For the last 40 years the commissaries have been put on the chopping block only to come out strong.
Last year the Senate and House debated privatizing the commissaries over the next several years to save money. They wanted to cut the $1.3 billion annual Department of Defense subsidy for the commissary system. Luckily, this proposal didn’t make it through.
Don’t relax too much thinking the commissaries will be safe now. This year the politicians are at it again.
The House and Senate have come together on a new plan for the FY 2016 Defense Authorization Act. This consists of:
- reducing the FY 2016 commissaries budget cut from $322 million to $30 million;
- they scrapped the idea of privatizing the system and are now requiring a DoD plan to make the commissary and exchange benefit “budget neutral” by the end of 2018;
- authorized DoD to conduct pilot programs to evaluate ways to achieve commissary and exchange budget neutrality; and
- specified that these must maintain high levels of customer satisfaction, provide high-quality products, and sustain the current level of savings for customers.
What does this mean for the average shopper at their local commissaries? The most notable change would be prices. Some patrons would notice their prices going up while a select few might find them going down.
How could this be?
What lawmakers are considering here is variable pricing. Currently, prices are set at commissaries across the board. Under this change, commissaries would see price changes based on location.
Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., a brigadier general in the Army Reserves chairs an Armed Services subcommittee that lead the hearings recently on overhauling the stores. He says commissaries could improve how they sell products and become more efficient if they utilized a variable pricing method. Following commercial grocery stores strategies, prices would be set by the market.
For example, prices at commercial grocery stores are higher in New York then they are in Alabama. Just reading this proposal, Fort Drum patrons will be balking at the idea, whereas those at Maxwell AFB may be more open to it since they would be the ones possibly seeing the lower prices.
Heck hopes this plan will help get commissaries to a break-even plan. He says that they currently lose money on every sale.
If that doesn’t do the job, the other plan proposed is to create a commissary brand, much like commercial grocery stores have. Selling items under a Defense Commissary Agency label was part of a consultant lead study that was presented to Congress last fall. This is likely to be the main topic of discussion on the Hill this year.
The worry here for most people is that the quality of the products might not be the same as the commercial brands that are currently being sold at commissaries. The study claims that the products would be at the same level and patrons would still save money over local grocery stores. To match that quality however, there would likely be an increase in prices.
If either of these proposals get enough lawmakers to support it, they could be added to the National Defense Authorization Act, which is a huge bill that shapes military policies and takes most of the year to work through.
Will commissaries see changes this year or are they safe, at least for another year?
Only time will tell, but if the last 40 years of failed proposals to cut the DoD subsidy have a standing basis then maybe things won’t change.
Once the presidency changes, initiatives might as well. Everything is a big “if” for the moment and commissary patrons will be watching closely to see if one of the greatest nonpay benefits for service members will see a big change.
Well The Exchange has their generic brands and their quality is pretty good and prices are very reasonable. I use Exchange Select in alot of products like paper goods and cleaning supplies and for snacks I have bought Patriots Choice. Maybe the Commissary will do the same. Another price cutting strategy alot of grocery stores and even The Exchange encourages is bringing your own reusable shopping bags. Of course if the govt. wishes to shut down Commissaries because they feel it will save money maybe they need to provide service members, retirees and reservists with a card that will take a percentage off on groceries at select local supermarkets and club stores off base. If anything they should not touch the Commissaries at overseas bases since no US supermarkets exist in those places.
How about Not selling so many commercial brands? Eliminate the products that don’t sell, or sell very well.
As a retiree I live just a few miles away from the local commissary. I shop there weekly since it is so close and I appreciate the benefit. The only other grocery close is a Walmart and the commissary offers things that Walmart does not. But Walmart buys in such large quantities that they can often get things cheaper than the commissary can. It seems obvious to me that the only way the commissary can bring in enough money to not need any money from congress would be to raise prices. Perhaps they could make a deal with some reputable off brand sources to offer commissary shoppers a break in prices over the cost of the major brands? But speaking for those that still serve in the active military, I think the Commissary should be preserved for the active duty folks. They deserve the convenience of being able to purchase groceries on Post and what is available off post isn’t always going to be reliable.
As a retired Marine, living in Northeast Ohio, I have been traveling to Wright-Patters AFB to the commissary there for years. I go there two or three times per year and stock up on groceries and other things. I have also gone to the Coast Guard Exchange in Cleveland ( they did away with the groceries and deli.a number of years ago.) and now they are cutting the size down again. Poor planning on their part, with the large number of active duty and retired Coast Guard and Marines, and other branches in the area. Then with this variable pricing stuff, and budget cuts looming. So what if they loose money. They are all flag wavers when they expect the military to defend this country and even loose their lives, but now that the wars in the middle-east are winding down, they have little use for us anymore. Commissaries have to be making money, otherwise they would not want to privatize, as no one would want to take them over, unless they are going to raise prices if they do.
I have some questions to ask as well as comments. First, why is it that whenever cuts suggested the government reaches into the pockets of the very ones protecting the country suffer the most? Second, why does the government not look for another area to cut instead of the benefit(s) that military members/families have earned, deserve and expect? After all the soldiers and their families sacrifice so much more, but get little in return.
