By Marguerite Cleveland
Beginning January 1, 2020, you may see more shoppers at your local Commissary and Exchange, up to three million more. The FY 2019 National Defense Authorization Act expands the eligibility to former prisoners of war, Purple Heart recipients, disabled Veterans (service-connected) and caregivers for Veterans will now have shopping privileges as well as use of base MWR programs that generate revenue. It is the largest expansion of authorized users in over 60 years authorizing a 50% increase in potential customers.
On a positive note, more shoppers are a way to reverse the declining revenues for on-base stores. More revenue for the Exchanges means more money towards military quality of life. For the commissary it will help to keep the commissary privilege which is a huge noncash compensation benefit for service members. Three million seems like a lot of new patrons but that will be spread out across all branches of the service and all the facilities in the U.S. making the impact negligible.
For military families who have grown accustomed to shopping at the commissaries and exchanges and their service member maybe facing a medical board. It will be an added benefit to know that they will still be able to enjoy the discounted prices if their service member is medically discharged.
The Military Times reported that Homeland Security (Coast Guard facilities), the Defense Department and Veteran Affairs have been working for more than six months to plan for the new expansion. The planning process has looked at which states have high populations of disabled veterans such as Florida, California and Texas. They also looked at high cost areas where new patrons could be drawn by the lower prices such as Hawaii, Alaska, California, D.C., New York, New Jersey and Washington. They will use this analysis to prepare for the additional items which will be needed to keep shelves full and avoid any shortages.
One issue is how the new shoppers will gain access to the installations so they can shop. According to the Military Times, the Veteran’s Health ID Card will be used for disabled and other eligible Veterans. Once the technology is enabled at the front gate, the cards will be scanned to allow access to the installation. The cards will also be read by commissary systems before checkout. For caregivers, you must be registered in the Department of Veterans Affairs Caregiver Program. Initially there will be a memo you can print out. The goal is to develop a caregiver ID card.
By law there can be no further expense to the commissary, so new customers paying with a credit card at the commissary will be charged a fee, to cover the commissaries cost for the credit card fee. There is no fee if a new shopper uses cash, check or the military star card.
Do you think adding new shoppers to the commissary and exchanges are a good idea? How do you think it will impact your shopping experience?
Marguerite Cleveland is a freelance writer who specializes in human interest and travel stories. She is a military brat, a veteran and now a military spouse. Her military experience is vast as the daughter of a Navy man who served as an enlisted sailor and then Naval Officer. She served as an enlisted soldier in the reserves and on active duty, then as an Army Officer. She currently serves as a military spouse. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two sons. Visit her website www.PeggyWhereShouldIGo.com
This is awesome!! my son(no longer active Marine) will be able to utilize this!
I think this is a great idea. I am retired USCGR and have been using this privilege for years. Thank you.
I think it’s great . My husband is retired, my son in law was medically discharged so he will be able too use .
This is fine with me. About time for Purple Heart and disabled vets.
You indicate service connected disabled vets will qualify. Is that limited to 100% disability?
I think this would be great. I do not want to lose my commissary benefit. However! DeCA needs to ditch their new in-house brands (ie Freedom’s Choice, Homebase and Taste of Freedom) as they are sub-standard. Yes, they are cheaper than the national brands, but they are nowhere near as good. The Freedom’s Choice cheese just crumbles, so no slicing or shredding of it and the taste is sketchy. These brands are slowly replacing all national brands. For example, in my commissary on Whidbey Island, WA there is no other choice in frozen fruits other than Freedom’s Choice. The ONLY brand of mozzarella block cheese is Freedom’s Choice and it’s awful. Not much freedom of choice there when it’s the ONLY choice. I have heard this from other shoppers there as well. If this keeps up, and I can no longer find the brands I prefer, I may be forced to shop elsewhere, at a higher cost which will be a hardship as local grocery stores are double/triple in some cases of the commissary prices.
They (and their families) have paid their dues. This should have been done earlier. I hope that the groups that support them pass the word to them all.
Will there be a time when retired commissary DOD employees will be able to use the commissary for shopping.. I have heard that current employees of the commissary can now shop there
So if I read this correctly, I will now be charged a fee to use a credit card if it is not a Star Card. Since this card is operated by AAFES you can bet that this currently free card will find a way to charge users more. What with a potential base of three million more users they are frothing at the mouth since they are doing such a poor job in making the exchanges a place to shop anymore.
i think its a great idea, many people out there that deserve a better life ,and if this helps them, good for them.i love to shop at the commissary.great selection and great prices.
That is great. But what is this about charging a fee to use a credit card?
I am a veteran. Not disabled but served my country and feel I should be able to shop also.
While I agree with the decision to offer commissary and exchange privileges to all service connected veterans from 0 to 100%, in my opinion this change should have been offered at a slower pace.
For example, the first year, all veterans, from 50% to 95% will now have commissary and exchange privileges starting Jan 1, 2020. Then starting Jan 1, 2021, all veterans with 0% to 45% can begin to use the commissary and the exchange.
Unfortunately, having all veterans from 0% -95% now eligible for base privileges, while I can’t speak for a base in Ohio, I can speak about Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, NY. I think it’s going to be absolute madness due to all the service connected vets who live in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, and Long Island areas.
Security officers at the gate will be scanning the VA hospital cards (whatever they’re called) but currently all we need to do is to show the base privilege ID to the security officer at the main gates. What happens when there’s a long line of cars waiting to get into Fort Hamilton and the scanned card has a problem. Now what? OK, everyone back up so your cars so he/she can turn around and leave. What happens when an argument breaks out between the veteran and the security officer? You know the vet is going to be pissed off, especially if he/she has travelled from the Bronx. Now what?
On certain days and times, I’m not sure the parking lot will be able to hold all the extra cars. It could be like trying to find a parking space at the mall on Christmas Eve.
I can go on and on, but I hope I’m wrong about everything I’ve said. Only time will tell.