You
can win a $500 shopping spree!
Are
you in a recipe rut or need a favorite food made
more healthful? Let EatingWell Magazine fix your
dinner. They want to help you fix your
healthy-eating challenges, so tell them what
they are. Send a note and a picture of you or
your family to fixingdinner@eatingwell.com.
One lucky family will win a $500 shopping spree
at the commissary! If you're the winner, you'll
be featured in an upcoming issue and get a free
copy of EatingWell - Comfort Foods Made Healthy.
See www.eatingwell.com/eathealthy
for details.
Check
out C. Lloyd Johnson's
16th
annual holiday sale
From
Nov. 5 through Jan. 6, 2010, C. Lloyd Johnson
and its manufacturers are sponsoring their 16th
Annual "Holiday Sale" to support
"Toys for Tots" and the "Wounded
Warrior Project." Look for drastic
discounts on brands such as Campbells, Minute
Maid, Vlasic, Curel, Ban, Birds Eye and many
other brand-named items throughout participating
commissaries. Check out the in-store
coupons that offer savings and recipes for
holiday foods for entertaining, as well as
information about how you can support these
worthwhile programs. For every case sold,
a donation of 25 cents will go to support these
programs.
Marine
Toys for Tots Foundation
- http://www.toysfortots.org
The
primary goal for Toys for Tots is to deliver,
new toys at Christmas and a message of hope to
needy youngsters that will motivate them to grow
into responsible, productive, patriotic citizens
and community leaders. The U.S. Marine
Corps sponsors the program, but it is supported
on most
U.S.
military bases, regardless of the branch of
service.
Wounded
Warrior Project - http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org
More
than 300,000 troops have been wounded in recent
conflicts, many of them suffering traumatic
brain injuries, amputations, severe burns and
post-traumatic stress disorder. Wounded
Warrior Project's purpose is to raise awareness
and enlist the public's aid for the needs of
severely injured service men and women, to help
severely injured service members aid and assist
each other and to provide special direct
programs and services to meet their needs.
ConAgra
foods makes
"Home
for the Holidays" yummy!
From
November through the first week in January 2010,
look for sales on holiday essentials from Mrs.
Butterworth, Wesson, Hunts and other brand-name
products to help you save during the holidays.
You can't miss the eye-catching "Home for
the Holidays with ConAgra Foods" displays
where you will find great savings, helpful ideas
and food recipes for your holiday parties.
ConAgra Foods will also contribute to the
Wounded Warrior program to provide backpacks
that contain essential-care and comfort items
for severely wounded service members arriving at
military trauma centers.
General
Mills rolls out its
November
2009 Truckload Sale
This
month General Mills extends the holiday
"baking window" with great sales on
popular Betty Crocker baking products.
Check out your participating commissary for
valuable coupons, recipe cards, flyers and great
product demonstrations.
Kraft
gives free pizzas to the
National
Military Family Association
For
every DiGiorno,
Tombstone
or California Pizza Kitchen pizza purchased at a
commissary from November through January 2010,
Kraft Pizza Company will donate 5 cents per
package in free pizzas to the National Military
Family Association. The award will be paid
in free pizza coupons that can be redeemed at
the commissaries.
If
you can't make it to the commissary, check out
November's On-Site Sales
We
have embarked on an ambitious campaign to take
commissary goods to Guard and Reserve centers
across the
United States
for regional on-site sales. Commissaries are
taking the benefit on the road to authorized
shoppers, conducting on-site sales out of
warehouses, aircraft hangars, armories, tents in
parking lots and even the backs of
semi-trailers. Although the sales take place at
Guard and Reserve centers, we encourage all
authorized customers to attend these sales and
enjoy savings averaging 30 percent or more! We
want to reach out to authorized shoppers who
have earned the commissary benefit but cannot
easily travel to a commissary to shop on a
regular basis.
A
couple of important notes:
-
Electronic Benefit Transfer card transactions
will no longer be authorized at on-site sales,
so
please take that into consideration when
planning your shopping trip.
-
DeCA's new $25 gift vouchers,
which
are available for purchase at any commissary,
may now be used for payment at on-site sales.
However, the vouchers are not available for
purchase at on-site sales at this time.
Regional
senior enlisted advisors
expand
DeCA's military outreach
There
was a time when military commissaries were
staffed by soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines
and Coast Guardsmen working right alongside
civilians. These uniformed members served as
cashiers, stockers, store officers and in
other positions. Those days are long gone.
However, in October, the Defense Commissary
Agency took a page from the past by adding
senior enlisted advisors to its regional
offices.
Joining
DeCA Headquarters Command Sgt. Maj. Victor M.
Garcia, senior enlisted advisor to the
director, are Army Reserve Sgt. Maj. Linda K.
