Deca

The team of professionals at the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) stores in the KMC, like DeCA professionals everywhere, work hard at offering an exciting shopping experience. They seek to make the stores places where customers love to shop and where employees love to work.

DeCA Europe, responsible for more than 50 commissaries in 10 countries, is headquartered at Kapaun, and two of the biggest commissaries of them all are at Ramstein and Vogelweh. Both stores are seven-day operations with ample shopping space and numerous checkouts, including four self-checkouts.

There is also a commissary at Sembach, and these stores provide high-quality grocery products at the lowest possible prices. The DeCA team is committed to providing the armed services community with a valuable benefit to supplement military income as an integral part of members' overall military pay and benefits package.

All three commissaries in the KMC have the standard departments: groceries, dairy products, frozen food, meat, produce, health and beauty items, household and tobacco products. The fresh meats include vacuum-packed USDA choice American beef and high-quality European pork and chicken.

In addition to these standard items all three commissaries have bakeries and delis, which, among other things, offer rotisserie chicken and fresh, made-to-order sandwiches. Ramstein and Vogelweh both have pasta cafés featuring a variety of Italian pasta dishes and freshly baked Italian pizza.

In need of a gift and no time to shop? Go to www.commissaries.com and look for Virtual Commissary. About 100 gift baskets are available for direct mail purchase and delivery to stateside or military post office boxes.

All this is offered to authorized commissary shoppers at greater savings today than at any other time in DeCA's history. It is sold at cost, with only a five percent surcharge added for commissary maintenance and construction.

In general, using the commissary over the local supermarket can save customers more than 30 percent on their grocery bill. That comes to $2,700 a year for a family of four, and is a valued benefit that helps the United States recruit and keep the best and the brightest men and women in the service of their country.

All sorts of special orders are possible. In the meat department, special cuts or large quantities may be ordered by speaking to a meat counter employee. For your party you can get trays featuring deli meat, cheese, fruit and vegetables and sweets. Special occasion cakes can be ordered and fruit or gift baskets created for a spectacular gift.

All commissaries also sell gift certificates in their customer service offices. Certificates valued at $25 may be purchased in every store with a $1 service charge added for each certificate.

For other denominations, customers may shop online at www.commissaries.com. The website also allows customers to ask a question or make a comment directly to DeCA decision makers, and receive a personal response within a few days.

Though prices are low to start with, the commissary agency strives to improve even on these values. There are worldwide case lot sales twice a year featuring cases of products offered at higher than normal savings. Coupons are accepted by all European commissaries, including internet coupons, up to six months after their stateside expiration date.

Additionally, there are "Value" items under which a product is flagged with a red, white and blue star sign pointing the way to "Savings You've Earned." Watch for products marked at "Extra Savings for a Limited Time Only," "Better than Average Savings Every Day" or "The Lowest Price When Compared to Like Items."

In a further effort to improve service, DeCA's European Region has its own Consumer Advocate giving customers a specific contact for their questions, comments and concerns. She's Kay Blakley, who is stationed at Kapaun and has a background in home economics and food and consumer service. Reach Kay at 0631-3523-108 or DSN 489-7304.

Handicapped customers are permitted into the commissaries a half hour before opening time, and electric wheelchairs with baskets are available. One thing to remember when shopping: baggers are not commissary employees and they work for tips only.

A team of professional merchandisers at DeCA Europe headquarters works extremely hard to satisfy "most of the people, most of the time," but don't expect to see an abundance of U.S. regional specialties like your favorite mom and pop BBQ sauce from Little Town, USA. DeCA just doesn't have the shelf space to stock such items and small companies don't have the ability to ship overseas.

DeCA's stock assortment is based on the top selling nationwide name brand products, though. So if your tastes and shopping habits are fairly typical, you are likely to find most of your stateside favorites readily available at your European commissaries.