Note: Whether it’s health care, retirement benefits, family support and child care, VA benefits or other programs, getting smart about the rewards you have earned is worth your time. Although it is not yet clear to what extent federal cuts will affect DOD programs — including quality-of-life initiatives — these benefits were in place as of this writing.
Visit this page for all of our latest coverage surrounding military and veteran pay and benefits.
Two benefits that continue to help those in the military community stretch their dollars are commissaries and exchanges.
Commissaries are considered on-base stores that sell discounted groceries to authorized customers, while exchanges are on-base stores — with an online component — that sell a variety of items, including clothing and shoes, toys, furniture, home appliances and electronics. They have on-base gas stations and stores that sell alcoholic beverages.
Over the past few years, eligibility to shop at military commissaries and exchanges has expanded to include more people in the military community.
As always, it pays to compare prices between military stores and other stores.
Commissaries
Those eligible to use the commissary benefit include active duty, Guard and reserve members, military retirees, Medal of Honor recipients and their authorized family members. These shoppers have IDs issued by the Defense Department.
In a recent change, commissary employees can also shop, but not their family members. DOD and Coast Guard civilian employees in the U.S. and on service agreements overseas are among the authorized shoppers as well.
In 2020, eligibility was expanded to veterans with service-connected disabilities, Purple Heart recipients, former prisoners of war and primary family caregivers of eligible veterans enrolled under the VA’s Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers.
Eligible veterans use their veterans health ID card, or VHIC, to gain access to the installation and to shop. Spouses and other family members aren’t allowed to shop individually, but are allowed to come into the stores with the veteran. Family caregivers who qualify for the benefit will have access to a memo at VA.gov that will be used for entry, along with a driver’s license, passport or other authorized form of ID.
Payments accepted include cash; personal checks; travelers checks; money orders; debit cards; Military Star Card; American Express, MasterCard, Visa and Discover credit cards; Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF); Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program; American Red Cross Disbursing Orders; commissary gift cards; and coupons.
In an effort to help service members and families deal with rising food costs, the Defense Department has invested in commissaries to decrease the price of most grocery items by about 3% to 5%.
These discounts are particularly focused on food staples like bread, milk, eggs and other items. The goal is to maintain an average worldwide savings of at least 25% when compared to stores outside the gate. Before the extra funding, there was an overall, average savings of 22%. Customers also pay a 5% surcharge which is used to cover construction costs and other needs.
Officials have taken other steps to boost the benefit, such as expanding hours of operation. That includes 56 stores that have converted from six- to seven-day operations.
The commissary agency provides a Click2Go program at all commissaries worldwide, where customers choose their items online, select a pickup time and at the appointed time head to the Click2Go parking spaces, where commissary employees bring their groceries to their car and finish the transaction. Commissary officials have also been testing the idea of doorstep delivery.
A limited number of commissaries sell beer and wine. Commissaries do sell tobacco in stores on Army and Air Force bases. DOD policy is that tobacco can’t be sold at a discount greater than 5% below the lowest competitor in the local area.
Rules on who can use overseas commissaries are affected by status-of-forces agreements between host nations and the U.S.
Situations vary by country, and individuals should check with the local U.S. military command or installation they plan to visit before they travel.
Most commissaries have evening and weekend hours.
To find a store, and get information such as hours and directions, visit the commissary website and click on “Store Locator.”
Exchanges
Exchanges are the military’s version of department stores, selling discounted brand-name goods from civilian companies, as well as their own private label items. There is no sales tax.
There are four exchange systems: The Navy Exchange Service Command; the Marine Corps Exchange system; Coast Guard Exchange system; and Army and Air Force Exchange Service, also known as The Exchange or AAFES.
Eligible exchange shoppers can shop at any of the stores, regardless of service branch, including their online stores.
Stores support themselves almost completely through their sales income. All profits are used to fund military Morale, Welfare and Recreation programs, and to build or renovate stores.
Eligible shoppers include all ranks of active duty, National Guard and reserve members and their families; Medal of Honor recipients and their families; surviving spouses and former spouses; DOD and Coast Guard civilians; veterans with VA service-connected disability ratings; Purple Heart recipients; veterans who are former prisoners of war; and primary family caregivers of eligible veterans under the VA caregiver program.
All honorably discharged veterans can shop online at the exchanges. The Veterans Online Shopping Benefit does not grant on-installation access, unless the veteran falls into another category, such as having a VA service-connected disability rating.
Overseas stores offer many U.S. products that may be difficult to find otherwise, but commands often impose shopping restrictions to limit the sale of U.S. goods on the illegal market.
Stateside and overseas exchanges accept major credit cards, and also offer their own credit plan through the joint-exchange Military STAR Card.
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.
