You may have heard that the commissary is about to welcome in some big changes. First there was a big battle in Congress (please pause here to imagine Anchorman-style fighting) over what changes, if any, to include. Then they commissioned a whole hill of studies. Then there was another battle or seven (pause for more Anchorman) and then, finally, they made a decision:
Instead of just asking the commissary to move from selling at wholesale to making a profit to cover their operation by changing grocery prices willy-nilly, they told officials that they need to keep groceries priced at a certain percentage below what things cost off base. To do that, they said, the commissary needed to come up with a way to figure out exactly how much patrons save.
But here's the trick: what things cost off base is different everywhere because the cost of living varies. So Congress told them to come up with a guide based on regions. And, once that is in place, officials can then use it as a guide off of which to base future price points.
And that savings level is what commissary officials announced this week. Commissary officials emphasize that while this measure will be used as a benchmark later, it is what patrons should already be saving now. It's also the basis, they said, for everything the commissary does.
3 Things You Need to Know About Commissary Savings
Here's the overall savings you can expect by region:
Location: Commissaries: Savings %*
New England 36 21.4%
South Atlantic 30 19.9%
South Central 33 18.1%
Pacific 31 20.9%
Mountain 20 17.6%
North Central 18 20.2%
Alaska / Hawaii 9 32.6%
Overseas 61 44.2%
Here's what stores are in each region. Click here for a bigger and downloadable view!
In the future, prices will be set to match this savings scheme. Using a monthly "snap shot" of average prices at grocers near commissaries in each region, commissary officials will edit their prices to match the ordered savings. That means, for example, if Cheerios are $3 a box off base in the South Central region, they will be about $2.46 at the commissary, since the savings benchmark for that region is 18.1 percent.
The savings basis will be reexamined every month. Commissary officials said they'll be reexamining the savings level every month, with an even more thorough check-in done quarterly. That means with these savings levels, we can still expect that they won't divert wildly from the initial announcement.
