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Military Familes Worry about Skyrocking Grocery Prices


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http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/13/news/economy/military-grocery-stores/#comment-1161495400

 

It's not easy for military wife Jes Hogan to run a household of six.

She has four children, all under the age of nine, and two dogs. Hogan worries about her grocery bill -- the cost of her 18-month-old baby's diapers, or the four loaves of bread she needs for her kids' lunches. And then, there's the dog food. Discounted prices at the military grocery store are a lifesaver.

 

Her life could get a lot tougher -- the stores, or commissaries as they are known on military bases, could be on the chopping block as the Pentagon looks at options for slashing its budget.

 

"Other than health care, the commissary is one of the most important things that people need to get by," said Hogan, who lives next to Fort Riley in Kansas. Her high school sweetheart-turned-husband has served in the Army in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The savings are substantial for Hogan -- her regular food tab at the military grocery store runs between $390 and $400. If she were to shop for the same items at Ray's Apple Market, an off-base grocery store about a half-hour away, her bill runs as high as $700, even with a military discount.

 

Commissaries are supermarkets for families of active duty or retired military personnel. And their future is uncertain because the Pentagon is in a financial bind, thanks to the sequester, or forced budget cuts triggered in March.

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http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/13/news/economy/military-grocery-stores/#comment-1161495400

 

It's not easy for military wife Jes Hogan to run a household of six.

She has four children, all under the age of nine, and two dogs. Hogan worries about her grocery bill -- the cost of her 18-month-old baby's diapers, or the four loaves of bread she needs for her kids' lunches. And then, there's the dog food. Discounted prices at the military grocery store are a lifesaver.

 

Her life could get a lot tougher -- the stores, or commissaries as they are known on military bases, could be on the chopping block as the Pentagon looks at options for slashing its budget.

 

"Other than health care, the commissary is one of the most important things that people need to get by," said Hogan, who lives next to Fort Riley in Kansas. Her high school sweetheart-turned-husband has served in the Army in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The savings are substantial for Hogan -- her regular food tab at the military grocery store runs between $390 and $400. If she were to shop for the same items at Ray's Apple Market, an off-base grocery store about a half-hour away, her bill runs as high as $700, even with a military discount.

 

Commissaries are supermarkets for families of active duty or retired military personnel. And their future is uncertain because the Pentagon is in a financial bind, thanks to the sequester, or forced budget cuts triggered in March.

 

This is not a new subject.  Having been in discussion many times before.  Hopefully nothing comes from this.  I shop at the commissary and save about 20 percent or so compared to what I would normally pay shopping on the economy wisely.  Wisely means shopping around for the best deals and clipping all the coupons necessary.  20 percent is not much in the larger scheme of my life but for those on an extreme budget 20 percent would mean everything.  Here are  a few tidbits from one of the many websites out there on this subject:

 

http://spousebuzz.com/blog/2013/11/commissary-closure-plan-everything-you-need-to-know.html

...the average family of four is keeping an extra $4,500 in their pockets by shopping at the commissary

 

...contact your elected officials and let them know what you think.  ...saying "I know this is only a request for a plan but let me tell you how much I need my commissary, let me tell you why I drive an hour to get to the commissary, let me tell you what else is going on in my life and why need the commissary"

 

Not sure of the exact figures but there are people in the military active duty who are already on food stamps (I think it is in the neighborhood of 5000 plus) and can barely afford to buy groceries much less buy them out in town on the economy.  There are 900,000 plus veterans who will be severely affected also.  By placing an additional burden on those who have sacrificed for their country, the country / government is going to raise the level of poverty among this group.

 

Of special note is that this subject has been broached by BOTH Democrats and Republicans at different times.  Whether they shutdown or not, they still get paid...  Some receive stipends for grocery expenses depending upon the area they live in.  No such deals exist for the common American suffering through these times.

 

Lastly, thank you Go Skins for highlighting this issue.

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Several things came to mind when I read this article and some of the comments.

