Defense Commissary Agency — Local services in Columbia

Updared Jan 20 2024.

Meat prices are well above off post, and I question the purpose of the commissary if they won't use their buying power to reduce the cost of food.

Sizes and portions of most items are smaller. 10 packets vs 12 . 8 oz vs 12. Yet, it is the same or higher priced.

Tonight, some shelves are bare, one cashier, one bagger, and no staff cleaning up messes on the floors.

It's absolutely embarrassing how poorly this commissary is managed.

The Post Exchange in the commissary system was supposed to be a benefit especially for junior soldiers, lower enlisted should have been able to come to the commissary to get food but they simply can't afford it here.

We have farms and meat markets off base, which make vegetables and meat available much cheaper than their current suppliers, yet I see no effort, no outreach to the local farms and producers.

This is one reason retention is down. Recruiting is down because why join when they no longer look out for the enlisted.

The commander of the United States military commissary system should be relieved.

As a veteran, I am embarrassed by what the commissary and the post exchange have become. This is why we go to...

No consistency, and poor customer service. We've been shopping here for years and always wait for the cashier to call next as stated on the sign in line "Please wait to be called for the next available cashier". Today we had some rude people behind us telling us to go ahead, so I pointed out the sign to them. As we waited a cashier opened and rather than call next, she said "who's holding up the line" only making matters worse. We I told her we were following the instructions on the sign as we always do, she said nobody pays any attention to that sign, that it's just a curtesy. If this is the case why have the sign? All it does is cause problems. One week it's follow the sign, the next maybe not. Or maybe one cashier does and some do not. This is just insane. Take the damned sign down if you're not requiring people to read...

I have visited this commissary now for over six months. In those 6 months I have been about 8 times. I have never seen a commissary run so poorly. They never have more than 2 maybe 3 cashiers and the lines are always long. I have been the week of payday and the weeks before or after and always the same result. Today there was very little meat out and a lot of the shelves were empty. I will return one more time to see if it has gotten better. If not, I'll write to the Commanding General and Command Sgt Maj to see what they can do. If they have no control over their commissary, I'll shop at Ft Gordon, Ga. I have always shopped the commissaries. I am from Camp Lejeune, NC and I am a retire United States Marine and I loved the commissary on New River...