Posted on Jun 11, 2016
Congress is fed up with $10 lettuce in Pacific commissaries
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The burden of high fruit and vegetable prices on Pacific commissary customers could get lighter.
Congressional appropriators would require the Defense Commissary Agency to set aside $48 million in 2017 for the shipment of produce to Pacific commissaries. It's an effort to reverse the price hikes of fresh fruits and vegetables in the Pacific and especially Guam, where a package of lettuce has been known to cost shoppers more than $10.
The bill is from the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee and is headed to the full committee as part of the overall 2017 defense funding proposal.
Prices on many fresh produce items in the Pacific spiked last November after the Defense Commissary Agency implemented new contracts in an effort to save the very same $48 million on shipping. Instead of the government paying to ship the produce, contractors either get the produce from local sources in these areas or bear the cost of shipping it from other countries, including the U.S.
And that cost is passed on to the commissary customer.
While there were some trouble spots in Japan and South Korea, the problems with high prices appear to be more pronounced in Guam, sources said.
Customers in Guam reported that prices of some produce items had doubled or tripled. One military wife posted a picture of a 22-ounce package of Romaine lettuce priced at $10.69.
Some items have to be airlifted, such as bagged salads and seasonal items such as berries. Airlifting is more expensive. But whether the produce was airlifted or moved by ship, until last November, customers didn’t have to pay for that cost.
The provision in the subcommittee’s bill would require DoD to infuse the $48 million back into the system to support the transportation of fruits and vegetables.
The appropriators added another provision limiting the use of those funds to fruits and vegetables either grown locally in the country where the commissary is located or bought by commissary agency officials at a location in the continental U.S.
The subcommittee "is clearly trying to shift the failed Asian produce sourcing policy back to something that works," said one congressional staff member. He noted that the Defense Commissary Agency instituted the new policy without congressional approval and contrary to congressional concerns.
The new contract has not only increased the cost of produce but resulted in poor availability of items and lower quality, he said. "Customers are complaining while DeCA is blaming this on transition issues or focusing exclusively on the Guam issue, ignoring Japan and Korea.
"Service members are paying more for lower-quality goods," he said.
Last month, in a report accompanying its version of the defense policy bill, the House Armed Services Committee included a requirement for the DoD Inspector General to evaluate the effectiveness of the new purchase process for fresh fruits and vegetables compared to the previous process in which the transportation costs were funded by DoD. It will also do an assessment of the similar local purchase process currently ongoing in Europe.
Among other things, the IG will compare the amount of produce lost due to spoilage or importation delays compared to the previous contract; and will compare the benefits and impacts of the new contract on commissary customers in the Pacific and on the Cost of Living Allowance. Commissary prices are one of the factors used in determining the overseas COLA.
Auditors will also document the percentage increase or decrease of local market prices of fresh fruits and vegetables compared to Pacific commissary prices.
Congressional appropriators would require the Defense Commissary Agency to set aside $48 million in 2017 for the shipment of produce to Pacific commissaries. It's an effort to reverse the price hikes of fresh fruits and vegetables in the Pacific and especially Guam, where a package of lettuce has been known to cost shoppers more than $10.
The bill is from the House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee and is headed to the full committee as part of the overall 2017 defense funding proposal.
Prices on many fresh produce items in the Pacific spiked last November after the Defense Commissary Agency implemented new contracts in an effort to save the very same $48 million on shipping. Instead of the government paying to ship the produce, contractors either get the produce from local sources in these areas or bear the cost of shipping it from other countries, including the U.S.
And that cost is passed on to the commissary customer.
While there were some trouble spots in Japan and South Korea, the problems with high prices appear to be more pronounced in Guam, sources said.
Customers in Guam reported that prices of some produce items had doubled or tripled. One military wife posted a picture of a 22-ounce package of Romaine lettuce priced at $10.69.
Some items have to be airlifted, such as bagged salads and seasonal items such as berries. Airlifting is more expensive. But whether the produce was airlifted or moved by ship, until last November, customers didn’t have to pay for that cost.