 

First, and this is probably going to sound cruel, why are military people have so many children?  I would think (granted, I do not have kids) that one would plan for it, look at their income, figure out how to save for their college (thanks to the College Savings Plan, it is a little easier than it was when I was a kid), guessimate on food and other baby supplies, shop around for the initial things you need to bring a child into this world, and use coupons at the commissary (which I made that comment, and someone actually gave me a vote down, which baffles me).  My dad was in the Navy for 20 years, and my mom went to Quantico, VA and Fort Belvoir, VA for groceries all the time, even though a Giant was ten minutes up the road.  Why, because it was cheap.  My mom used coupons a lot, and from a personal perspective, I use them all the time at Safeway.  Safeway has an app that has certain items that are not advertised as being on sale as discounts (Just for U coupons) which helps as well.  I live alone, and between coupons, sale items, and double coupons, I have saved over $300 this year on food.  It seems every time I go to the store, I don't see anyone using coupons and that baffles me. I have left coupons on the shelf because the expiration is close and I don't plan on using it, hoping a stranger uses it instead. 

 

Do I think commissaries will close?  I doubt it. I could see in certain parts of the US that the commissary is the only food place within 20 miles of home. 

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Several things came to mind when I read this article and some of the comments.

 

First, and this is probably going to sound cruel, why are military people have so many children?  I would think (granted, I do not have kids) that one would plan for it, look at their income, figure out how to save for their college (thanks to the College Savings Plan, it is a little easier than it was when I was a kid), guessimate on food and other baby supplies, shop around for the initial things you need to bring a child into this world, and use coupons at the commissary (which I made that comment, and someone actually gave me a vote down, which baffles me).  My dad was in the Navy for 20 years, and my mom went to Quantico, VA and Fort Belvoir, VA for groceries all the time, even though a Giant was ten minutes up the road.  Why, because it was cheap.  My mom used coupons a lot, and from a personal perspective, I use them all the time at Safeway.  Safeway has an app that has certain items that are not advertised as being on sale as discounts (Just for U coupons) which helps as well.  I live alone, and between coupons, sale items, and double coupons, I have saved over $300 this year on food.  It seems every time I go to the store, I don't see anyone using coupons and that baffles me. I have left coupons on the shelf because the expiration is close and I don't plan on using it, hoping a stranger uses it instead. 

 

Do I think commissaries will close?  I doubt it. I could see in certain parts of the US that the commissary is the only food place within 20 miles of home. 

 

Not sure why someone would have voted that down regarding coupons.  They have a card at the commissary I go to that allows a person to cut the coupons online and " load " them onto the card.  They will still accept paper coupons but not having to sort through all those coupons will save a little bit of time.

 

4 kids and two dogs..

 

 

what the fuck..

 

My good friend who lives on the base ( Fort Knox ) gave me a little more insight so that my own experiences didn't cloud my judgment on large military families.  His own family is at 6 (4 kids and two adults but only one cat) and manages just fine.  He even knows of larger families and some of the different situations that go with them ( Divorce, remarriage, Brady Bunch syndrome, etc... ).  The one that hurt was when he told me about a guy in his former company whose family member passed away and he took in their kids.  Talk about a tear jerker.  My own experiences are similar to the way you guys think.  Why have kids if you can't support them ?  There were 6 kids in my own family for a total of 8 people and that is not including the animals we always had.  My father was in the military for the tail end of the Korean War, the duration of the Vietnam war, and when not in the service he was working 12 - 18 hour days to ensure support for his family and yes we always had at least one cat and one dog at the house.  In my time in, I have seen military members discharged from the service for failing to support their family (too large or too broke).  Some were justified but not all.  Nowadays, a service member can not necessarily be told how many kids he ( or she ) can have or shouldn't have.  There are no consequences that I am aware of because someone somewhere is going to continue to provide for these families on the fringe through food stamps, etc...

 

My bias came when the rules in the military changed.  At times, some of these families did not have to deploy while the families of "normal" size did have to deploy.  I spent upwards of 10 years on deployments.  I should also note that I only have two children who are fully grown and living on their own.

 

Can all families fit the same mold ? No.  Should there be some form of encouragement on the part of the military to discourage large families ? Yes but I can just about guarantee they won't.  The government doesn't do that with the civilian world and will probably never do that to the military.

 

In closing, this idea of the commissary closings would be ridiculous if one considers it will never by itself "cure" the problem that exists today.  How about defunding the PGA ?  or revoking the retirement after 5 or so years for Senators ? etc...  The list really could go on and on.

