If the government shutdown continues, military commissaries should be able to keep their shelves full and “sprint through Thanksgiving,” commissary officials said.
Officials expect to maintain “as normal operations as possible” through closing on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, said John Hall, director of the Defense Commissary Agency, during a Oct. 24 webinar with members of industry, organized by the American Logistics Association.
“We want to serve our customers as well as we can, as if we’re in normal times. Then we’ll figure it out,” said Hall.
Currently officials have enough cash on hand to operate all the military discounted grocery stores through Dec. 4, the week after Thanksgiving, Hall said. On Dec. 5, they would have to start closing stores. They stressed that the situation is fluid and a number of options are being discussed within the commissary agency, with defense officials and with members of the industry that supplies products to the stores. He’s taken available steps to limit spending, such as stopping all temporary duty travel.
“We hope this doesn’t happen, but if it does, how are we going to manage that process?” said Jim Flannery, DeCA’s chief transformation officer and acting executive director for sales, marketing and eCommerce.
At issue is the commissary benefit, Hall said, which saves the average family of four about $4,000 a year if they shop regularly. Flannery noted that about 1.4 million households shop each month in those 168 stores that could be closed, for a combined benefit totaling about $1.3 billion a year.
“We’d be taking the military benefit from 25% savings to zero, he said.
Defense Department officials have given commissary officials an exception allowing them to operate all military commissaries during the government shutdown, until their cash reserves in the Defense Working Capital Fund run out. After that, the commissary agency must continue operating stores overseas and in certain remote areas of the U.S. Hall said officials have asked DOD for the authority to keep all the stores open, including stateside stores.
But as it is, if the money runs out on Dec. 5, the agency would have to start closing 168 commissaries in the continental United States, unless more cash is provided to continue operating. The remaining 67 stores would stay open — overseas stores including Hawaii and Puerto Rico, as well as in certain remote areas and areas designated as “food deserts” in the U.S.
According to Hall, those are: Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson Anchorage, Alaska; Coast Guard Base Kodiak, Alaska; Fort Greely, Alaska; Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training Center, Bridgeport, California; Fort Irwin, California; Los Angeles Air Force Base, California; Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida; Naval Air Station, Fallon, Nevada; Dugway Proving Ground, Utah; and Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, Washington.
But there’s a caveat, Hall said. Officials also aren’t sure how they’ll be able to pay for the shipment of commissary products overseas. It costs about $12 million a month to get products overseas, and officials would need the money before the end of December to extend those shipments to stores in January. They’ve asked for clarification from defense officials about that funding. In the meantime, they’re trying to plus up stocks of non-perishables in those locations.
Commissary employees are getting paid now, unlike many other government employees. But even aside from employee pay, it costs about $50 million a month to operate all the stores, for utilities, supplies and other expenses, Hall said. The working capital fund, supplied with about $1.4 billion annually in taxpayer dollars, pays for the operations, in order for the stores to be able to provide discounted groceries to the military community.
The commissary agency’s resale fund, which is used for funds to buy and sell products, is in good shape, Hall said, assuring suppliers that if DeCA places an order with them, the suppliers will be paid.
“We’re operating without a playbook here,” Hall said, and encouraged industry to reach out to him and Flannery “with any thoughts you have of what we might do.”
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.
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