The Good Idea Fairy strikes again
Yep, those wacky, lovable guys in power now have resurrected an item popular in the mid-teens… privatizing the PX and Commissary system.
The Pentagon’s newest push to trim its workforce and spending could mean that on-base grocery stores and shops designed to save service members and their families money could ultimately be sold off to the private sector.
A defense official familiar with the intent behind the memo told Military.com on Thursday that there weren’t any off-limit areas for cuts or privatization. Commissaries, military-run hotels, and on-base welfare facilities were all fair game, they said.
No one ever uses or depends on commissaries and PXes, right? Retirees never go to them either…heck, I’ve known people who based their retirement location on how many facilities were available in the immediate area.
Privatizing aspects of the military’s support services has a long and largely problematic history that has resulted in markedly poorer outcomes for service members while offering little in the way of savings for the Pentagon.
Mess halls? Barracks? Base housing? Privatized…and in many cases, fodder for TAH columns shortly. Ft. Hood/Cavazos (not even sure nowadays which one to strikethrough) can’t even get all of theirs open, and how often have we been hearing of moldy, broke-dick barracks across the land? Yeah, THAT has all worked well.
William “Bill” Moore, who served as the director and CEO of the Defense Commissary Agency, or DeCA, between 2020 and 2024, wrote in an opinion piece for the Ripon Society think tank last year that “privatizing commissaries is, quite simply, a bad idea.”
Moore explained to Military.com in an interview Friday that funding from Congress helps subsidize the commissaries, allowing them to offer products much more affordably than other grocery stores.
“If you privatize without subsidy, I guarantee you, there is no way they will be able to save military families anything,” Moore said. “I would be shocked if any for-profit company could take over the commissaries and deliver any benefit to military families beyond convenience. There’s no way they could sell items at the prices the commissary could.”
While commissaries are nonprofit organizations by law, profits from military exchanges — retail stores on military bases that sell a wide variety of products — also get cycled into the Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs for service members and their families.
Another voice:
Former Rep. Mike Waltz, now Trump’s national security adviser, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing last year that he wanted the military “out of the hotel management business” and said the private sector could do the job “incredibly well” when it came to base housing.
Hilton rates for E-4s PCSing…yep. I see it now. (This from a man who chats up battle plans with a reporter.)
Let’s see… Balfour Beatty might be a good candidate. They already run 40,000 homes of base housing and have been fined over $65,000,000… let’s give them a shot, shall we? (Yeah, BIG sarcasm there.) Have to wonder who BB pays off…no one that bad could stay in business without substantial connections:
And yet, despite that scandal and fine, in 2022, an eight-month investigation by a Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs panel found the company was continuing to ignore residents’ concerns over mold, asbestos and other problems in their homes. Military.com
Bottom line…privatizing this particular system is only a good idea if you own stock in whoever would take it over.
Category: "Teh Stoopid", Dick Stepping
How can you “privatize” monopolies?
Never heard of “the phone company”?
Yeah. They broke these regulated monopolies apart to spur competition…so, you gonna do the same for the PX? Base housing? Chow halls? Five PXs on post somehow?
They broke the monopolies apart because it literally cost ten dollars to make a ten minute long distance phone call. Everyone knew the system was a crime mob in suits but were too afraid to take it on.
The commissary system isn’t inefficient or extravagant. It sells things at cost to support soldiers. DOGE can dig all they want but they won’t find much waste there.
I remember when they broke up Ma Bell. MCI had filed a huge lawsuit against them because MCI wanted to lease their telephone service equipment.
To make a long story very short, it was that lawsuit that got us all of the cell phone network we have today.
Yeah. It’s now many many phone companies.
Only the government creates monopolies. Look at the utility laws.
That’s because there are laws against anyone (other than the government) trying to get rid of competition).
The problem with government privatization is that it restricts competition, while also trying to limit the pricing of the commodity. Any economist will tell you that this equals negative equity which leads to bankruptcy unless you have another funding stream that can off set the cost.
Restricted competition include those who won’t go along with the required “fees” to become a govt recognized “business”.
