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View Poll Results: Should U.S. Military Commissaries Remain Open?
Yes, the Military Commissaries should remain open. 35 71.43%
No, , the Military Commissaries should be closed. 9 18.37%
I'm not sure. 5 10.20%
Voters: 49. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 11-30-2013, 07:45 PM
 
1,738 posts, read 3,000,760 times
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What they need to do is close the extra ones in major metropolitan areas.

I can see the argument for rural bases where it's an hour drive to anything else. But, places like San Diego? Get rid of them or severely cut them. Do we really need 5 (6 if you count riverside) commissaries in one place? Camp Pendleton has 2 on the same base within 20 minutes of each other.

I mean, NAS Coronado and 32nd street are five minutes from each other and both have commissaries.

I don't think they need to cut them completely, but they could benefit from closing the redundant ones.

Let's also consider the ridiculous amount of items that aren't needed. Last time I was there they stocked 10 different kinds of non stick spray. Is that really necessary? It's a prime example of a good plan gone wrong due to government waste.

The biggest problem is that every time someone mentions cutting military appropriations people scream bloody murder about how the government doesn't support the troops.
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Old 12-01-2013, 01:38 PM
RHB
 
1,098 posts, read 2,145,220 times
Reputation: 965
Like any government agency there is waste, DeCA is no exception. The "plan" doesn't call for shutting down overseas commissaries, just state commissaries. I do have concerns, as many of you do, about the remote locations within the 50 states. I have concerns about having many commissaries close together - is it a waste, or is it so the store is not overwhelmed?

As to the question about retirees traveling to the commissary to stock up...a number of them do - I work at one and see it.

I'm going to start a thread about the id card scanning, it ties into this thread, but think it deserves it's own.
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Old 12-01-2013, 02:43 PM
 
28,623 posts, read 18,677,825 times
Reputation: 30904
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyramidsurf View Post
Let's also consider the ridiculous amount of items that aren't needed. Last time I was there they stocked 10 different kinds of non stick spray. Is that really necessary? It's a prime example of a good plan gone wrong due to government waste.
I was an army brat, so I remember when commissary goods were pretty close to the same thing as the "commodities" that poor people got from the government. Milk came in white containers that were just marked "Vitamin D Whole Milk," and the same with other staples.

I was in the military myself and can remember when the commissaries started making a big deal about stocking larger varieties and more well-known brands to be more like civilian food stores.

I'm not sure where the proper balance is. I couldn't say that stocking more varieties and well-known brands is a net loss or a net gain.
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Old 12-01-2013, 04:07 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,331 posts, read 61,154,439 times
Reputation: 30256
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeorgiaTransplant View Post
... You can't expect a Soldier to be focused on being 'ready' if he's worried about his spouse and children having access to groceries, healthcare, housing, etc. Those ancillary services do impact his ability to effectively train and deploy. Thus, commissary = good idea in many places, even in CONUS. E.g., Ft. Irwin: 40 miles from anywhere. Cancel it there? It's in CONUS, after all...
"You don't bring your family to work. If they were not issued in your sea-bag, then their problems are not Navy problems."

Boy I heard that speech thousands of times. I gave it a few times too.



Quote:
Originally Posted by markg91359 View Post
What has to be faced is that: 1. federal spending has to be cut; and 2. virtually no matter where it gets cut, some group is going to feel pain. ...
I agree.



Adding 5% onto the wholesale price, to cover the costs of operating the store makes sense. So all DeCA products are being sold at Wholesale+5.

Walmart does not sale stuff for Wholesale+5, so DeCa is cheaper, right? Wrong.

No-bid government contracts with wholesalers / distributors, who themselves sell products to DeCa at prices far higher than what Walmart pays. That is where the system fault lies.

When people say stuff about the 'Military Industrial Complex' of profiteers, those are the folks who makes tonnes of money from this. Not the US servicemembers, not even the DeCA employees.



I am a Military retiree, my Dw works at a Commissary, I have worked as a vendor-stocker in a Commissary. Sometimes the prices are better, sometimes the prices are not. Most of the store employers / managers are not authorized shoppers, they truly do not care. It is just a job to them.

There is no drive to make prices lower. They are not vested in the outcome. They can not buy products in the store so they do not care. It is just a job. If product comes in, and gets pushed to the side, until it expires and must to thrown in the dumpster, they don't care. A tiny Commissary can fill two dumpsters each day with expired product. There is no 'profit' motivation among managers. They do not care. It is a government job.

Picture a Walmart, but ran by DMV staff. They each get their breaks on-time, their OSHA training is up to date, office parties for each persons birthday, office dating is rampant, as is office power-plays, and they all read the daily allotment of office memos. Operating the store is not a priority among store managers.

