DeCA celebrates Commissary Month

30 Jan 2004 | DeCA Marine Corps Training and Education Command

Throughout history, commissaries have played an important role in the quality of life of service members and their families by providing groceries at cost to military personnel, retirees, guard, reserve and their family members; savings of more than 30 percent when compared to commercial grocery prices; and serving as an integral component of the military compensation package.

The commissary benefit is critical for all members of the armed services community whether forward deployed or back at home. More than half of today's active duty military members are married; nearly half have children.

The reality is that today's commissaries are more vital than ever to the military members and their families who are increasingly called upon to make sacrifices in defense of the nation.

The impact on quality of life is a prime consideration during assessments for opening, altering, or discontinuing the commissary benefit at specific locations. There are cases where the decision to close a store may appear to be sound from a business standpoint, but from a quality of life perspective it may be devastating to the military families who depend on the commissary as a key and essential part of their quality of life.

Small commissaries in remote locations may be a "bad business bet" on paper, but because of the location, they are doubly necessary when it comes to serving families where they need it the most, at a time when they are making ultimate sacrifices.

An unbeatable value and investment

Human factors aside, the commissary benefit's value and return on investment are unbeatable:

• The $1.1 billion appropriated investment of taxpayer dollars returns over $2.38 billion in benefits. This is one of the few progrmas availabe that delivers a significant two-for-one return of investment.

• Investment in DeCA is a good one - in FY03 DeCA was one of the first DoD agencies to receive a clean audit report by independent accounting firm KPMG.

• Commissaries sell a higher volume of groceries in half the average sales space, with fewer employees and less than half the operating hours of commercial counterparts.

Commissaries Support the Troops

During the early days of Operation Iraqi Freedom, commissary operations quickly filled grocery orders amounting to more than 130,000 cases for Navy ships stores and Army and Air Force exchanges overseas. In Germany, the Ansbach commissary was able to fill an order from the local military health clinic for nearly 38,000 sandwich bags in conjunction with smallpox inoculations - and at an additional 23 percent savings through product discounts. Those needed goods were swiftly delivered through a commissary pipeline that was already on the ground and running strong.

Enhancing Quality of Life at Home and Abroad

The Defense Department's Social Compact, reaffirming America's commitment to its service members, recognizes military quality of life as a core competency of the Department and includes the commissary benefit as an integral component. As such, the commissary benefit plays a huge role in fulfilling the compact by enhancing military quality of life:

• Commissaries extend the purchasing power of military families by providing groceries at cost plus 5 percent. Average savings of more than 30 percent over commercial grocery stores translates into an improved standard of living for a family of four - to the tune of almost $2,700 a year.

• Commissaries provide a safe place to shop and a sense of community at military installations.

• Commissaries provide stability when military members are deployed and families are left behind.

• Commissaries contribute to family readiness by enabling families to locate and live with their military sponsors worldwide.

• Commissaries provide a "taste of home" for service members and their families wherever they serve by providing American grocery products, the prices, and food chain safety assurance worldwide.

These quality of life considerations become particularly important overseas where local exchange rates, foreign languages, unfamiliar food products and dangerous conditions can limit the number of acceptable grocery shopping alternatives.

What this adds up to is a commissary benefit that functions as a core element of military family support, not only contributing to quality of life, but impacting retention and recruitment as well. Any cutbacks in support to the commissaries would undermine quality of life and would only be viewed as an erosion of the commitment of our nation to our military families who make exceptional personal sacrifices all the time - but especially during this time of war.

Our service men and women and their families deserve to have a commissary benefit second to none. It's part of the care, service and support they have come to expect.

Marine Corps Training and Education Command