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The savings are substantial for Hogan -- her regular food tab at the military grocery store runs between $390 and $400. If she were to shop for the same items at Ray's Apple Market, an off-base grocery store about a half-hour away, her bill runs as high as $700, even with a military discount.

LOL Bullshit. Stop shopping at "Ray's Apple Market," and hit up a normal grocery. Also, stop having kids and pets you can't afford.

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Someone commented that there is a card to add coupons to, which of course didn't exist in the 80's when my mom used the commissary extensively.  Safeway has the same type of thing. 

 

In DC, every single Wed. in The Washington Post, the food ad's come out.  Safeway, Giant, Shoppers Food Warehouse, and Harris Teeter.  It is interesting to compare the ad's. I realize that not all people can do this because of where they live, but comp shopping is a good thing. 

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Not sure why someone would have voted that down regarding coupons.  They have a card at the commissary I go to that allows a person to cut the coupons online and " load " them onto the card.  They will still accept paper coupons but not having to sort through all those coupons will save a little bit of time.

 

 

My good friend who lives on the base ( Fort Knox ) gave me a little more insight so that my own experiences didn't cloud my judgment on large military families.  His own family is at 6 (4 kids and two adults but only one cat) and manages just fine.  He even knows of larger families and some of the different situations that go with them ( Divorce, remarriage, Brady Bunch syndrome, etc... ).  The one that hurt was when he told me about a guy in his former company whose family member passed away and he took in their kids.  Talk about a tear jerker.  My own experiences are similar to the way you guys think.  Why have kids if you can't support them ?  There were 6 kids in my own family for a total of 8 people and that is not including the animals we always had.  My father was in the military for the tail end of the Korean War, the duration of the Vietnam war, and when not in the service he was working 12 - 18 hour days to ensure support for his family and yes we always had at least one cat and one dog at the house.  In my time in, I have seen military members discharged from the service for failing to support their family (too large or too broke).  Some were justified but not all.  Nowadays, a service member can not necessarily be told how many kids he ( or she ) can have or shouldn't have.  There are no consequences that I am aware of because someone somewhere is going to continue to provide for these families on the fringe through food stamps, etc...

 

My bias came when the rules in the military changed.  At times, some of these families did not have to deploy while the families of "normal" size did have to deploy.  I spent upwards of 10 years on deployments.  I should also note that I only have two children who are fully grown and living on their own.

 

Can all families fit the same mold ? No.  Should there be some form of encouragement on the part of the military to discourage large families ? Yes but I can just about guarantee they won't.  The government doesn't do that with the civilian world and will probably never do that to the military.

 

In closing, this idea of the commissary closings would be ridiculous if one considers it will never by itself "cure" the problem that exists today.  How about defunding the PGA ?  or revoking the retirement after 5 or so years for Senators ? etc...  The list really could go on and on.

 

While i cant knock people for pushing their financial limits, i am a paycheck to paycheck fool myself, however, i have some really easy access backup with my family, both financially and watching my kids on literally 5 minutes notice and so on. 

 

I know year ago I posted asking for some donations for the server at the time, i had made life plans based on the odds of things like my mom NOT dying under 60, not moving across the country, my wife NOT being unemployed for 6 months and then making 10k less per year than before, etc..

 

sadly all of those things went haywire.. however i was able to curb some spending and lifestyle things to adapt. I am still going into 10-15k dept each year, then paying it off then racking it up again and paying it off.. i am trying to break that trend, but its really hard with the "new" house, been here nearly 4 years and still feel like i have 10 years worth of upgrading to do..

 

anyway.. being a military family with a solo income, and an income that you can(i imagine) pretty much know how much it is going to be for far into the future, you would know about inflation and costs of raising a family and so on. i spent to the brink on traveling and bengals season tickets and electronics and crap like that, crap you can cut off with a moments notice if needed.. i didnt max out fiancnially on a house full of kids, although my wife woulw have loved to have done that, i didnt want to put myself in THAT position. 

 

i worked in colo springs a while, and i dont intend to lump military folks together, but i probably helped 50 military wifes/GF's/ a day... and i would say 30 of them were pregrnant, some of them prognant with 2-3-4 kids in tow. and most all of those 30, had a deployed husband/BF... it certainly came across that having kids was sort of a dont fuck my wife/GF insurance policy while they were away...  so when i read this story, that stuck in my mind, i will assume thats a small % of those families, but i dont feel sympathy for people who make poor decisions over and over, i have made plenty in my life, but rarely do i make the same one 2-3-4-5-6 times.. .