Comment: I feel that if the government wishes to make cuts, trim the FAT in Congress, no more increases for them. Put the money to use for commissaries to stay competitive with the stores like Walmart, Publix and others. If this is to be fair to the military community, Come up with a better plan to NOT change one of our most basic necessities, prices on our FOOD. Because as we already know, healthcare was changed sometime ago and affected many. So please, trim the FAT elsewhere.
Agree. I’d like them to eliminate congressional benefits for life for those who only spend a couple of years in congress as well as their absurd salaries and the large number of staff members they have that we pay for. Cutting beurocracy (so?) and costs in EVERY government agency not just the DoD. My personal peeve is use it or lose it. When agencies are told that they must use every dime in this FY or next years budget will be cut by that amount does not incentivize agencies to save money but to waste it so as not to be cut next year
Commissaries should not be for profit. Politicians and generals should not be in the decision making. People who rely on and need this service should be the decision makers
When the congress and president quits send all this money to foreign countries who want to destroy us and take care of us American’s I will look kindly on them. Until then I think they are just a bunch of out of touch cowards who are legends in their own minds.
More American’s should stand up to all these want to be politicians and let them know what they think of them.
I always love how they compare the commissaries to the exchanges. That is like comparing apples to oranges! Exchanges are “for profit” and the commissaries are suppose to be “break even”. How many times do you walk into an exchanges and see a sign advertising how much money the exchange has given to support “services” on base. It’s not their money that they are giving…it is your money that they overcharged you for products.
Let’s reduce our “airplane order” by one and we won’t have this problem with funding the commissaries. Or we could quit spending all of our “year end” money by purchasing furniture from UNICOR. The can use that furniture for a year or two more. Better yet, instead of buying new chairs from UNICOR to replace the broken ones, let’s return those broken chairs back to UNICOR since they have a lifetime guarantee.
I always laugh when I hear a general talk about what we can do to save money. Like they really know what they are talking about.
Years ago commissaries were supposed to enable the service members provide for their families . It worked pretty much let the basis housing allowance. So my keeping the prices down and allowing the service members and their families to put money back in the government instead of spending on the economy would replace most if the cost of operating the commissary. Now without the ID chevk at the door, someone had come up eith a brilliant idea that if we turn our heads the other way and ” forget” to adk for ID, we can make much more money. Is that fair to the under paid service nembers who are at your beckon call 24/7?
Since the commissary is one of the few benefits left for use for retirees like myself; it would be a big blow to us financially if the commissary where to raise the prices. Being on a fixed income (which we all know is low for retirees that are not senior enlisted or officers) it is hard now with all that has already been either taken away from us or revised to the point that we have to pay to use them (like medical and education). When I joined the service, the benefits that were available to retirees helped me to make the decision to make it a career. I would hope that my decision was not a huge missake.
I have used the commissaries since we we in Alaska in 1962. Why are they building a new one at Jax
Naval Station in Jacksonville, Fl. ? This is the one I use now. as we are gluten free and the selection is
pretty good. We are retired E-5 so money has to be spent wisely. We done’t want to go on food stamps
like this President would like so he can have his control. please keep what we have.
Why don’t the Senators and congressmen take a pay cut /not receive a pay raise then we wouldn’t have to keep cutting from the military?
Why does the military always have to find ways to save money when you don’t.. You get better retirements, medical, dental after 4-8 yrs of service. A military member gives at least 20yrs and some of that in combat and gets half their base pay, Does that seem fair?
Agreed, Congress should be given a cut in their yearly pay down to 1/4 of what they currently make as well as a cut in retirement to maybe $50,000 a year plus the chance to collect Social Security like everyone else. If they did that they would still come out on top. Currently how things are it is very unfair and they should not be talking of cutting military benefits til they themselves tighten their own belts.
This is a reduction in benefits any way you look at it. Another pay cut. The military is an easy target since they aren’t allowed to be political. And now, we have a president that doesn’t care about the military. What they can take from the military, they can give away in exchange for votes.
Just as senior citizens are easy targets for cuts in the civilian sector because they can’t fight back, so are military retirees who have no voice in decisions about commissaries and the exchange system services. In addition, the active forces are strapped beyond the tolerable level, constantly looking for ways to cut costs so their families can purchase the basic necessities, especially food and clothing. Ultimately, the industrial-military complex is at fault. We all know we don’t need another 30 high-tech, yet ineffective, fighter jets or two more shiny aircraft carriers but such is the result of manufacturers snuggled warmly in bed with the Department of Defense. Until DOD gets its priorities straight, those who have donned the uniform and written the blank checks to the Armed Forces to defend America, will suffer the consequences of immoral and wasteful deals contracted on a grand scale–with no relief in sight.
I think the people in the Senent and Congress should take a pay cut and try to live on the retiree’s pay.
I am a retored E-8 from the Army reserve and I depend on shoping at the Commissary at Nellis .