For a nominal fee, you too can be a govt recognized enterprise.
Bad idea then, bad idea now. Once again Trump fails to understand a complicated system. Are they going to somehow pay for MWR and other community activities with tax payer dollars now? Because the current system is self sustaining. Without it, all kinds of things disappear.
Standard Military Intelligence; if it don’t work, we’ll use it.
Because this has worked so well for base housing.
Engage, Track 001, Salvo!
Privatizing the Commissary is not fiscally possible. The benefit to servicemembers is for discounted groceries ($420 per year). This is how DeCA is able to offer groceries at a ~23% aggregate discount.
There is not a single grocer in the nation who can operate at that margin. This is before you get into the discussion about the surcharge which is supposed to pay for facility costs.
AAFES, Hotels, etc, maybe, DeCA–no way.
The commissary will have to stay. No way a an E4 can afford to a feed a family of 4 without it. Lots of retirees would go hungry too. I save way more than $420 a year with a once a month trip to the commissary. When I had a whole family to feed it was closer to $200-300 a month. With the kids out in the world and just me and whoever, it’s about $150 a month, accounting for inflation.
“No way a an E4 can afford to a feed a family of 4 without it.”
Not my problem. If an E-4 cannot feed his family of four that’s his problem. They should get one of those well paid civilian jobs some folks claim the military qualifies them for. It’s a volunteer military, remember? And so is having a family.
To be brutally frank, If you can’t feed ’em, don’t breed ’em.
Most grocery stores only make a 3 to 6% net profit on food items.
Most of the on-base hotels that I was in over the last ten years or so seemed to already be operated by IHG.
When I went through WOAC, I stayed in an Army barracks. When I went to WOILE, stayed in a Holiday Inn barracks. Same building, new reception desk.
I often wonder if any of these assclowns consider retention or recruitment while deciding on ways to screw the troops and their families…
It also speaks to the mindset of people making decent money failing to understand those who make shit money and how how tight some of those folks live to their income levels just to survive.
Troop morale when worried about spouses and kids eating a living comfortably has always been a problem. It was a problem in the 70s and 80s and it appears to be as bad, if not worse thanks to moldy living quarters, than it was damn near 50 years ago…troops worried about their families ability to live comfortably are not performing at 100% regardless of what some dipshit in the “O” ranks might believe.
Some things that government does are not meant to create a profit. A postal system that moves a letter across 4,000 miles for less than a dollar, a military grocery store that doesn’t make money so the troops get better food pricing, the labor costs for a military member who was trained for tens of thousands of dollars worth of instruction.
The thanks of a grateful nation are largely meaningless when your family has to be on food stamps to survive while you are serving that same nation. The “thanks for your service” are just words without meaning when your kid’s asthma is aggravated by the moldy house your command puts your family in when you arrive on base.
Where to save money? I don’t have all the answers, and somedays I have no answers but I do know asking young people between 18-35 years of age to give the best years of their lives to a nation that can’t be bothered to give them decent housing and quality of life options on base isn’t the place to start looking for savings…
Rat bastards.
Can’t add anything more than what you so eloquently presented. That post rates a TAH Challenge Coin.
“failing to understand those who make shit money”
Been there, done that, and I didn’t, and don’t, expect you or anyone else to support me. As I have said before, the military is a volunteer job. Not paid enough to support a family? Stop whining and get a job that pays more.
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” And here we are…again.
I repeat…again…You want Service Member’s “Quality of Life” issues fixed? Put Kongress Kritters on the same pay scale and benefits packages that Service Members have now. It’d be fixed by close of business…today.
Fun facts, the US Military Commissary system is 200 years old this year. Originally designed just for officers, was soon extended to their wives, then a short 42 years later privileges were extended to enlisted soldiers. It wasn’t until 1991 that they were all consolidated under one system for all services.
There is not much officer leadership there any more but there is a Command Master Chief Petty Officer who, as an enlisted advisor, his job is to advocate for soldiers and family needs.
He and the CEO both champion needs of all eligible beneficiaries on a regular basis. Any discussion is not on them.
