Posted on 12/02/2013 3:48:59 PM PST by mandaladon
The Pentagon is floating a controversial plan to close all U.S.-based commissaries in 2015 as part of a massive cost-saving effort after more than a decade of war.
The commissaries are grocery stores that offer food and other necessities at a discount to members of the military, their families and veterans. But as Congress tightens the purse strings, the stores could get caught in the budget battle.
Budget cutters say they don't yet know how much money the plan would save, but there are 178 commissaries in the United States -- and 70 overseas -- which receive a total of $1.4 billion in government funds.
The Defense Commissary Agency, responsible for administering all commissaries worldwide, says military families and retirees save an average of more than 30 percent on their grocery bills compared with those who shop at regular retail stores. The agency says those savings amount to thousands of dollars annually per family.
But families could also lose jobs if the stores close. Thirty percent of the employees at the commissaries are military spouses. The director of the Defense Commissary Agency says that they have already cut their budget by $700 million since 1993.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I can think of at least 100 other things to cut first, but stateside commissaries are an unnecessary military benefit and government expense. Why should there be a parallel system of government grocery stores? The profit motive is absent, so the savings to the military are a subsidy.
However, I am not going to apply the same reasoning to military health care. Veterans and active duty should not have to be inconvenienced the same way civilians are or will be in the future.
Couldn’t they simply charge a bit more to cover the costs?
wouldn’t that make more sense?
Where to start?
Commissaries exist to ensure military families have access to food and necessities under all conditions. That means not relying on the vagaries of local markets. This is vital to the functioning of our Armed Forces.
Regarding the so-called "discount", that is a little misleading. Commissary merchandise is sold at cost plus a percentage surcharge and without sales tax. Part of the surcharge compensates for stock "shrinkage" with the bulk of it used for facilities improvement. Manufacturers coupons are accepted just as at any other supermarket.
Commissaries constantly strive to stock the national brands and items you expect to find in chain supermarkets. What you won't see in commissaries are store brand labels. And the reality of base life is that the commissary is usually the only grocery shopping resource available.
This means commissary shoppers get reliably good deals on national brand prices but do not have access to the availability and value of quality store brand goods. So they, like all other thrifty shoppers, must choose wisely. But unlike all other thrifty shoppers, base families tend to be limited by circumstances to shopping at commissaries.
So commissaries are base supermarkets selling the necessary variety of national brand groceries & essentials at slightly above cost to our military families wherever they are stationed in order to keep our Armed Forces strong.
They are necessary wherever we have bases, in-country or overseas.
For Congress to even consider closing U.S. commissaries is appalling! It will not save money. But it will massively damage our Armed Forces.
Then again, that's probably the purpose of this nonsense.
/johnny
Democrats who do this are dirty, rotten, treacherous, evil sloths!
They are all that already...
There has to be a lower level for this kind of stupid idea.
The commissaries are not supposed to compete in the market. The point of the commissaries is to give the enlisted families some compensation for the low wages they earn as compared to their civilian counterparts. It is supposed to be a perk, in the good sense, in that its a reward for service to country while sacrificing pay and lifestyle. That goes for both the service person and their spouse.
Nothing’s too good for the `Brothers’ at Guantanomo—600 count thread sheets, halal food, exercise equipment, and on and on,
but we’ve got to save money by taking food out of the mouths of troopers’ families while their fathers, husbands and wives, try to stay alive dealing with 0’s BS RsOE ....
“We’re not at war with the Taliban”; “I’ll stand with Islam,” etc. etc. FUBAR
With the hundreds of billion going down the rat hole in those programs, the Gibsmedats will hardly notice the difference.
Obama, Shinseki and Dempsey: Sure taking care of VETERANS like they promised!
“Taking cure of” as in “abandoning them” like the BENGHAZI FOUR!!!
Cut off mooch’s taxpayer funded, USAF- Air Force 1 and 2 semiannual $6 mil vacays.
0-10 and lower...enjoy your WIC cards..
Let’s close the Senate dining room instead, fire the chefs at the White Hut,and make the Bastard-in-Chief carry a sack lunch to work—which by my estimation isn’t very often (Thank God).
Don’t worry Class VI stores have already become a ghost waiting to die. Thanks to removing it from the club system they were successful in destroying the club system. Few go to O or NCO clubs and leaders say, “Why don’t our personnel ever socialize together and bond?”
1000 cuts to the military.
Zero to the welfare parasites.
Give the system to Walmart and ask them to run it. You’ll get the same discounted products at a fraction of the overhead. Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) is located at Ft Lee near our home and the folks there are very well paid.
“Why not just privatize the commissaries and outsource it to one of the retail chains? “
Uh,uh. Then sales tax would apply. I love to see MA cheated.
.
No one is willing to lead by example and have their piece of the pie cut.
Your list is exactly why (I agree with your list of things that should be cut btw) the government will go broke, in as much as everybody has a list that protects their intrests.
It doesn’t mater if it is the PX or NPR, all spending has it’s supporters.
Commissaries are important to retirees too. One thing I really like about them is not having to contend with brats out of control like in civilian stores. Military kids tend to be a lot better mannered. Not having to pay sales tax is a real bonus in state’s where food is not exempt.
save..!?!?
you mean redirected gender reassignment surgery, gun control groups and irs healthcare nazis. also so tsa can start harassing you at your local mall.
This should be lied squarely at the feet of Obama and the democraps. They dont give a damn about the military.
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