THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240338
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
LENGTH: 71 lines
Shopping at low-cost, on-base commissaries is a key benefit for America's 8 million military service members, retirees and dependents. It can also be a big headache.
Now the federal government is trying to eliminate the negatives, launching a program designed to end inconvenient hours, long lines and poorly stocked shelves at the military stores, including four commissaries in South Hampton Roads.
``Hang in there, you're going to see some big changes,'' retired Army Maj. Gen. Richard Beale said in an interview. He will direct the commissaries' transition into the government's first performance-based organization, a pet project of Vice President Al Gore intended to cut red tape and streamline operations.
The transition won't immediately affect customers at the 309 on-base commissaries - supermarkets that sell food at 5 percent above cost, compared with more than 20 percent markups at private grocery stores. But after the first year, officials expect to extend hours and hire more cashiers in a bid to improve customer service.
Critics have long called the 130-year-old military commissary network - which gets 75 percent of its $900 million annual budget from taxpayers - an unnecessary subsidy to military families. That's especially true, critics say, in urban areas with many shopping choices, including discount stores.
The popularity of commissaries is beyond question. The four in South Hampton Roads, all located on naval property, together did about $140 million in business from October 1995 through Sept. 30.
Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base and Oceana Naval Air Station each posted about $45 million in sales. The Norfolk Naval Base commissary generated $34 million, and the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth pulled in $15.5 million.
But the Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting Office are investigating the Defense Commissary Agency's operations, including the basic question of whether the system still makes sense. The Pentagon has long defended the commissaries as a key part of compensation for military members, who receive lower salaries and endure more hardships than many civilians.
About 2,000 complaints come in each year, mostly from people lamenting that their favorite brand is out of stock, accusing an employee of rudeness, or griping about long lines and inadequate parking.
``If you consider there were only 2,000 from 300 stores worldwide, it wasn't that many here,'' said Cecil Saunders, director of the commissary agency's central region in Virginia Beach. ``And they're certainly not as frequent as they used to be.''
Those problems should be solved if making commissaries the government's first performance-based organization works. Gore's idea of ``cutting red tape and operating more efficiently'' boils down to ``getting legislative changes made to allow us to do things smarter,'' Saunders said.
``Right now, we're under tremendous budget constraints.''
Saunders said the more costs can be reduced - through such things as streamlining buying practices for goods, services and buildings - the more savings. Which means more money going back into the system: hiring more people, extending hours of operation, renovating more buildings.
The government has considered making the commissaries entirely private, but it's unlikely that commercial supermarkets would pick up all the stores, Beale said. Stores on remote, overseas bases are not as lucrative because they have fewer customers and often cost more to operate, he said.
Among the changes planned is hiring a chief executive officer to run day-to-day operations - much like private-sector companies.
Beale, who managed the agency for four years before retiring Oct. 1 to become its first civilian director, will supervise the three-year transition to a performance-based organization that will pay more attention to such things as customer service.
Also in the works is greater flexibility in hiring, Beale said. Instead of waiting months before employees could start, reduced red tape could put them to work in a few days - again like private businesses.
KEYWORDS: U.S. NAVY MILITARY COMMISSARIES by CNB