DoD to close commissaries?
Chief Tango and ohio send us a link from the Military Times which speculates on whether the Department of Defense plans to close it’s commissaries, the supermarket for the troops. Apparently DoD has asked the Defense Commissary Agency to submit a plan for closure of all of their stores in the United States, to execute in 2015;
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the meeting was held within the last few weeks and was part of preparations for the fiscal 2015 DoD budget request that is due out on February.
That DeCA has been asked to prepare such a draft plan does not mean commissaries would close anytime soon. Even if such a plan was included in the defense budget request for fiscal 2015 — almost a year away — it would have to be approved by Congress, where many lawmakers would oppose it.
The Military Coalition, comprised of more than 30 military and veterans advocacy groups sharing a common agenda, also would fiercely oppose such a plan.
I get the feeling that this is nothing more than the pain-redistribution stuff we saw during the government shut-down more than it being a cost-cutting measure.
DeCA receives nearly $1.4 billion in annual taxpayer subsidies. It has reduced its annual funding requirement by $700 million over the last 20 years, said DeCA Director Joseph Jeu.
Jeu said DeCA is constantly looking for ways to save money, but added that the agency has no more “low-hanging fruit” to cut.
But Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., an Army reservist, said other proposals under consideration include raising the commissary surcharge to 10 percent from the current 5 percent; raising prices by 2 percent to 3 percent to pay for shipping products to overseas stores; and creating an “enhanced” commissary that would sell other products at higher markups.
Category: Military issues
Close the commissaries? Why? COMRATS barely covered the cost of my monthly grocery bill in 1968, and that was with using the commissary at Bolling. If I had to shop off-base, it was WAY over my budget. And I was NOT living high on the hog.
So where are military families supposed to shop? Will they get free memberships at Sam’s Club and Costco?
What’s next? Pay your own deployment expsenses? (Hey, I made that up for a story. Don’t take it seriously… yet.)
The Joint Chiefs will back this. This has been a target since 2009.
Get rid of the useless Exchange system and let Walmart pay rent on bases. There’s your $1.4B back right there.
Not a cost cutting measure. This is Obama being ‘fair’.
I have a great solution. Stop giving countries that want to kill us $500 billion (or whatever unGodly amount) and use it to fund the commissaries. Raising the prices and surcharge is not an option either. That will just force me to shop at commercial supermarkets which I despise.
Will they distinguish between CONUS and OCONUS?
I could maybe see the potential of cutting back in the US, but aroad? Could be problematic.
Even if they close the commissaries, AAFES will still have a “commander”, make of that what you will.
The dismantling of our military and its support structures continues unabated, I see.
If the administration has its way, in the next war the soldiers will have to pack their own lunch and bring their own gun to fight it — and buy their own ticket to get there.
See? I knew it! PintoNag just confirmed my suspicions.
While the exchanges aren’t such a hot deal, the commissaries are still offering much deeper discounts than can be offered on the local economy.
I’m not seeing the point of this, unless the other posters are correct is that it’s Barrycades having a temper tantrum and his yes men in the DoD are playing the role of Good Idea Fairies.
DeCA is a target and has been. I suspect grocer lobbyists will do whatever they can to quietly move things along.
I’m getting very, very tired and annoyed with DoD peeking into my computer and stealing my ideas.
May everyone who supports closing Military Commissaries get violently and sadistically ass-raped bu a Grizzly Bear with AIDS, a Honey Badger with AIDS, and the SOB that was mean enough to give it to them!!!
You know, there is a chance this could be legit, but I think it’s BS. I kind of make it a habit not to trust articles based on the supposed knowledge of one anyonmous source (check out the Asiana Airlines pilot names prank on youtube; funniest thing ever) which this article is. It would have to pass a vote in Congress, and I just don’t see that happening. If DOD really did try to close all the commissaries, that would be seen as a cut and dry case of not supporting the troops, which nobody wants to be seen as doing. I have zero doubt that a plan to do what is outlined in the article exists somewhere in the DOD and has been proposed, but whether there are enough dicks in the senior military leadership and Congress who are willing to make this politically unpopular move is another question entirely. Remember, the newsies need stuff to sell to the public on a slow news day, and scandal and outrage usually sell better than the alternative. My guess is that this plan only exists on paper (along with tens of thousands of other cost cutting ideas that will never be implemented) and was leaked to this reporter a while ago, and that they have been sitting on it until they needed something to talk about. Just my idle speculation.
Check out the political party that is affiliated with brac, sure the head of the government is “D” but in name only, that conservative if i ever saw it. So none of that libertard shit.
The other idea? add a walmart, nah, wouldn’t fly. Or you would have to put some big time boosters to it, other then the wally world kids. But then you couldn’t get them to advertise their prices, which are higher then the base prices by more then a ten percent margin, with less money to the part timers working there. They would have to institute a bigger tip basket to handle the supposed losses, and then the store would find a way to tap the tips.
And another one?
http://prairieweather.typepad.com/big_blue_stem/2013/11/are-the-republicans-sowing-the-seeds-of-their-downfall-in-house.html
@11; You lierally made me laugh out loud.
@16 – Thank you. I should send them a bill for services rendered. Or a protest letter.
HS Sophomore: RunPatRun has a point – the grocery lobby was royally torqued a decade ago when Reservists and National Guard got unlimited Commissary shopping privileges. They’d dearly love to see DeCA go away in CONUS, troops be damned. More money in their pockets.
