Is commissary patronage rising or falling?
Usage has gone up several percentage points due to more Guard and Reserve shoppers since their shopping benefit was extended. But customer transactions overall are down slightly. We attribute that to a dynamic felt throughout the industry: the price of fuel. Total sale per transaction is up but the number of transactions is down. Folks are shopping less – about one trip less per week – but they are buying more when they do shop. What’s the greatest threat to the benefit today? It’s pressure on the Defense Department budget. Everybody is under the gun as we put together our fiscal 2008 to 2013 budgets. The services are so stressed that some day-to-day operating expenses have rolled over into [wartime] supplemental funding. The other issue is the viability of our five-percent surcharge on commissary items. It funds our capital investment program. As new requirements arise, either because of base realignments or troop re-stationing or rising construction costs, dollars just aren’t going a
