From the Army Times.

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As about 3 million more people will soon be eligible to shop at military stores, officials are working to make sure these new customers will have access to bases, and that the shelves will be stocked.

Starting Jan. 1, all service-connected disabled veterans, Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war and primary veteran caregivers will be eligible to shop at commissaries and exchanges, and officials from three federal agencies are preparing the way.

The newly eligible customers will also be able to use certain morale, welfare and recreation activities.

It’s the largest patronage expansion in more than 60 years, said Virginia Penrod, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs, who spoke at a recent meeting of the American Logistics Association.

The departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security have been planning for the expansion for more than six months, with four teams totaling about 70 people. Among other things, they’ve decided how the new customers will get access to military installations and to the stores; assessed the impact on the stores, and have been making plans to ensure enough products get to the shelves in the right assortment.

As about 3 million more people will soon be eligible to shop at military stores, officials are working to make sure these new customers will have access to bases, and that the shelves will be stocked.

Starting Jan. 1, all service-connected disabled veterans, Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war and primary veteran caregivers will be eligible to shop at commissaries and exchanges, and officials from three federal agencies are preparing the way.

The newly eligible customers will also be able to use certain morale, welfare and recreation activities.

It’s the largest patronage expansion in more than 60 years, said Virginia Penrod, principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for manpower and reserve affairs, who spoke at a recent meeting of the American Logistics Association.

The departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security have been planning for the expansion for more than six months, with four teams totaling about 70 people. Among other things, they’ve decided how the new customers will get access to military installations and to the stores; assessed the impact on the stores, and have been making plans to ensure enough products get to the shelves in the right assortment.

The fiscal 2019 National Defense Authorization Act expanded the pool of eligible shoppers. Because the expansion also applies to Coast Guard facilities, the Department of Homeland Security has been involved.

The law also included Medal of Honor recipients, but they already had shopping privileges. Previously, veterans with 100 percent service-connected disabilities were able to shop; now all with service-connected disabilities can shop. The benefit extends to MWR programs that are “revenue-generating facilities,” according to the law.

The expansion is about a 50 percent increase in customers. Currently, about 6 million total households are eligible for the benefit; this adds 3 million, said Justin Hall, director of the DoD office of MWR and Resale Policy. “That’s a huge lift across the entire system.” he said.

Officials have been mapping out the areas, using VA statistics, where there may be more of an impact on the stores. The impact assessments generally show there will be a low to moderate impact on military stores overall, said Penrod. But she called on representatives of industry for their help to make sure the supply chain “remains responsive to the increased sales volume to ensure no out of stock situations occur” at stores in states with high populations of disabled veterans and in states with higher cost of living.

States with a higher population density of disabled veterans are Florida, Texas and California, said Barry Patrick, in the DoD office of resale policy. High cost areas were identified as Hawaii; Alaska, California; the Washington metropolitan area; New York; New Jersey and Washington state, he said.



These new shoppers generally don’t have access to military bases. Officials have decided that the best form of identification for these groups:

Disabled and other eligible veterans: For access into the installation, and for access to the stores, they’ll use the veterans health ID card, Patrick said. Officials are working to enable technology at the front gate to scan those veteran cards, and will start scanning the cards in October, he said. Commissary officials are working on adjusting their technology to enable systems to read the veterans health ID card.
Caregivers: The process will be different, initially, Patrick said, since they’re not directly affiliated with DoD or VA other than through their annual appointment to be a caregiver. The benefit applies to the primary caregiver of wounded/injured veterans who are registered in the Department of Veterans Affairs caregiver program. Beginning in October, the VA will post a memo to VA.gov for caregivers, to be used for access at the front gate, along with driver’s license or other authorized form of ID. The VA process will later transition to a caregiver-type ID card, which will have scanning swipe capability, he said.

Currently there are about 30,000 VA caregivers who will qualify for this benefit, but over the next several years the number could potentially grow to about 250,000, Patrick noted.

Credit card fee

These new customers will pay a fee for using a credit card at commissaries, except for the military resale system’s Military Star card. The amount of the fee has not yet been determined. By law, this expansion can’t include extra costs associated with using credit cards in commissaries; the cost must be passed on to the customer. Except for the Military Star card, credit card companies charge transaction fees to retailers when customers use their credit cards.

There will be a flag built into the system at commissaries so that when the card is swiped the fee will be charged.

The fee applies only to new patrons using credit cards in commissaries, not to Medal of Honor recipients or others who were previously authorized to shop. New customers can avoid the fees by paying by cash, check or using the Military Star card. It only applies at the commissary, which is funded primarily by taxpayer dollars.

The DoD resale community has been working together to estimate the number of likely shoppers by location, and the merchandise categories that will interest those shoppers. For example, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service will be adjusting its inventory by location, said Chris Ward, spokesman for AAFES. “Extending the brick-and-mortar military exchange benefit to all disabled veterans is not expected to require material investments in facilities or technology,” he said.

Patrick said officials will launch an information campaign to get out the word about the new benefit to the new customers, but also to installation officials.

Link

You might want to consider revising the thread’s title. Very much a click-bait one as it is currently written.

Okay, how’s that?
I guess I just don’t spend enough time surfing click-bait sites to recognize the secret signs of their titles.

I think this is long overdue

I'm retired Air Guard and we have a commissary and PX at the Rock Island Arsenal, a mere 5 miles away. However, with bridge and other road construction issues it's usually a pain to get there.

