In other words, they operate on government funding and would not exist without it. The same would no doubt apply to a government-run supermarket in New York City.
1 Like
Googling they are not. I could have swore they were and the profits were used to fund morale programs.
They are restricted to cost +5% which is similar to Costco
It’s about government commissaries compared to mamdani plan
1 Like
Nope, it was about stupid liberals who don’t understand economics.
1 Like
Correct, but the claim is that the government run grocery stores would be zero sum.
What do you think he wants New Yorkers to buy there? Combat boots?
Commissaries sell groceries
Lol KC’s comment appears relevant to brains whose oxygen is consumed by TDS.
Orange Satan is at the root of all the problems in the world, and they must never miss an opportunity to point that out. Even if they have done so ad nauseam.
1 Like
Are Commisseries and Exchanges the same place? I remember the old-timers at work talking about picking up nice watches on the base cheap during the Vietnam war.
They are usually near each other, but different.
Think of Commissary as grocery store Exchange as a Department store.
For the most part, I agree with your description. I would just say that the exchange is more similar to a Target, to be more descriptive.
Also, at the exchange you just pay what is shown on the price tag, period. Nothing more. At the commissary, they will tack on 5%. Also, it used to be that there would be baggers there who relied on tips, and you were expected to tip them. So, your costs would be higher. Most recently, I was at a commissary in Oahu and there was self-check-out there, so the latter is not as prevalent as before.
I am going on memory here, as I could not find anything using Google. However, many years ago I read an article which pretty much said that commissaries were no longer as great as they used to be. It also said that Wal-Mart had offered to make a deal with the Defense Department to give similar commissary benefits to all military and retirees who are eligible for them. However, to many the commissary is a holy grail which can not be taken away, period. If you say one thing about getting rid of commisaries, many people will be up in arms, regardless as to what the plan to replace them may be.
I did not read it that way. I just read it as holding up military commissaries as an example of how the government can run supermarkets, period. My point is that you need to look into the details and how the government is not running them at a profit. I am not sure if we agree or disagree on the overall theme here.
I may be beating a dead horse here, but to make my point earlier (and which I should have made here first), the point is not that a benefit that is given to the military should be given to everybody. Rather, the people who are saying this are holding up the examples of those benefits provided to the military as examples of how the government is capable of providing them to everybody. Ergo, my reply that you need to look at how well those systems run and how much they cost if you want to hold them up as an alternative.
BRobbs summed it up well in his earlier comment:
Just like the VA example you mentioned, all the “socialism” in the military is extremely costly and inefficient. It only works because you have the entire nation’s population funding a relatively tiny number of beneficiaries.
The government can run anything.
Running it well is the problem.
This shows that even in optimum conditions they run it at a significant loss
No problem. Just a different point I was bringing up.
The military earns certain things (retirement, healthcare, etc.) for their sacrifice. When dipshits try to claim that the government should give this to everyone it pisses me off.
That is the real issue. yes, the government can run a store at a loss.
I believe it, although I’ve never had the conversation myself about eliminating the commissaries.
This kind of reaction is mostly emotional. People are set in their ways and ignorant of the shrinking of their savings over time.
20 years ago, commissary prices were extremely low, and baggers would work for tips only and make off very well, as people were happy to hand over several dollars in exchange for the big savings they were getting at the register.
Today, in addition to the price creep I mentioned earlier, there are also “service fees” added and other such junk. I never looked into why, but I am 100% certain it has to do with ever burgeoning costs against a strained funding paradigm…like everything in government, given enough time.
There is also the noticeable absence of generic brands in many (though not all) perishable items. If I am looking at almond milk or Greek yogurt, for instance, I will actually have to pay more at the commissary than Walmart, because the commissary only carries name brands, and Walmart carries the dirt cheap “Great Value” or “BetterGoods” generics as alternatives.
I wouldn’t miss the commissaries if they went away. I’d support leaving them in place for geographically isolated posts/bases without adequate commercial grocery stores nearby, but that is a small minority of installations. For the majority, they are not needed, and their costs to the tax payers are unjustified.
Just don’t fuck with the Class 6!!
Not sure how the prices are there. I’ve seen it vary even from base to base.
The class 6 near me is run by AAFES – the corporation that runs the exchanges on Army & AF installations – and I suspect that is the case DOD-wide. That leads me to believe the price savings over off-base alternatives are even less there (if they exist at all) than at the commissaries.
Years ago I was talking to a fellow vet friend about the erosion of the savings at the PX/BX over time. Whereas the idea used to be a legit basewide exchange, almost like a thrift store, they have now corporatized it with this big blobby company. Now the strategy seems to be to take advantage of carless junior enlisted troops that live in the on-base dorms by holding them hostage to monopoly prices on consumer goods that young people buy. This used to be really evident in video games, but now the mass delivery systems of Amazon and Walmart have curtailed that portion of the scam.
I never thought I’d be starting to see the same effect take hold at the commissaries.