No, I think it is part of the point. No privately run enterprise will cater to and understand the needs of the soldiers as well as a serving E9 potentially could. While they will have some distance from their junior roots they will still recall what being poor feels like.
This idea has been a wet dream of republicans since
2002 if not earlier. Every base I can think of that has privatized housing has failed miserably. Can’t wait
To see them wreck the commissary’s and AAFE’s
I haven’t heard much good or bad about housing on Huachuca since privatization, although I don’t have the view on that I once did. The biggest problem here is lack of occupancy. Huachuca housing is now available for single Soldiers authorized BAH, retirees, and DA civilians. They lost a good portion of their occupants when 11th SIG pulled up stakes.
Retirees and civilians living voluntarily in military housing tells me that the system is working.
Know an AZ vet who struggles to find affordable housing there, says even a decent 1 bedroom usually starts at a couple grand a month. May be those retirees and civilians perceive that they have little choice? Good topic for someone local to amplify.
Reasonable rent has always been an issue here. It’s directly tied to the current BAH rate just like any other military town. There are far fewer military renters now, and a serious shortage of rental properties. Rent hasn’t changed though.
I only know it is available to retirees and civilians, I don’t actually know if anyone has taken them up on their offer.
Hack Stone knows a few non military living in Base Housing on Joint Base Andrews. One is retired Navy and currently working as a contractor. The other is a government contractor who can’t be more than 30, so he probably isn’t retired. No idea if he was prior military.
Sounds like a dating opportunity for free housing if things fall through with the current Mrs. Stone. Gotta keep your ear to the ground JIC.
Shit, Hack Stone will just move into the Barracks. Didn’t TAH have a thread about some dirtbag who somehow got a BEQ room on Fort Bragg and squatted for a few months before anyone caught on?
They definitely are doing it. At my closest base there are far more civilians and retirees living in government housing than military. Of course the civilians working on the base outnumber the military by about 68 to 1. If you think I mean there are 68 times more civilians than military working on the base you are correct.
The reason for the empty houses is 40th sig being sent to the over crowded Ft Bliss
Another good idea fairy thingy that hasn’t worked
Out very well
86th went to Bliss, BDE HQ went to Hood, 40th and several other units deactivated completely.
I’ve got a better idea for the government. Instead of ruining everything you are trying to provide as a service, incentivize success!
Catering to students seeking single GI’s on base doesn’t seem to be a thing anymore. Speaking from firsthand observation in the National Capital Region, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling only has their Bowling Alley open 11:00 to 15:00 Monday through Saturday, and closed entirely on Sunday. Still better than Joint Base Andrews, who tore down their bowling alley about ten years ago and never replaced it.
Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling has no base theater, and Andrews has a theater standing, but no idea if it is open.
One dining facility on Anacostia-Bolling, located on the North end across from WHCA. Convenient for the Sailors at the Enterprise Barracks, but those service guys over in the high rise have to travel about two miles to eat. And the Exchange isn’t much help, one Burger King, and two establishments in the food court that never seem to be open.
I didn’t know people still went bowling.
The go beefing, it just so happens that they allow you to bowl while drinking.
That was always the allure but; the bowling alley on post normally only served beer. That is a lot of trotting to the head for a buzz.
Well, not anymore, since they either tear down the building are only open while everyone is still working.
Better than Fort McNair across the river, but then again since A Co of The Old Guard left, there are no junior enlisted living on that installation (outside of the 2-3 houses designated for lower enlisted and junior NCOs). There’s the gas station that’s open something like 0900-1700 Monday-Friday, and that’s about it, besides a gym, State Department Credit Union branch, post office, and part-time barber shop. When I was stationed there the second time, I think that even the Officer’s Club was closed, or at least only open for special events. The first time I was stationed there, the DFAC was up and running, and decades ago there was a Commissary and even a golf course at the southern tip of the base.
