Shoppers have always praised Costco, a wholesale club with about 57 million members, for offering high-quality food at low prices; but if you're relying on food stamps to pay your monthly grocery bill, then you're out of luck.

Costco doesn't accept the debit-style Electronic Benefit (EBT) cards that now hold food stamp allocations.

"Generally we don't have customers who use food stamps," said Jim Sinegal, co-founder and president of the company.

Whether or not past Costco shoppers were in a position to need food stamps, odds are there are members whose situations have changed.

In December 2008, approximately 1.2 million people in Pennsylvania were receiving food stamps, a 9.3 percent increase since December 2007 and a 23.6 percent increase since 2004. Between December 2007 and December 2008, the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania rose from 4.7 percent to 6.4 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"We know that there are families that are accessing benefits that never had to before," said Stacey Witalec, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.

As more people are issued EBT cards, it has drawn attention to some of the special challenges food-stamp recipients face in trying to buy healthful, fresh food within their limited budgets.

And, as Americans have been individually buying less, some companies have started to pay more attention to segments of the market they previously ignored.

While wholesale clubs charge a membership fee -- usually around $50 a year for an individual membership -- that fee can quickly be recouped through savings on products. Food stamp dollars can only be used on food (and not all kinds of food), but wholesale club members could also gain access to savings on household products, office supplies and many other goods that most people need to purchase in some quantity.

In February, Sam's Club, Costco's biggest competitor, quietly changed its policy and started accepting the EBT cards at select stores.

Kristy L. Reed, a Sam's Club spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail that the change had been made "as a service to our members during the current economic environment." Not all stores' capabilities have been activated at this time, but a large number of stores in the Allegheny County area have already made the change.

BJ's, the third largest wholesale club chain after Sam's Club and Costco, also allows the use of EBT cards at certain locations.

Mr. Sinegal, of Costco, emphasized he and other executives were aware that situations have changed for many families, and they are re-evaluating the food stamp policy each month. But he was still concerned about the expense and difficulty of enabling Costco to accept the EBT card.

Such problems have limited access to another significant source of cheap, fresh foods: farmers' markets.

"[Foods from] farmers' markets are definitely among the most cost-effective and healthy and nutritious and fresh food that can be bought," said Joni Rabinowitz, co-director of Just Harvest, an anti-hunger and anti-poverty public policy advocacy organization located in Pittsburgh.

Farm stands run by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and its partners are able to accept EBT cards, but the farmers markets in Allegheny County, which are generally larger with longer hours than the farm stands, currently don't have the capability to use the cards.

In order to accept the EBT card, farmers' markets usually have to rely on wireless card readers which can cost up to $1,000 each, not to mention the cost of transactions. Many farmers' markets across the country have successfully initiated programs that allow farmers to share wireless readers, or that allow EBT cardholders to scan the cards at a central point and receive tokens to spend at the market. But these types of programs require agreement from all farmers, money to purchase the wireless EBT card readers, and a full-time staff person to oversee the program.

A pilot-program spearheaded by Just Harvest was not successful.

"We had purchased five wireless [EBT card readers] at the time and we had five vendors around here who were doing it, and the machines were totally unreliable. They weren't on when they were supposed to be on, they took hours to charge up, the farmers didn't always remember to bring the machines," said Ms. Rabinowitz.

"It would take a full buy-in by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and it would require a staff person starting out early in the year to go around and convince the farmers to do this. ... I would love to see this happen."

Increasing access to farmers' markets wouldn't just help people gain access to more fresh fruits and vegetables, it might also stimulate the local economy. A November 2008 statement from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington reported that according to the USDA, "Each $1 spent on food stamps generates $1.84 in economic activity."

That may be one reason the economic stimulus package increased the maximum food stamp allocation by as much as $20 per person, per month.

But, at least for now, neither Costco nor local farmers' markets will be seeing any of that money.