Reservists and guardsmen are reaping the benefits of their new unlimited commissary shopping benefit. Instead of having to present a Commissary Privilege Card when they shop, reservists and their families can enter a commissary with their Uniformed Services Identification Card or a distinct identification card used as an authorization card for benefits and privileges administered by the Uniformed Services.

Guard and Reserve members were previously authorized only 24 commissary shopping days per calendar year until the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 was signed Nov. 24. The bill contained provisions eliminating the restrictions.

Commissaries have immediately adopted the new provisions, which means Guard and Reserve members will no longer have to present a Commissary Privilege Card when they shop.

The Defense Commissary Agency plans on immediately making the shopping experience for all service members, active, reserve and retired, and their dependents, more
convenient.

"Instructions have gone out to all continental U.S. stores informing them that reservists now have unlimited shopping and telling store managers how to welcome members of the National Guard and Reserve to the full use of the commissary benefit," said Patrick Nixon, deputy director of the Defense Commissary Agency. "Commissary shoppers will begin to see banners saying 'Welcome Guard and Reserve to Full Time Savings,' along with other events recognizing these new full-time shoppers."

Variable Pricing In Commissaries And You
By Len Williams, American Logistics Association (ALA)

The commissary shopping privilege is ranked as the most important non-pay compensation benefit for military families. Your commissary delivers significant value to the military community that far exceeds the cost to operate the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA).

Today, a family of four can save over $200 per month by shopping in the commissary. Congress has provided funding for military commissaries at a level of approximately one billion dollars for each of the past five years. In return, DeCA has delivered savings to military patrons of more than two billion dollars per year. For every dollar of appropriation granted by Congress, the military patron receives two dollars in value.

The introduction of variable pricing in commissaries will dramatically increase prices and reduce savings to shoppers. Variable pricing is a marketing strategy used by the private sector grocery industry to increase profits by attracting patrons with low prices on select items while increasing prices on other items. DeCA has internally examined the utility of variable pricing and concluded that it is incompatible with the Congressional intent to sell products at cost plus a five percent surcharge. While current law eliminates any potential for “profits” in a traditional sense, DoD appears committed to investigating the use of variable pricing to increase revenue to DeCA and reduce requirements for appropriated funding support.

In an era when the DoD has been raising the basic pay of military members to increase their rate of compensation, why shift the burden of operating commissaries to the patron and in effect reduce their disposable income? Such a move would lessen the Quality of Life of the military families who count on the commissary as a means to achieve significant savings on the purchase of grocery items. Simply stated, variable pricing in commissaries will not work.