Myer isn’t too much better, but at least they have a PX with a small food court, a Panda Express at the Shoppette, and a bowling alley with decent (if unhealthy) food. Belvoir has a much wider selection of food choices, including a bowling alley across the parking lot from the old PX (where my office was located with PEO Soldier just before retirement). I don’t know where the DFAC there is, or if they even have one anymore. The one we used to eat at when we’d do DA missions at Belvoir (when Conmy Hall was being renovated in 2006 or 2007) is closed.
I heard a story (OK, more of a rumor) years ago that Sam Walton approached the DoD with a plan to run AAFES that he claimed would be fair to the Soldier and profitable to AAFES and Walton. I have no idea if this is true but it sounds very plausible.
I avoid Walmart like the festering hole of swill that it is. They no longer hire enough people so there is typically garbage on the floor, dirt everywhere and shoplifters galore. Self check out is a joke, although the commissary self check out is even worse. Plus I always see 1-2 people I previously arrested there every time I go. Its kind of how KMart became right before it went under.
Damn place is all but a prison. Build a Walmart and thieves show up like worms after a heavy rain. Dreadful place for last resort shopping. They used to be better.
And another thing. Why housing run by the private company does not work!
When it comes to off post housing, people tend to gravitate to neighborhoods where all the houses cost about the same, and people of the same general income live there. What Balfor Betty and it’s contemporaries have done is make every O-5’s $400,000 (in SC terms), 3,200 square foot house, sit next to a trailer park of E-4s! They do this because they rob from the O-5 to pay for the E-4 in BAH. Everyone above gets their own housing area. Since this is the real world, now there is no incentive for the O-5 to live on post, they can afford a nice neighborhood where their neighbors are all pulling in $250k+ incomes. The same for the O-4s, so now BB can’t get enough higher than price BAH to make up for the lower ones, and they have to cut cost….hmmm, I wonder where that will come from?!!
Sounds like the South to me. With no planning codes that is what you get.
What do the ecxhange/commissary provide?
Tax free groceries and merchandise. Otherwise they are similar to off base stores.
Pass a law that servicepeeps and dependants are exempt from sales tax.
Lease the on base shops to the highest bidder, and provide a feedback mechanism where “this sucks” gets your lease revoked.
Note: the privatized barracks suck because Congress skipped the “accountable” part. Somehow civilians manage to deal with public health violations. How come the five sided anus cannot inspect barracks and fine non-compliant firms?
The civilian staffed NCO run DFACs on Fort Stewart had better food than Western Sizzler and similar low end fare. The on base Burger King and Popeyes were same as off base, but notax.
Whatever. Don’t have time to read all this right now.
Didn’t that asshole Bush the Lesser (and that was only for dad’s service) sign that stupid NDAA that required the commissary and PXs system’s prices to be within 15% of outside the gate prices?
I don’t give a good g-d damn who runs the mother fucker, just make booze and smokes cheap again!
To quote another YouTube goofball, Jimmy’s World, “What could possibly go wrong” ???
Remember, idjiots can always make things worse!
It’s bad enough they’re cutting back on Healthcare, at NavHosp Bremerton, ER went away, urgent care only 5 days/ week during the day, no obstetrics, and they are starting to only take active duty patients , dependants and retirees have to get care in town.
They should do the opposite of privatization and bring the Service Member back into the Exchanges and Commissaries. I’m not saying that they should be staffed by E-1s fresh out of AIT at Fort Lee (or whatever it’s called nowadays) but have some small military presence in them. Perhaps have a CPT or CW2 and SFC run them alongside or in lieu of a store manager and have a handful of junior enlisted and NCOs throughout the stores. Hell, maybe even task the MP unit to provide a detail for loss prevention–I don’t know how many times I heard about shoplifting being an issue, even with senior officers as the culprits!
I never did buy a gun from Quantico (though I was almost on a first-name basis with the guy at Belvoir as I went on my pre-retirement gun buying spree in late 2021), but one of the last times I visited I chatted with a Marine SSG who was behind the counter. I forget his MOS, but he told me it was a fairly uncommon one that had him working primarily at MCX locations. He wasn’t authorized to actually make sales but could assist customers and I think he was primarily there as a military liaison of sorts. The Army never had anything like that, but we did have Soldiers running the PX tents in Kuwait in 2003.