Benefit to Troops and Families Second only to Medical Care
The Obama Department of Defense is seriously considering closing all military commissaries as part of the 2015 Defense Budget.
Closing 178 stores in the United States and 70 overseas, the closing would save approximately $1.4 billion annually. Salaries for employees are included in the Defense Budget. Commissary customers pay a 5 percent surcharge on all purchases in the stores to fund construction and maintenance of facilities, equipment and supplies. Titles to the multi-million dollar facilities paid for by troops and their families are donated to the government. It is a good deal for the taxpayers.
Before the Department of Defense took over commissary operations from the services, studies showed that every dollar spent by the Army on commissaries was the equivalent of a $3 to $5 benefit to troops.
At the conclusion of the Vietnam War, and the beginning of the all-volunteer army, an outside research organization was hired to determine what impact elimination of commissaries would have on total compensation for soldiers. It was determined that should commissaries be closed, it would be necessary to increase military pay by $3 to $5 for every dollar that was being spent on the commissaries. The store closing proposal was dropped.
The Defense Commissary Agency recently reported to Congress that the stores they operate provide customers with 30 percent savings over commercial stores off base.
Annual surveys conducted by an independent agency from 1974-1980 of Army commissaries when the U. S. Army Troop Support Agency operated them showed savings ranging from 35 to 38 percent.
The Department of Defense Commissary Agency has eliminated most bulk purchases, and opted for jobbers making deliveries and stocking shelves. That may account for the reduction in savings to customers since they have taken control of all stores from the services.
The civilian director of the Defense Commissary Agency recently told a congressional committee that, “The commissary continues to be one of the most valued non-pay compensation benefits our military members -past and present – and their families enjoy.”
He described the commissary benefit as an “integral element” of the total military compensation package. He said the average military family saves as much as $4,500 a year on groceries shopping at the military commissaries.
Alternative proposals to closing commissary stores would be almost equally devastating to military families. The proposal would double the surcharge to 10 percent and increase prices by 3 percent. This whittling away at the benefit would reduce savings almost in half and eventually the stores would not be worth saving and closing could be justified.