Eligible customers will soon have access to doorstep delivery from all 178 commissaries in the United States, commissary officials announced Tuesday.
The service, through the Commissary Click2Go program, has been offered at 70 commissary locations since January.
Starting June 22, the Defense Commissary Agency will begin rolling out the delivery service to the remaining 108 stores, reaching all stores by the end of September, officials said. That includes stores in Alaska and Hawaii.
Commissary officials advise customers to check with their local store for specific dates about when the service will be available, or check their commissary store’s online page for more information.
The service will be available to customers living within a 20-mile radius of their commissary. Customers are charged a delivery fee that is based on the distance from the store. Customers can also include an optional tip for the driver.
Currently, the delivery fee for all commissaries will be $17.75 for customers within 10 miles and $31.25 for those within 11 to 20 miles. The fee is set by the contractor. The commissary agency does not have the same flexibility in pricing delivery fees as commercial retailers because of their limitations in marking up prices.
Groceries can be delivered to the customer’s home or workplace.
Commissary officials have hosted focus groups with customers, including new, young, enlisted service members and disabled veterans and their caregivers. They heard about concerns related to convenience and accessibility in being able to take advantage of the commissary savings benefit.
“We’re excited about expanding to everybody in the U.S.,” said Todd Waldemar, founder and CEO of OnPoint, the company contracted to handle the deliveries.
Under the system, customers order groceries online, and they are retrieved by commissary store employees who pick up the items and hand the orders over to OnPoint. OnPoint then delivers the groceries to the customer’s location. The delivery can occur as soon as three hours after the order is submitted, depending on the location, because commissaries need the time to pack the order.
Commissary officials have provided an online ordering with curbside pickup service for years, and have been working to provide a delivery service. Officials have said the service can be especially helpful for families with young children, service members living in the barracks and disabled veterans and their caregivers.
Commissary officials are not currently considering doorstep delivery for overseas commissaries because of overseas regulatory constraints.
Karen has covered military families, quality of life and consumer issues for Military Times for more than 30 years, and is co-author of a chapter on media coverage of military families in the book “A Battle Plan for Supporting Military Families.” She previously worked for newspapers in Guam, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Fla., and Athens, Ga.