The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA), headquartered at Fort Lee, Virginia, is an agency of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) that operates nearly 240 commissaries worldwide. American military commissaries sell groceries and household goods to active-duty, Guard, Reserve, and retired members of all eight uniformed services of the United States and eligible members of their families at cost plus surcharge, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars compared to civilian supermarkets. DeCA has an annual cost of around $1.4 billion.

History

thumb|left|upright|DeCA Headquarters in [[Fort Gregg-Adams, Virginia|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 U.S. 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.

However, the modern era of sales commissaries is considered to have actually begun 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 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 150th anniversary on July 1, 2017.

Joseph H. Jeu subsequently served as the director and CEO from January 2011 until his retirement in June 2017. Michael Dowling served as acting director and CEO following Jeu’s retirement. On Oct 24, DOD announced retired Rear Adm. Robert J. Bianchi as the interim director and CEO. Bianchi is also the CEO of the Navy Exchange Service Command.

Authorized commissary patrons

Authority to shop at Commissaries is normally determined by presentation of the U.S. Uniformed Services Privilege and Identification Card or a Common Access Card. At some military bases authorized patrons are allowed to bring guests into the commissaries. Guests are not authorized to make commissary purchases, and patrons are not permitted to make commissary purchases for guests. Base commanders can order the restriction of guests to the commissaries.

Commissary privileges overseas are covered under Status of Forces Agreements (SOFA), Visiting Forces agreements, treaties, etc. Since products sold in overseas commissaries pass across international borders and are customs, duty, and tax free; there are shopping restrictions.

Authorized patrons

  • Active duty members of the United States Armed Forces.
  • DeCA employees
  • Members of the Reserve and National Guard.
  • Retired members of Active Duty, Reserves, and the National Guard.
  • Retired Reservist and National Guardsmen not yet age 60 (Gray Area).
  • Honorably discharged veterans with 100 percent service-connected disability certified by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).
  • Recipients of the Medal of Honor.
  • Since Jan 2020, Recipients of the Purple Heart.
  • Since Jan 2020, Disabled Veterans 10-90 percent*.
  • Since Jan 2020, Caregivers for Disabled Veterans*.
  • Since Jan 2020, former POWs.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Patron eligibility documentation required is primarily based on VA letter for caregivers and VA VID. Some newly categorized patrons receive an additional charge on top of regular Surcharge to satisfy U.S. Treasury fees to avoid a hit on taxpayers.

Eligible dependents

  • Spouses of Military Servicemembers, Military Retirees, Recipients of the Medal of Honor and Veterans with 40-100 percent service-connected disability are entitled to full commissary privileges.
  • Children until their military-parent leaves the service (without a full combat related disability) or they reach the age of 21 or age 23 if enrolled in college full-time.

Survivors

  • Spouses of fallen service members in combat have unlimited commissary privileges.
  • Unmarried children of the deceased service members in the line of duty may use commissary privileges, until they are twenty-one, or twenty-three if enrolled in a full-time course of study in a secondary school or in a full-time course of study in an institution of higher education.

Personal agent

Authorized Commissary patron may designate an agent or representative, on a temporary basis not to exceed one year, to accompany and assist an authorized patron to the commissary under the following conditions:

  • In extreme hardship cases.
  • When no adult dependent member is capable of shopping due to injury, illness, incapacitation or being stationed away from their household (i.e. deployment, TDY, school, training).
  • Any person chosen by a blinded or other severely disabled eligible patron to assist the patron.

The personal agent will be provided official agent credentials or an approval letter, and then may enter any commissary to shop on behalf of the authorized patron. Only an installation commander can authorize agent privileges.

Guard/Reserve On-Site Sales

Guard/Reserve On-Site Sales is a program that allows Guard/Reserve members and their families, and any authorized shopper living long distances from a commissary store. The sales which provide patrons significant savings; the same as active duty military personnel that shop regularly at the commissaries. Guard/Reserve On-Site Sales are held at Reserve Centers, National Guard armories and Air National Guard bases.

Commissaries today

Today's customers also pay a surcharge on their purchases, which was mandated by Congress in 1952 to make commissaries more self-sustaining. The surcharge, which has been set at 5 percent since April 1983, provides modern shopping facilities for service members at a reduced cost to taxpayers. Unlike a tax, surcharge funds go right back into the commissary to work for commissary customers, paying for the cost of building new stores, renovating and repairing existing ones and purchasing equipment and store-level information technology systems such as cash registers.

Commissary patrons worldwide save thousands of dollars annually on their grocery bills. Customers can use manufacturer's coupons to save even more on their commissary purchases. As of 2024, annual sales were nearly $5 billion. In March 2017, the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a report with recommendations that DeCA update its methodology for calculating savings for patrons. As of August of that year, DeCA had implemented GAO's recommendations. However, a 2022 report by GAO found that the methodology to calculate the savings rate for commisaries outside the continental US (OCONUS) was unreliable. The report also found that DeCA was only able to achieve its goal savings rate due to the higher savings rate for OCONUS commissaries. As of 2025, GAO's recommendation to improve the OCONUS savings rate methodology had not been implemented. In 2024, DeCA estimated that it saved patrons $1.58 billion and had an operations cost of $1.7 billion, $1.5 billion of which was funded from appropriations.

References

  • DeCA's Facebook page