The provision in the subcommittee’s bill would require DoD to infuse the $48 million back into the system to support the transportation of fruits and vegetables.
The appropriators added another provision limiting the use of those funds to fruits and vegetables either grown locally in the country where the commissary is located or bought by commissary agency officials at a location in the continental U.S.
The subcommittee "is clearly trying to shift the failed Asian produce sourcing policy back to something that works," said one congressional staff member. He noted that the Defense Commissary Agency instituted the new policy without congressional approval and contrary to congressional concerns.
The new contract has not only increased the cost of produce but resulted in poor availability of items and lower quality, he said. "Customers are complaining while DeCA is blaming this on transition issues or focusing exclusively on the Guam issue, ignoring Japan and Korea.
"Service members are paying more for lower-quality goods," he said.
Last month, in a report accompanying its version of the defense policy bill, the House Armed Services Committee included a requirement for the DoD Inspector General to evaluate the effectiveness of the new purchase process for fresh fruits and vegetables compared to the previous process in which the transportation costs were funded by DoD. It will also do an assessment of the similar local purchase process currently ongoing in Europe.
Among other things, the IG will compare the amount of produce lost due to spoilage or importation delays compared to the previous contract; and will compare the benefits and impacts of the new contract on commissary customers in the Pacific and on the Cost of Living Allowance. Commissary prices are one of the factors used in determining the overseas COLA.
Auditors will also document the percentage increase or decrease of local market prices of fresh fruits and vegetables compared to Pacific commissary prices.
Congress is fed up with $10 lettuce in Pacific commissaries
Posted from armytimes.com
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 7
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Its outrageous SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL, also just as outrageous as when you have bad quality produce such as at Naval Station Newport, where we do our shopping and what I consider a very poorly run commissary.
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SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL
SFC William Farrell thanks for posting, key word "poor run commissary"
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Okay, I've had time to think about this one and I'm going to call "Shenanigans"!
When I lived in Hawaii, both while serving and as a civilian, it was expensive, damned expensive, and everyone complained. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin began a weekly feature wherein they reported on the purchase prices of commodities. They sent a shopping list to several cities around the country and published the results when the people there sent back their receipts, proving that consumer products cost a helluva lot more in the islands. The OpEd pages printed letters from consumers. One woman reported that the panty hose she purchased in a Sears while visiting in California cost a dollar more when she bought them at the Sears in the Ala Moana Shopping Center on Oahu. Everyone blamed the cost of shipping. Matson, the major shipper to the islands, had enough. They took a double page spread in the paper to print their shipping rates. Using the woman's panty hose example, they showed the exact cost for shipping one Conex container full of panty hose to the islands. The cost worked out to less than a cent for each pair. No, shipping wasn't the problem. The problem in Hawaii was the cost of the land. The retailer had to factor in the cost of each square inch of shelf space and add it to the products stocked there. That was the real shocker. I don't know what the problem is that is increasing lettuce to $10/head, but I'd bet that it isn't shipping...
When I lived in Hawaii, both while serving and as a civilian, it was expensive, damned expensive, and everyone complained. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin began a weekly feature wherein they reported on the purchase prices of commodities. They sent a shopping list to several cities around the country and published the results when the people there sent back their receipts, proving that consumer products cost a helluva lot more in the islands. The OpEd pages printed letters from consumers. One woman reported that the panty hose she purchased in a Sears while visiting in California cost a dollar more when she bought them at the Sears in the Ala Moana Shopping Center on Oahu. Everyone blamed the cost of shipping. Matson, the major shipper to the islands, had enough. They took a double page spread in the paper to print their shipping rates. Using the woman's panty hose example, they showed the exact cost for shipping one Conex container full of panty hose to the islands. The cost worked out to less than a cent for each pair. No, shipping wasn't the problem. The problem in Hawaii was the cost of the land. The retailer had to factor in the cost of each square inch of shelf space and add it to the products stocked there. That was the real shocker. I don't know what the problem is that is increasing lettuce to $10/head, but I'd bet that it isn't shipping...
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Pass the meat and potatoes. I'm not paying $10/head of lettuce, are you? That's a lot of lettuce!
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