They will each get their pay raises regardless of whether their store does well.



Do you want the Commissary to actually be a serious benefit among US servicemembers? Do you want it to cost the DOD nothing? Contract Walmart to provide the Commissary service on all military bases. Open bid the contract every 5 years. On-base prices will drop, selection will increase and it would not cost the DOD a penny.
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Old 12-01-2013, 04:16 PM
 
185 posts, read 404,415 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Submariner View Post
Do you want the Commissary to actually be a serious benefit among US servicemembers? Do you want it to cost the DOD nothing? Contract Walmart to provide the Commissary service on all military bases. Open bid the contract every 5 years. On-base prices will drop, selection will increase and it would not cost the DOD a penny.
Sounds like a great idea. To me, that is MUCH better than just doing away with them.
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Old 12-01-2013, 05:43 PM
 
595 posts, read 2,698,506 times
Reputation: 1223
Quote:
Originally Posted by submariner View Post

do you want the commissary to actually be a serious benefit among us servicemembers? Do you want it to cost the dod nothing? Contract walmart to provide the commissary service on all military bases. Open bid the contract every 5 years. On-base prices will drop, selection will increase and it would not cost the dod a penny.
+ 1
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Old 12-01-2013, 08:23 PM
 
1,738 posts, read 3,000,760 times
Reputation: 2230
Quote:
Originally Posted by Submariner View Post

Do you want the Commissary to actually be a serious benefit among US servicemembers? Do you want it to cost the DOD nothing? Contract Walmart to provide the Commissary service on all military bases. Open bid the contract every 5 years. On-base prices will drop, selection will increase and it would not cost the DOD a penny.
That would just make too much sense. We can't have that in the DOD can we?

But seriously, your entire post is spot on and show cases the bigger problem of DOD contracting.
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Old 12-02-2013, 09:55 PM
 
191 posts, read 453,389 times
Reputation: 186
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pyramidsurf View Post
What they need to do is close the extra ones in major metropolitan areas.

I can see the argument for rural bases where it's an hour drive to anything else. But, places like San Diego? Get rid of them or severely cut them. Do we really need 5 (6 if you count riverside) commissaries in one place? Camp Pendleton has 2 on the same base within 20 minutes of each other.

I mean, NAS Coronado and 32nd street are five minutes from each other and both have commissaries.

I don't think they need to cut them completely, but they could benefit from closing the redundant ones.

Let's also consider the ridiculous amount of items that aren't needed. Last time I was there they stocked 10 different kinds of non stick spray. Is that really necessary? It's a prime example of a good plan gone wrong due to government waste.

The biggest problem is that every time someone mentions cutting military appropriations people scream bloody murder about how the government doesn't support the troops.
Have you shopped at these Commissaries? If they are so redundant, then why are they so ridiculously busy?
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Old 12-02-2013, 10:35 PM
 
32 posts, read 49,910 times
Reputation: 75
M y 2 cents. We shop at the commissary and save alot of money. We buy once a month, and stretch for almost 2 months. We fill 2 freezers with most of it. Our average cost out the door is around $800.00-$900.00. The cost of nearly the same quantity at The big box W or C store is nearly 1,300.00. The quality of the meat is far better than most others mentioned, and the variety is far better than the others. We have done the big box place, and your limited to the same products. I dont feel I need to pay an annual fee to shop there or go hunt for boxes to put stuff in. The other big box place with a W, is not as good as people make it, the meat is less quality cuts and cost more. The other factor is this.. I served and it is a priviledge to receive the quality, and pricing I have earned, and a facility that caters to military personnel.
I disagree with alot of comments about waste and quality. I believe that my past military commitments, allow most to have the freedom to go where they want, so do it, and leave my commissary program alone. Want to pick on something, go after the food stamp and EBT abusers.
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Old 12-02-2013, 10:56 PM
 
13,111 posts, read 20,856,336 times
Reputation: 21318
Quote:
Originally Posted by zonapatriot View Post
I believe that my past military commitments, allow most to have the freedom to go where they want, so do it, and leave my commissary program alone. Want to pick on something, go after the food stamp and EBT abusers.
So, the fact that it is "military" associated means waste, fraud and missmanagment is a perfectly acceptable practice? I thought we were supposed to be smarter than the civilians? I thought we were capable of doing things better than the civilians? I thought we were leaders and not followers? Gee, seems the only thing we really better than civilians in is spending money.

I am a veteran and a taxpayer,and nothing soils the memory of my service more than when someone feels an entitlement to waste tax payers money just because they feel they deserve the right to waste money.
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