Yo! Honorably Discharged Veterans!

[E4 No More]

Did you see this? http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/honorably-discharged-veterans-will-soon-get-to-shop-tax-free/ar-AAovqQR?li=AA4Zjn&ocid=spartandhp

You can verify here: https://www.vetverify.org/index.xhtml

The benefit starts on November 11th.

[Omega]

That will be good for some, but only if AAFES gets more competitive in their prices.  As Amazon prices have not been very good lately, they should be no competition, but Wal-Mart beats them both, specially since you can pickup in-store for many online orders and they now have third-party vendors on their online store.  I work on post, but still can't recall the last time I shopped there, and it's tax free.

[DWARREN123]

Even tax free it is not competitive.

[Ugly]

The only deals I used to find there were on the discount racks. 

It seems like when the civilians took control of the commissary, exchange and clubs, prices went way up. 

I reckon that's what cutting back on military personnel gets you.

[monkeylizard]

It has been about 25 years since I ceased to be a dependent, and I still can't go into a store like Wal-Mart or Target without instinctively wanting to pull out my wallet and show my ID to someone at the front door. Stupid AAFES . . . .   

 

I also can't go to a movie without hearing that announcer voice in my head saying "Now sit back, relax, and enjoy your AAFES feature presentation."

 

 

Edited July 21, 2017 by monkeylizard

[Sam1]

7 hours ago, monkeylizard said:

I also can't go to a movie without hearing that announcer voice in my head saying "Now sit back, relax, and enjoy your AAFES feature presentation."

Don't miss that at all, every post theater was terrible compared to the civilian counterparts.

[Grand Torino]

8 hours ago, monkeylizard said:

It has been about 25 years since I ceased to be a dependent, and I still can't go into a store like Wal-Mart or Target without instinctively wanting to pull out my wallet and show my ID to someone at the front door. Stupid AAFES . . . .   

 

I also can't go to a movie without hearing that announcer voice in my head saying "Now sit back, relax, and enjoy your AAFES feature presentation."

 

 

Oh man....that brings back memories.

[btq96r]

Like having another option for shopping...but access to AAFES again isn't any kind of game changer.

[E4 No More]

14 hours ago, Omega said:

That will be good for some, but only if AAFES gets more competitive in their prices.  As Amazon prices have not been very good lately, they should be no competition, but Wal-Mart beats them both, specially since you can pickup in-store for many online orders and they now have third-party vendors on their online store.  

 

12 hours ago, DWARREN123 said:

Even tax free it is not competitive.

 

11 hours ago, Ugly said:

The only deals I used to find there were on the discount racks. It seems like when the civilians took control of the commissary, exchange and clubs, prices went way up. 

 

2 hours ago, btq96r said:

Like having another option for shopping...but access to AAFES again isn't any kind of game changer.

Did you guys even read the article before crapping on the idea?

"The intent is to really beat Amazon at their game because we have locations literally on the installations," said CEO Tom Shull. "We're leaning toward not just ship-from-store but pick-up-from-store and eventually deliver-from-store." The Exchange is adding shipping centers within its stores to allow it to send products directly from those locations more cheaply and quickly. Twenty-six stores now ship orders, and that will expand to 55 by the end of the year.

"'But competing on price in today's retail environment is increasingly difficult,' said Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbrough. 'Just look at how much trouble Walmart has competing with Amazon,' he said, 'because Walmart has the fixed costs associated with its stores. To think you're going to compete on price, you're going to have a hard time there,' he said."

"The Exchanges don't pay rent for their military base locations, and the government transports some of their supplies and goods to far-flung locations, but otherwise they operate mostly like an independent retailer."

So here you have a CEO who wants to compete with Amazon and Walmart who both have to pay rent, (Amazon's fulfillment centers and Walmart's stores), pay for all shipping to their centers, and charge taxes whereas AAFES does not. He has also, "...imposed tighter cost controls, reduced the number of employees and improved people's experience on the website." 

He realizes that he has to compete, and to do so he has to offer better prices along with NO TAX. Sounds to me like he's going to do just that.

[Omega]

Yes, read the whole thing, and for some, it reads well.  But AAFES has had bigger problems for some time than what he mentions here.  In many parts, overseas mainly, they are the only game in town, but still have a hard time selling.  The problem is not the customer base, it is their pricing.  They will price match, but only on identical items and the brands seem, at least to me, to be higher end mostly instead of trying to have what lower enlisted can afford.  Then, and I don't know if this is an agreement with the town, but they price according to off post store averages.  Like fuel, they can easily beat off post due to local taxes and prices, but don't. 

