Starting January 2020, 3 million new customers will be eligible to shop at military facilities including Purple Heart recipients, all service-disabled veterans, those who have been prisoners of war, and primary caregivers to veterans — the largest eligible shopper expansion in six decades. In the lead-up to that expansion, the Defense Commissary Agency has been test running some new programs.
3 million caregivers, wounded warriors will soon get to shop at commissaries
The commissary on Fort Belvoir in Virginia just launched its CLICK2GO service — the third commissary to do so after the ones on Fort Eustis and Naval Air Station Oceana, both also in Virginia.
Some commissary locations now offer online shopping
CLICK2GO is an online shopping and curbside grocery pick-up service. Authorized commissary shoppers access the system through the agency’s website. There, they choose their commissary location, validate their commissary privileges, log in, and follow the instructions necessary to register an account.
According to reports released by the Defense Commissary Agency, CLICK2GO processed $42,000 worth of groceries in 390 transactions at the Oceana location. Two other commissaries are expected to offer CLICK2GO within the next six months — Quantico Marine Corps Base in Virginia and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey.
In addition to CLICK2GO, commissaries have also been testing out alcohol sales at certain locations. Twelve stores offered beer and wine from July 2018 through August 2019. At the end of the trial period, the 12 stores sold $505,010 worth of beer and $581,567 worth of wine. As of now, no official plan has been announced to expand or continue the pilot program.
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