The key here will be whether those making the case for the troops can make those in Congress think twice. If not, say “sayonara” to Commissaries in CONUS, except maybe for places like Irwin and Hunter-Ligget.
That would be a shame. The Commissary is the one retail “bennie” left that’s decent. It can literally save you 15+% on your monthly grocery bill – often more.
#17 was me. 🙂
How much do state taxes figure into this, too? There’s a tax on certain food items. Commissary purchases are tax exempt, or used to be.
Ex-PH2: they are, as are purchases from AAFES/NEX/MCEX. If it’s a purchase from a Federal entity on a Federal reservation, in general it’s exempt from state sales taxes. However, in many cases a concessionaire (e.g., a for-profit private firm working on base selling things) is not and must charge the local sales tax rate.
That’s another issue with the notion of “franchising-out” the Commissary and/or PX. Whatever you might save (PX-wise) in prices you’d probably lose in state sales taxes, which the firm running the franchise would probably have to collect.
Just one more big fat FUCK YOU to our troops and retirees. One more benefit taken away.
Why doesn’t Chuck Hagel and that boss of his just have a big banner that instead of saying MISSION ACCOMPLISHED just says GO FUCK YOURSELF whenever they are discussing the military.
I don’t know how it is on other bases, but the commissary for Great Lakes is NOT on the base. It used to be, along with the PX, 40 years ago, because I shopped there. Now it’s on Sheridan Road in a strip mall, along with the Navy Credit Union facility. So if the rental for that space is costing DoD money, they have only themselves to blame for it, and I doubt seriously that the Navy is paying a high rate for rental for that space.
Ex-PH2: the Navy seems to love doing that. That’s the case at at least two other Naval installations with which I’m famailiar.
However, it’s possible DoD retained title to the land, but put the facility outside the installation’s security perimeter to allow better access. My understanding is that’s the case at the other two Navy installations where I’ve seen the same setup.
Oh, I wouldn’t want to be stationed in a place like Hawaii if that happens! I was an O-4 when I was stationed there for the second time and I was in shock when I saw the prices in town.
@24 Pearl Harbor was the same. Huge exchange complex outside the base.
Hondo, the land parcel that the Great Lakes commissary and Credit Union sit on was never part of Great Lakes. They’re on the west side of Green Bay Road. The east side is Great Lakes Naval Station, except for one building that sits at Four Points, at the corner of Green Bay and Buckley Rd. There used to be a taco stand, 4 Points Tacos, there. Now it’s a gas station.
The commissary and credit union used to be on the base at the PX, all in one building. There was a restaurant there, too.
It’s changed a lot in 40 years, but the golf course no longer belongs to the Navy. The base has lengthened, but not widened. There is still a facility on Buckley that leads into RTC for recruit graduation, but the main gate is still where it used to be.
Remember when Clinton was selling off real estate? Well….
I was stationed in Northern Los Angeles for 4 years. Let me tell you. I was going to Ralph’s for food and paying 400 bucks to fill a cart. (Yes, $400) After a couple of those, I was at LA AFB to do some medical treatment, stopped into the commissary to buy food, filled up a cart (same type of food items) and it was less than $150 bucks. Yes, $150. Let alone that California taxes the crap out of you, LA does too, and I was saving 250 bucks every time I went to the commissary. The only issue was the 2 hour drive back home thru LA traffic, but it was worth it.
This reminds me of when they started letting contractors run billeting on post. There are some places where its better, others worse, but basically they took away the benefits of living on post. Plus, if you want to live off post, you have to go to a contractor (initially) to request to live off post who gets paid money for every bed he fills on post. I had to deal with that at Bragg, years ago. It was painful.
Then of course you had Obama in the first 90 days looking for ways to make veterans pay for service-related injuries. But at the same time his “fanboys” were proclaiming “he brought the troops home!” Yeah, he brought them home and sent out others and told them welcome back, Argo fuck yourself.
I just can’t see how any veteran would vote for democrats when they so consistently pull this kind of crap on us.
I’ll offer a dissenting opinion- I don’t see why stateside commissaries couldn’t be privatized and still offer the same prices considering a private company would get the land, building, utilities, and security for free.
The commissary on Ft Bragg is one of the nicest stores I have ever seen, but the prices are not worth the extra gas and time it takes for my family to shop there regularly. There are no generic or store brands to save on staple foods. I don’t like the long lines, disgruntled checkers, having to pay the 5% surcharge, or tipping the baggers for something I would rather do myself.
Shopping at my local grocery store is much friendlier, more convenient, and less expensive. This is a case where privatization could return savings for the government and soldiers.
I suck at math so somebody please tell me how cutting the $1.4 billion DeCA budget will reduce annual deficits and lower the overall debt?
I would expect grocery/retail business to get behind this just like the were behind the DoD regulation that mandate tobacco only be sold at 5% less than the average off base price. I’m sure everybody enjoyed the increased money that went to MWR programs from that? that’s where the money went right? not to ‘bonuses’ for AAFES civilian “leadership”
Why not think bigger. Rather than close commissaries direct the Commissaries to use their leverage to buy out every other grocery store chain in the USA and then in Europe too. After that step has been completed the commissaries should merge with the PXs BXs and start buying out every department store in the USA and Asia too.
Then shopping will be very convienient for everyone.
These retail institutions have the power of the US military and the federal government that tags along behind the military backing them how hard could it be for them to become the dominate players in their fields.
Once they control the food supply then they can get on to the real work of taking control of the banking industry and fater that the ultimate prize…….control of the NFL.
If socialism is good for the military then why would the military want to prevent the rest of the people from having it?