We're in a semi-major metropolitan area (IA side of the Quad Cities) and my S-4 (that would be Mrs. Sigmund) prefers to shop at closer stores. I say nothing. We do get our meds every few months at the RIA pharmacy, but no groceries.

Seems reasonable. I cant believe they weren't allowed to before this.

Veterans in the VA system are able to shop online and on premises Canteens and only recently opened online access to thePXto veterans. This is a big expansion. I look forward to going back to Ft Benning and Ft Campbell after over 30 years even if it’s just the PX and Commissary. I wonder if the families will also be allowed on post and allowed to shop.

Glad they are expanding the privileges, but, are general groceries much cheaper? I was at a USAF exchange over the weekend and the whiskey prices were about the same as the NC ABC store.

quote:

Originally posted by mikeyspizza:
Glad they are expanding the privileges, but, are general groceries much cheaper? I was at a USAF exchange over the weekend and the whiskey prices were about the same as the NC ABC store.

Significantly less expensive in my area. The Commissary is a different system than the Exchange system.

if I recall, items are cheaper and sales tax is waived

Long time user here. Whether the commissary is cheaper usually depends on what you buy. Bulk items, bread and meat usually cheaper but other things can actually be higher so one must shop smart. For example on our last trip we found many varieties of can goods 20% higher than at regular store and soft drinks almost a dollar per 12 pack higher. Commissary charges a flat fee which is a percentage of purchase price to cover commissary expenses which is less than sales tax.

quote:

Originally posted by low8option:
Long time user here. Whether the commissary is cheaper usually depends on what you buy. Bulk items, bread and meat usually cheaper but other things can actually be higher so one must shop smart.

^^^^ This. One needs to determine how to shop smart between the commissary, local grocery stores (with their coupons/flyers) and other places like Costco.

We've started to shop the commissary once per month for meat, dairy and other items. In general I find the produce (at least at our commissary) to be of lesser quality than at the local grocery stores.

quote:

Commissary charges a flat fee which is a percentage of purchase price to cover commissary expenses which is less than sales tax.

5% surcharge.

I found this online:

The surcharge isn’t new. In fact, Congress set the surcharge in 1952 at 2 percent in order to make commissaries more self-sustaining and less reliant on appropriated funding. It was raised three more times over the years and has stayed at 5 percent since 1983. This surcharge covers all stateside and overseas commissaries now.

The law requires the surcharge to be added to all items sold at the commissary and is therefore applied to the total purchase before coupon deductions are made. For example, if you have $50 worth of groceries before coupons then the 5 percent surcharge would be applied as $50 x .05 = $2.50. If you then have $10 worth in coupons the total at the end of your bill will be $50 + $2.50 surcharge = $52.50 – $10 =$42.50

The next time you buy groceries at the commissary look at your receipt. That surcharge is the amount you personally contributed to improve your commissary.

Simply a business move, as more people buy from online services or have places like Walmart pack all the items for easy pickup or delivery. So the commissary needs more people to fill the void.

Yeah, the commissary is typically cheaper but you get to deal with the working mafia who have to bag and bring your groceries out, only working for tips, so there goes $5.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Yeah, the commissary is typically cheaper but you get to deal with the working mafia who have to bag and bring your groceries out, only working for tips, so there goes $5.

Bag your own in the self-service checkout line.

Thanks DAK229, I couldn't remember the current surcharge amount as it was 3% when I started using it in 1966 but I knew it had gone up. As to the new people getting to use the commissary I am happy to see people who have invested their blood and sweat in our country get to use it.

This is a step in the wrong direction. Commissary and Exchange need to be closed down in all but the most rural of installations.

quote:

Originally posted by brywards:
This is a step in the wrong direction. Commissary and Exchange need to be closed down in all but the most rural of installations.

Why?
Because they’re not “needed”? Like guns?
Or because they people whom they serve don’t deserve that perk?
Just curious.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by brywards:
This is a step in the wrong direction. Commissary and Exchange need to be closed down in all but the most rural of installations.

Why?
Because they’re not “needed”? Like guns?
Or because they people whom they serve don’t deserve that perk?
Just curious.

*Disclaimer - I am active duty (21 years) and third-generation career military, so I’m not speaking without first-hand knowledge*

Because they aren’t a useful perk; selection is severely limited (referencing the Exchange), prices are often not any lower than off-installation stores even when factoring in tax-free sales, they routinely operate at a loss, and produce is sub-par.

Their only usefulness is for service members stationed at remote or rural installations without civilian shopping alternatives. Most State-side Exchange and commissaries are predominantly shopped by retirees, and I will never understand why except for the nostalgia.

This announcement to allow more access to the stores to these groups of people has nothing to do with recognizing their sacrifice to this country. It is purely an attempt to garner more customers and increase revenue, because they have known for years that they operate at a loss and have previously faced the possibility of closure. So now we are decreasing the security of our installations so these failed business models can make money.

Like grocery stores anywhere, the quality of produce and selection depends upon the volume of sales and the local store manager. We shop in our commissary every week and the prices and quality are outstanding. Commissary profits are poured back into the commissaries for the benefit of the patrons. I think the increased patronage will be a good thing for the commissary system and ultimately for the patrons.

Back when I was shopping on base I had some observations with the Exchange & Commissary.

It was nice to eliminate sales tax. In most instances they only carried name brand items, few less expensive generic types. If one settled for generic, the local Walmart was often cheaper.

Some of the ‘welfare & rec’ deals can be good, renting stuff, whatever.

Now that I’m out of the system & don’t have a base nearby, I see no reason to want to shop there.