. You can use any number from 1 to 5.

      1. What number would you choose?

      2. Why that number?

   7. If you still have questions after the WIC training, where do you go? Who do you talk to?

      1. Are they usually able to answer your questions?

      2. [IF NOT:] How do you get your question answered?

3. Now, let’s talk about any information you may see/receive from WIC.

   1. Aside from a training, have you ever received/seen information about WIC (e.g., Product recalls, POS changes?) From whom do you get the info? How useful is the info?

   2. Are there other types of WIC information you’d like to receive?

5. Wrap-up/False Close (5 minutes)

Thank you for all the information you have provided.

• If by snapping your fingers you could solve one WIC challenge that your store faces, what would that be and why?

• Last question, what do you see as the #1 opportunity for WIC shoppers and/or the WIC program in your store?

Thank you again for your time.