{"id":36538,"date":"2018-05-01T13:19:34","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T13:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/05\/01\/benefits-basics-commissaries-and-exchanges\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T03:06:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:06:53","slug":"benefits-basics-commissaries-and-exchanges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/pay-benefits\/military-benefits\/2018\/05\/01\/benefits-basics-commissaries-and-exchanges\/","title":{"rendered":"Benefits basics: Commissaries and exchanges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: <\/b>This is one in a series of pieces that make up the Military Times 2018 Benefits Guide. Read or download the entire e-book here<\/a>.<\/i> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissaries and exchanges have undergone some major changes in the last year, with more proposals on the horizon that would affect the benefits … including a proposal by Defense Department officials to consolidate the programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you need to know about both:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they are: <\/b>Commissaries are on-base stores that sell discounted groceries to authorized customers. Exchanges are on-base stores (with an online component) that sell a variety of items ranging from clothing and shoes to toys, furniture, home appliances and electronics. They have on-base gas stations and stores that sell alcoholic beverages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eligibility: <\/b>As of Veterans Day 2017, all honorably discharged veterans can shop at online exchanges<\/a>. This has opened up the exchange online shopping benefit to about 13 million additional veterans who didn\u2019t previously have any military shopping benefits. Otherwise, veterans who don\u2019t retire from the military generally don\u2019t have exchange or commissary privileges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This veterans benefit doesn\u2019t apply to brick-and-mortar stores. By the end of 2017, more than 56,000 veterans had shopped at Shopmyexchange.com using the tax-free benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In general, anyone with a valid military ID card can shop in commissary and exchange stores and online. Also eligible are 100 percent disabled veterans, surviving spouses, and former spouses with dependent children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The details: <\/b>For decades, commissary items were sold at cost from the manufacturer or distributor, plus a 5 percent surcharge used to build and renovate stores. That changed in 2017, when officials began using new authority to raise and lower prices<\/a> \u2014 responding, they said, to outside-the-gate competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers require that any price changes can\u2019t change the overall level of customer savings, but those savings will vary depending on what\u2019s purchased. DoD has put increasing pressure on commissary officials to reduce the amount of taxpayer dollars \u2014 about $1.3 billion a year \u2014 to operate the stores.<\/p>\n\n\n