For Americans without a debit or credit card, it’s nearly impossible to shop online. Amazon’s Ben Volk has devised a way for the company to accept cash, something it has technically done since 2017, but customers had to preload money into their account. With Amazon PayCode, which launched in the U.S. in September 2019, customers can pay with cash at partner Western Union after completing online checkout. Purchases arrive on their doorstep days later. “A lot of it had to come down to trust,” Volk says. (In certain countries outside of the U.S., roughly one-third of first-time Amazon customers opt to use PayCode.) Today, working with the USDA and 36 states, Volk has been piloting a way for recipients of SNAP benefits to buy groceries through Amazon. “I’m super proud to be a part of it,” he says.
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