Defense Commissary Agency
Corporate Communications
1300 E Avenue, Fort Lee, VA 23801-1800
Tel: (804) 734-8000, Ext. 8-6105 DSN: 687-8000, Ext. 8-6105
FAX: (804) 734-8248 DSN: 687-8248
www.commissaries.com
Release Number: 65-20
Date: August 6, 2020
Media Contact: Kevin L. Robinson, public affairs specialist
Tel.: (804) 734-8000, Ext. 4-8773
E-mail: kevin.robinson@deca.mil
CLICK2GO
Commissaries continue roll out of new curbside pickup program at Fort Lee; five more scheduled later in 2020
By Rick Brink,
DeCA public affairs specialist
Note: To read this release online, go to the DeCA website.To see photos related to this release, go to the agency’s Flickr site.
FORT LEE, Va. – CLICK2GO, the Defense Commissary Agency’s online ordering/curbside pickup grocery service, returned Aug. 4 to the Fort Lee Commissary in Virginia following a yearlong absence.
“We’re pleased to be back to provide this service that’s become especially popular as we all cope with the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Willie Watkins, DeCA’s eBusiness chief. “More and more people like being able to shop online and pick up their groceries without having to go inside a store.”
In September 2013, the Fort Lee Commissary became the first store to offer curbside pickup under a pilot program that included two other commissaries. DeCA discontinued that program in June 2019 to make way for a new CLICK2GO, as the agency rolled out its new Enterprise Business System to stores. Fort Lee is now the sixth store to offer the new service, and five more commissaries are slated to get it later this year.
Using curbside pickup is a straight-forward process. Authorized commissary shoppers access the system via the agency’s customer portal, MyCommissary. An initial sign-up is required the first time patrons access MyCommissary. Patrons can also learn more about CLICK2GO on Commissaries.com.
Once in CLICK2GO, patrons select from commissary products offered online based on the store’s stock assortment. After products are selected, the patron selects a pickup time and completes the checkout process. The only thing left to do is arrive at curbside at the appointed time, and pay. Commissary workers will load the groceries in the shopper’s car and they will be on their way.
Fort Lee’s CLICK2GO customers won’t be charged a service fee through August and into the first week of September as part of an introductory offer. Beginning Sept. 8, a $4.95 service fee will be applied for each order, as it is at all curbside pickup locations.
“Our customers are keenly interested in CLICK2GO since it all started here,” said store director Margaret Camacho. “Now we’re ready to once again let them enjoy shopping online and picking up their orders without having to go inside the store, which is something that really appeals to families with young children.”
The curbside program is also offered in Virginia at Fort Eustis, Naval Air Station Oceana, Marine Corps Base Quantico and Fort Belvoir. It’s also available at the McGuire Air Force Base Commissary New Jersey, part of the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst community.
In the other five stores where it’s offered, CLICK2GO has seen a huge increase in customers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the startup at the Fort Lee Commissary is just the latest part of an ongoing expansion of the service, Watkins said.
Barring any unforeseen issues, the agency plans to roll out the service to five more commissaries this year, and there are plans to expand it to considerably to more stores over the next two years, said Watkins.
The five stores scheduled to receive the service later this year are: Fort Polk, Louisiana; Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida; Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska; Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota; and Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina. The number of stores and locations to get the service in 2021 haven’t been announced.
DeCA operates 236 commissaries worldwide. Not all stores will receive the service. A variety of factors, including sales and transactions, existing infrastructure and demographics are considered to determine if a commissary is suitable for CLICK2GO.
“Our agency is responding to customer shopping trends, and we’re pleased to be able to expand this service,” Watkins said.
-DeCA-
It would be nice if they offered a delivery service like Peapod has too. I live far from a Commissary and would love to get groceries delivered from them once in awhile. Some of their Freedom’s Choice products and the German imports like Lebkuchen around Christmas time are my favorites to buy from them. Hoping such a service is offered from them someday.
I am elderly and suffer from heart and lung disease and was recently diagnosed with cancer. Until now one of my daughters or one of my grandchildren would assist me in my commissary shopping. With the new Covid 19 rules my family members are not able to accompany me. I want to see the meat purchases for myself and trust the meat supply available in the commissary so, I have no meat. My children won’t take me to local markets because of the crowds. I order canned goods, some frozen foods and fresh fruit and vegetables from Walmart because they deliver. It took more than a week to even have someone answer the phone at my local commissary only to hear “Sorry your helper can’t come in to help you.”. I understand the commissary’s desire to protect the customers, too bad those who are unable to shop without help are left out.
I am in the same situation. I know there is a way to get help. I worked in the C.O.’s office for a while & remembered you can get a letter from him to have a person be your liaison to shop. You have to go through the DEERS office . I haven’t done it yet because the DEERS office is in sick bay @ my base. I don’t want to be exposed to any illness right now’
I have some very mixed feelings concerning the bandwagon of “Curbside Pickup Service” that everyone, from grocery stores, pharmacies, department stores, hardware store, and even the Exchanges and Commissaries are jumping onto…
I can see both sides of the argument to have such a service, so do not get upset with me for my more negative stance on the subject. I know there are folks who are working long hours (duty hours/over time, etc…) or hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet. There are those with health issues that need this service, I’m not heartless, I’m just trying to be pragmatic.
If this new trend in shopping continues, here are the two issues that I find most annoying.
The first irritation is the associates that push oversize carts, with oversize containers, down the aisles, while staring at tablets in order to fill the various customers’ orders. Their only concern is to fill the orders as fast as they can. The rest of us, the instore customer, needs to be vigilant or we get bumped into or blocked from actually shopping… When this happens, I visit the store manager…
The other issue is the parking problems caused by the “Entitled Customers” who are there just to pick up their items…
There are stores that block off choice parking (usually adjacent to Handicap parking) and reserve it for the curbside pickup. There are stores that do not have reserve parking and the customers pull into the handicap parking and lay on the horn until an associate comes out… There are stores that also do not have reserved parking and allow the customers to pull up right in front of the store and block the handicap ramps into the store and in general make the customers walk around the “picker-uppers.”
There seems to be a long learning curve involved with this new way of shopping. Maybe it’s because I’m old school, I say “Please and Thank you.” I say “You’re Welcome,” not “no problema…” When entering an elevator, bus, or building, I allow the folks to exit first… Simple manners seem to have taken a back seat…