Ricker in DeCA Europe, Air National Guard
Chief Master Sgt. Larry Fullilove in DeCA
East, and Coast Guard Reserve Master Chief
Petty Officer Joe L. Valdez in DeCA West.
Visit:
Enlisted
Advisors to learn how these advisors will
help your commissary.
DeCA
hits all-time high in 2009 customer service
survey results
Customers
are satisfied with their commissary benefit.
That's the message the DeCA received from more
than 20,000 shoppers in the 2009 Commissary
Customer Service Survey. The overall score of
4.67, on a scale of 1 to 5, was DeCA's highest
mark ever, representing a rise of 0.06 points
over last year's results.
Check
out: Customer
Service Survey
for the rest of the story.
2010
Scholarships for Military Children Program
opens Nov. 3
The
holidays are fast approaching, and they can be
a fun family time for college students
returning home for the holiday, and for other
students on holiday break. It's also a time
for students and parents to apply for the 2010
Scholarships for Military Children Program
that opens in November.
Scholarship
applications are available beginning Nov. 3 in
commissaries worldwide, online at https://www.commissaries.com
and at http://www.militaryscholar.org.
Since the program began in 2000, $7.3 million
in scholarships have been awarded to almost
5,000 children of service members.
Click:
2010
Scholarships for more information about
the scholarship program.
Commissaries
offer gift vouchers in time for holidays
The
Defense Commissary Agency is offering gift
vouchers at all of its 255 commissaries. These
vouchers are available in $25 denominations.
Anyone may acquire gift vouchers; however,
only commissary authorized patrons may redeem
them.
Vouchers
are available at commissary customer service
areas, cash offices and from cashiers at
full-service checkout lanes. No additional
fees will be added to the cost of purchasing
or redeeming the voucher.
To
learn more about the gift vouchers, visit: Gift
Vouchers, or click on the Voucher above to
watch a video on DeCA's Facebook page.
DeCA
employees commit to customer service
excellence
Imagine
how surprised service members are when they
arrive for duty on a remote island in the
Azores
and discover there is a commissary there. But
also imagine how pleasantly surprised they are
when they receive the very same outstanding
customer service there as they experienced at
the commissary at their previous duty station.
Whether
patrons shop at commissaries on Guam or in
Japan
, in
Hawaii
or
Maine
, they are certain to receive the same great,
uniformly consistent customer service -
especially now that all 16,017 DeCA employees,
worldwide, have completed a day-long world
class customer service workshop.
Visit:
Customer
Service to learn more about DeCA's
customer service training.
Commissaries
save customers billions of dollars
With
savings at 31.7 percent, customers flocked to
commissaries for groceries, bargains at
case-lot sales and to remote areas for even
more savings at Guard and Reserve on-site
sales. These sales and other campaigns
increased customer transactions at stores
worldwide and by the end of fiscal 2009, DeCA
reported customer savings of $2.77 billion.
"Our
mission is to bring this valued nonpay benefit
to the deserving men and women of our armed
forces, military retirees and their families,
and to maximize their savings" said DeCA
Director and CEO Philip E. Sakowitz Jr.
"We have done that and more this year,
and for that I thank our loyal customers and
everyone at DeCA."
To
read more about DeCA's savings for its
customers, visit: Save
Customers
Did
we tell you that DeCA's on Facebook?
Don't
forget to check out The official Facebook
page for the Defense Commissary Agency at:
for
information about the latest happenings at
commissaries, information on special events
and promotions, as well as answers to
frequently asked questions.
You
can also find us on Twitter, at
www.twitter.com/TheCommissary,
where
we are talking with those who visit the site
about the latest cost-saving programs,
promotions and events at DeCA's more than
250 commissaries worldwide; sharing
information unique to those stores; and
discussing issues that affect customers and
industry partners.
For
customer comments, concerns, compliments
or complaints.
If
you have any comments, concerns,
compliments or complaints about the
operation of your commissary, please
visit: Customer
Comment Form, and fill out the form
located there.
Or
you can contact our Customer Relations
Specialist, Courtney Rogers, at: (804)
734-8000, ext. 4-8976, or by e-mail: Courtney.Rogers@DeCA.mil.
She will respond to you as quickly,
accurately and completely as possible.
The
Commissary, It's Worth the Trip!
-
DeCA-
About
DeCA: The
Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of
commissaries providing groceries to military personnel,
retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping
environment. Authorized patrons purchase items at cost plus a
5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new
commissaries and modernizing existing ones. Shoppers save an
average of more than 30 percent on their purchases compared to
commercial prices – savings worth about $3,000 annually for
a family of four. A core military family support element, and
a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries
contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life
for America’s military and their families, and help recruit
and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their
country.
