Military commissaries potentially looking at being privatized
The Defense Commissary Agency has officially requested information from relevant industry regarding their taking over the Defense Commissary system. The agency wants to know if the respondents will be able to offer the usual discount compared to the regular grocery market, while running operations and maintenance. This is a part of the larger initiative by the Trump Administration to privatize operations that do not necessarily need to be run by the government. One of the recommendations suggested was for regular grocery operations to offer commissary rates to qualified military shoppers.
From Military Times:
“The purpose of this RFI is to determine whether commercial grocery operators and investment firms are both interested in and capable of assuming commissary operations, with no government subsidy or with a materially reduced subsidy, while preserving the critical military benefit of a 23.7% average savings for authorized patrons,” commissary officials stated in an announcement Friday.
Commissary stores receive more than $1.4 billion annually in taxpayer dollars to cover operational costs, including salaries and other costs, which enables the stores to provide the commissary benefit at a savings to patrons.
The request is the result of the Defense Department’s April 7 memorandum, which directs all functions that are not inherently governmental to be prioritized for privatization. It specifically cites retail sales and recreation as examples.
Military advocates have historically opposed proposals to privatize commissaries, voicing skepticism about the ability of a private entity to operate commissaries profitably and still deliver the benefit to military families.
The commissary’s average savings of 23.7%, compared to local commercial grocery stores, is required by law. The RFI also includes another possible option for grocers: offering the 23.7% discount to eligible military patrons at their existing commercial grocery locations, which would mean it would not be necessary to keep all or a portion of existing commissaries.
Additional Reading:
Jowers, K. (2025, September 19). Pentagon takes step toward potentially privatizing commissaries. Military Times. Link.
Category: Military issues, Veterans Issues
Having your local supermarket giving you a 23.7% discount would be the best way to go in my opinion.
I agree, although in larger cities competition narrows the difference between commisary and local grocery stores.
I fear some card holders will abuse the system buying groceries for friends or relatives.
Maybe they can do the same for the exchange system. Offer lower prices and sales tax exemption with ID.
Not gonna hold my breath for that one. The opportunities for graft and corruption would be epic.
I remember the story about the truck driver who was asked if he could haul a load of potatoes to Dallas. It was a dark and stormy night; but a hauling a load is a paycheck, so he took it. Arriving in Dallas, he was asked if he could take the load of potatoes to a commissary. Again, a load is a paycheck, so off he went to the commissary. The commissary was at an AFB about 40 miles from where he first picked up the potatoes. Uncle Sammy paid for two dedicated loads, each one over 1,500 miles. Obviously, it would have been cheaper to pay for one local drayage of 40 miles.
Is the story true? I don’t know but it does ring true. Perhaps privatization would prevent such SNAFUs.
Question:
Isn’t the maintenance of many/most of our housing facilities currently privatized?
If so – are the past issues resolved? Or are they in the process of getting rid of those who allowed such issues?
Or are we looking at another Good Idea Fairy fustercluck in the making?
That’s a great point GB! To answer your question, NO. Housing continues to be a mess in a lot of places. Great at some. With that said, I have slept in some truly shitty places. Cold, wet, tired and hungry, so to have a room with a bed, a shower and a toilet, HVAC, etc. are always awesome. A lot of people would complain because they don’t have cable TV, or the channels that they want, or carpet rather than tile, etc. etc.
I have seen many a time, when a plastic port-a-John was a luxury. Toilet paper was a luxury. Warm food, luxury. Heat,,,, a truly lovely luxury!! (I spent a week in the field at FT Campbell KY, and the high for the entire time was 17 degrees. I shivered so hard that my back hurt for a week)
Wow! I went down a rabbit hole with that. My wife and I do shop quite often at the commissary. It doesn’t seem to currently be broken. I kind of wish that they would leave it alone.
I’ve spent some truly miserable nights out in the field (Scouts and Venturing outings as well as some personal vacations) where any shelter and an excuse for a port-a-potty were welcome.
But exposing my kids to mold in a house because the maintenance company was too busy drinking (or snorting) the profits….
I’m thinking they better put some darn significant penalties in place for those abusing the system before they mess with what ain’t busted.
Absolutely correct!!!
Indeed!
I thought it was already privatized.
Used to get beer out of the Ft. Devens PX back in the day.
Knew a guy…..
The issue here is where there isn’t an equivalent store, say overseas or some resource deprived assignment. The commissary provides items you might not be able to get anywhere local.
True story when I moved to a Southern State about a decade ago, the county was dry so there was no booze. I went to the local store and it was small. I asked for raisin bread and they had never heard of it. Also things they had never heard of and/or didn’t keep in stock: Worcestershire Sauce, soy sauce, Dijon Mustard, tomato paste, T-Bone Steaks and a few other items. It wasn’t like a crazy list either.
Speaking of things people haven’t heard of, the mid-Atlantic part of me yearns for some scrapple, and while we have head cheese down here, I miss pickled souse. The Fort Benning area had a good selection of the latter (but no scrapple). Honestly, I miss the old Oscar Mayer souse that I haven’t seen in probably three decades, as well as the Carolina Pride stuff that seems to have disappeared in the past 5-10 years.
Carolina Pride got bought six years ago by a capital investment firm and they immediately ruined it.
That explains a lot. Food Lion used to carry a variety of generously sized packs of Carolina Pride lunch meat, including their souse, for 99 cents. Now it seems that smaller packs costing more are all that’s available, with most stores carrying maybe three types.
profit rates in grocery stores are like 1-2%,very low. Maybe if our military got paid more it would help a bit.
Because privatizing housing worked so well…
I remember when we just called Civil Engineering (CE) and they came out and fixed what was broken in housing. They also did projects on base, gave them great training for downrange etc.
Now it’s a cluster fuck according to people I’ve talked to. Weeks to months for repairs be done half assed on the cheap while the company lines their pockets.
Tyndall AFB housing was a disaster after Hurricane Michael and the company that ran it, didn’t have the funds to do repairs. Hell they didn’t even have an OH Shit plan in place.
Let the military run it again, and quit making these companies rich, while the military lives in substandard conditions.
Mike
USAF Retired
I remember Michael, TAFB go razed almost as badly as Mexico Beach!
A good idea from the GOP
This isn’t going to work out well
At this point just privatize the whole military. /sarc. Nothing good has ever come when the govt. privatizes a part of the military.