Defense Commissary Agency
The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) that operates more than 250 commissaries worldwide. American military commissaries sell groceries and household goods to active-duty, Guard, Reserve, and retired members of all seven uniformed services of the United States and eligible members of their families at cost plus surcharge, saving customers an average of more than 30 percent compared to civilian supermarkets. It is headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia.
The commissary benefit is not a recent innovation. Sales of goods from commissary department storehouses to military personnel began in 1825, when Army officers at specified posts could make purchases at cost for their personal use; by 1841, officers could also purchase items for members of their immediate families.
The modern era of sales commissaries actually began in 1867, when enlisted men received the same at-cost purchasing privileges officers had already enjoyed for four decades. No geographic restrictions were placed upon these sales; the commissary warehouse at every Army post could become a sales location, whether they were located on the frontier or near a large city. From the start, commissaries were meant to take on-post retail functions out of the hands of civilian vendors and post traders and allow the Army to “care for its own.“ The stores provided wholesome food beyond what was supplied in the official rations, and the savings they provided supplemented military pay. The modern concept of commissary sales stores, which were established to benefit military personnel of all ranks by providing healthful foods at cost, reached its 143rd anniversary on July 1, 2010.
Read more about Defense Commissary Agency: History, Separate Systems Combined, Commissaries Today
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