I live off post, as practically all retirees do, so the pickup at the store feature will only help those close by and only if prices come down to make it worth it.  Here, they have added more vendors to the food court, which may get more people in, but they need to seriously look at their inventory and get products that they can compete with, and price accordingly.  They off and on do the ID card thing, if they allow on-post workers (contractors) without a military ID to shop there they may increase their sales.  As to the cost controls, don't know much about them, but most places can cut some costs without effecting customer service.  As to the website, they need to advertise more, I can't tell you the last time I even thought of looking there for anything.  I do hope they can do what they hope to do, but it will be a long process. 

Edited July 21, 2017 by Omega
speeling

[E4 No More]

20 minutes ago, Omega said:

Yes, read the whole thing, and for some, it reads well.  But AAFES has had bigger problems for some time than what he mentions here.  In many parts, overseas mainly, they are the only game in town, but still have a hard time selling.  The problem is not the customer base, it is their pricing.  They will price match, but only on identical items and the brands seem, at least to me, to be higher end mostly instead of trying to have what lower enlisted can afford.  Then, and I don't know if this is an agreement with the town, but they price according to off post store averages.  Like fuel, they can easily beat off post due to local taxes and prices, but don't. 

I live off post, as practically all retirees do, so the pickup at the store feature will only help those close by and only if prices come down to make it worth it.  Here, they have added more vendors to the food court, which may get more people in, but they need to seriously look at their inventory and get products that they can compete with, and price accordingly.  They off and on do the ID card thing, if they allow on-post workers (contractors) without a military ID to shop there they may increase their sales.  As to the cost controls, don't know much about them, but most places can cut some costs without effecting customer service.  As to the website, they need to advertise more, I can't tell you the last time I even thought of looking there for anything.  I do hope they can do what they hope to do, but it will be a long process. 

Granted, I got out of the Marine Corps in 1986 but I remember better prices back then. Understandably, when your customer base shrinks due to the military shrinking then you have two choices as I see it. One is to raise prices in hopes that it will make-up for fewer purchases, (not a good strategy), or you can increase your customer base by doing whatever you can to attract them because just opening the door to more people in today's market isn't going to do the trick. To me it looks like he's doing the latter.

I know that I am routinely finding better prices online than at Amazon and Walmart that do not charge taxes, and in many cases, free shipping. Recently, I priced a TV and found that the best deal was at Best Buy who were better priced than even Costco and Sam's Club!

[Omega]

Amazon has been silently raising prices for some time now, most of their regular prices seem to have shipping included within and are easily beat by other online stores and of course they charge TN tax for their sales.  Wal-Mart has started an Amazon like online presence and has some decent prices sometimes with free shipping and no tax from third party vendors.  I have a Sam's club card, but haven't used it in some time due to the bulk issue.  Now that the kids are gone we don't need such big packages of food items.

[Ugly]

I joined in 89 and the prices then weren't too bad but quickly became less competitive with he outside world. 

I believe it was a byproduct of the drawdown and bracs and I did learn one of the agreements were to be within a certain percentage of the closest retailers. 

The last base I was on had higher gas prices than the stations near my home 30 minutes away for that reason. 

A prime example is when the exchange took over all the clubs. Beer went from $1 a bottle to $3 nearly overnight. $2.50 out in town. 

Hopefully this guy does like he hopes. It would be nice to have an exchange worth a damn as a benefit. My guess though, unless the gov revamps the rules to before Clinton times it'll be a small savings. Government workers aren't cheap, not saying many get paid well but the higher ups sure do. 

I will stay optimistic though and hope for success! Go Navy! (Exchange) 

 

[btq96r]

The Post Exchange's key benefit was always location, never selection, and sometimes pricing.

Up at Fort Campbell, if you lived on post they were just a faster trip instead of going to a Walmart for a quick run, but very few people would go there if they lived off post, usually combining it with a trip to the commissary that was across the street before they moved it.  Now, for somewhere like Fort Polk or any other post in the middle of nothing, the PX is great as local towns like Leesville, LA sucked (at least back then), and the drive to Alexandria at an hour or so made the PX a real benefit to the troops and families.

I'll see what they have to offer when comparison shopping, but I'm not getting excited with as much commerce is already competing for my dollar.