The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) announced the launch of a pilot program granting commissary shopping privileges to Department of Defense (DoD) civilian employees. Set to begin on December 5, 2024, the program will operate for 120 days and includes 16 commissaries across the United States, including the one at Patuxent River Naval Air Station.
This initiative will allow all appropriated and non-appropriated fund civilian employees with valid DoD identification to shop at the participating commissaries. The pilot aims to evaluate the feasibility of extending commissary access to civilian employees at all stateside locations.
Evaluating Operational Impact
DeCA will monitor the impact of increased customer traffic on the selected stores, analyzing effects on inventory, staffing, and overall operations. Findings from this trial period will inform the Defense Department’s decision on whether to permanently expand this benefit across all stateside commissaries.
Exclusions and Restrictions
While the program extends commissary privileges to DoD civilian employees, several exclusions remain. Family members of civilian employees, as well as retired or former civilian employees, will not be eligible. Additionally, the pilot excludes the purchase of tobacco and alcohol products and does not include access to Commissary Click2Go, DeCA’s online shopping and curbside pickup service.
Participating Locations
The pilot involves a diverse group of commissaries to gather a comprehensive understanding of the program’s potential challenges and benefits. Stores range from those located on large installations to smaller facilities, ensuring varied data for evaluation.
Broader Implications
If successful, the expansion of commissary benefits could represent a significant enhancement to the overall support offered to DoD civilian employees. The pilot comes as part of a broader effort to assess and improve the quality of life for all members of the defense community.
Why join the military anymore? Just join federal government service and you get the same privileges as the ones that deploy to hazardous areas. I would be willing to bet that most government employees make more than the average junior enlisted sailor and can afford to shop out in the local area. This also defeats the other thing the DOD is doing by “price matching” the local economy. The intent of that was to get the military to shop locally as opposed to just shopping on base. The other issue is the DOD/DON is creating a smaller footprint of active-duty military at PAX therefore both the Exchange and Commissary are getting less customers. I predict soon they will just open up both to all federal employees, contractors and eventually local government employees. Quality of Life for federal employees here in this area is far better than most junior sailors. Take an E-3 with 3 years’ service, basic pay is about $32K whereas a GS-9 makes about $54K. I would be willing to bet that most employees at Pax or at the GS-12/13 pay where that starts at about $75K. So, tell me about quality of life with that disparity. I retired from the military after a long career to only get the same privileges as a young person right out of college that chose to be a federal employee.