 

i know its not a fair assumption, but also not everyone in a bad financial spot is a victim, if this family had 2 kids in the story, and hey, maybe even just 1 dog, maybe they wouldnt be worrying about who is getting fed properly.

 

did they think food prices were going to go down? were they expecting a promotion and more income for the husband? there are plenty of rational and irrational scenarios that led to their situation, but i dont see exactly how buying food to feed the children could have been something that snuck up on them... shit you can buy food on amazon for cheap as fuck, get 12 boxes of cereal for like $2-3/box, i just dont see how this can be spun as big mean government shits on poor unsuspecting family....

 

pooling together a trip to a sams club 2 hours away would even make sense...

 

there are a lot worse things going on that should be fixed as Numbers has stated...

 

I wish the best for anyone involved in the military, police, fire, etc, people who make the world a better place deserve lots of respect. Everyone must be held accountable for their actions and decisions as well.

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I could be wrong but it's always been my understanding that the commissary makes money and returns those profits to the local base. If this is true then we need to look for the grocery store lobby to be pushing for this to get those funds into the local market. If they want to cut something close the exchanges. Years ago you could save money at the exchanges but now the saving you may get there is on taxes.
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I could be wrong but it's always been my understanding that the commissary makes money and returns those profits to the local base. If this is true then we need to look for the grocery store lobby to be pushing for this to get those funds into the local market. If they want to cut something close the exchanges. Years ago you could save money at the exchanges but now the saving you may get there is on taxes.

This was true when I was in during the 70s. I was an SH who did all the buying/bookkeeping for the facilities we had on a ship: a general store, the geedunk, the barber shop, laundry and dry cleaning and vending machines. After balancing the books and filing our periodic P&L statement, the profits were turned over the our ship's Welfare and Recreation fund. Those funds were administered by a committee representing the entire crew and were generally used for niceties and charity. A nice feature but not, imo, the best benefit related to military-managed stores, etc... That benefit was in the lower markup placed on goods and the fact that most of the overhead costs (including labor) were absorbed by the operation.

 

Military pay is low. And like assistance given to folks for housing, etc...the commissary/exchange system was designed to be helpful on the cost of living front.

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I could be wrong but it's always been my understanding that the commissary makes money and returns those profits to the local base. If this is true then we need to look for the grocery store lobby to be pushing for this to get those funds into the local market. If they want to cut something close the exchanges. Years ago you could save money at the exchanges but now the saving you may get there is on taxes.

 

Don't know enough about where all the profits go at the commissary.  I do know that the surcharge is used to build and or refurbish other commissaries and the surcharge did not always exist " back in the day " .  The profit turned by a commissary is not much probably.  The exchange operates in a profit mode and is self sustaining, therefore the exchange does not need to close to get money back in the system.  The exchange " back in the day " used to be a really cheap place to shop but has since gone onto become comparable to other stores with the exception as you have already mentioned ( tax free ).  Of note is the fact the exchange does offer price matching and has to be authorized before getting the price that was advertised elsewhere.

 

Note:  Here is what the commissary's web site has to say about profits;

 

http://www.commissaries.com/documents/contact_deca/faqs/prices_commissary.cfm

 

Commissaries are required by law to sell products at cost plus surcharge, so we never make a profit on the products we sell.
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This was true when I was in during the 70s. I was an SH who did all the buying/bookkeeping for the facilities we had on a ship: a general store, the geedunk, the barber shop, laundry and dry cleaning and vending machines. After balancing the books and filing our periodic P&L statement, the profits were turned over the our ship's Welfare and Recreation fund. Those funds were administered by a committee representing the entire crew and were generally used for niceties and charity. A nice feature but not, imo, the best benefit related to military-managed stores, etc... That benefit was in the lower markup placed on goods and the fact that most of the overhead costs (including labor) were absorbed by the operation.

 

Military pay is low. And like assistance given to folks for housing, etc...the commissary/exchange system was designed to be helpful on the cost of living front.

 

The ship's store on the USS Constitution must have been really small...  :ninja:

 

27003d1319557909-uss-constitution-uss_co

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