Civilian Defense Department Employees Can Now Shop at Some Commissaries Under Pilot Program

Civilian Defense Department employees can now shop at 16 commissaries in seven states under a pilot program designed to expand benefits and increase revenue for the system.

Defense Commissary Agency officials announced the expansion earlier this month, saying that allowing civilians, including appropriated and non-appropriated fund personnel such as those who work in exchanges or other Morale, Welfare and Recreation facilities, is expected to increase DeCA's overall sales volume, "generating additional savings for all patrons" through lower wholesale pricing and incentives by suppliers.

"We welcome the opportunity to participate in DoD's pilot to expand commissary shopping privileges to DoD civilian employees at 16 of our stores," DeCA director and chief executive officer John Hall said in a statement.

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The pilot will test the feasibility of expanding the benefit to DoD civilians at all domestic U.S. commissaries. It began Dec. 5 and should run for 120 days.

According to Keith Desbois, public affairs specialist for DeCA West and Pacific areas, the pilot locations were chosen to include various store sizes and varying civilian employee populations.

DeCA also considered geography, including vast areas with high concentrations of civilians to test area commissaries' "ability to support large increases" in populations.

The 16 stores chosen were:

• Alaska: Eielson Air Force Base
• California: Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and Fort Irwin
• Georgia: Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany and Robins Air Force Base
• Maryland: Naval Air Station Patuxent River
• Oklahoma: Altus Air Force Base
• Texas: Laughlin Air Force Base
• Virginia: Naval Support Facility Dahlgren; Joint Base Langley-Eustis (Fort Eustis and Langley Air Force Base commissaries); Fort Gregg-Adams; Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story (Little Creek Commissary); Naval Base Norfolk, Naval Air Station Oceana and Norfolk Naval Ship Yard (Portsmouth)

DeCA, headquartered at Fort Gregg-Adams, runs 235 commissaries worldwide. In 2024, it generated sales of $4.755 billion across 72.1 million transactions. Among the goals of the system is to provide significant savings to customers; in 2024, patrons saved roughly 25% off their grocery bills compared with civilian stores in their areas, according to the agency.

The pilot does not allow family members of civilian employees or former or retired Defense Department employees to shop at the stores. Commissary baggers, who work in the stores only for tips, also are not included in the pilot.

Under the test, civilian employees also will be restricted from buying tobacco or alcohol products and will not be able to use DeCA's online ordering and curbside pickup system known as Click2Go.

Patrons at commissaries do not pay sales tax; however, the stores are required to charge a 5% surcharge that covers the cost of construction, maintenance and equipment.

Related: New Commissary Chief Eyes Store Improvements, Expansion of Delivery Services