This won't help people whose benefits have run out, or are about to, but a change at the State Department of Employment and Workforce will save the state more than $4 million a year.
New recipients of benefits will get debit cards instead of paper checks, starting on Monday.
The Departments old computer system caused several problems, including two different times last year when they printed and sent out duplicate checks, but that should change.
They will start issuing benefits on Visa debit cards instead of sending checks.
Dorothy Flynn, Unemployed - "Well, it would be great because you won't have to be losing your mail, because a lot of people sometimes lose your checks."
The agency says it'll not only be more secure, recipients will get their benefits faster, and there's a big benefit for taxpayers.
Clark Newsom, Dept. Of Employment and Workforce - "We have to mail checks. They have to be processed, printed and there are bank processing fees. We're looking at somewhere over $4 million per year in savings."
The Department mailed out more than 100,000 checks last week.
It has been a pilot program for about the last month in Columbia, Florence and Barnwell. Now it'll go statewide on Monday. It'll start with new recipients.
People already getting checks will be phased in, with everyone getting debit cards by October.
But could there be a potential problem?
Jerry Ryfinski, Unemployed - "Whenever you give anybody a plastic card, whether it be a debit card, a credit card, a gift card, what they're going to do is spend it, usually about as quickly as possible. So I don't think it really encourages responsible use of the money that way."
But the agency says if that's a problem, people can sign up for direct deposit. We checked with the department of social services, which went to electronic cards in 1995 to replace food stamps. It says over a nine year period, the cards have saved the state close to 25 million dollars.
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