Commissary Case Lot Sale

DeCA announces third annual commissary case lot sale

By Bonnie Powell 
Defense Commissary Agency

After back-to-back years of what commissary officials call tremendously successful worldwide events, customers have come to look forward to DeCA's annual "Worldwide Case Lot Sale" and the increased savings that they can achieve.

"This event is becoming a commissary tradition and this year's event will be even better," said Bob Vitikacs, executive director for operations and product support at the Defense Commissary Agency. "Last year we sold nearly $10 million in product and saved customers more than $4 million dollars on their purchases." In the process, military consumers hauled away more than a million cases of product.

The third annual version of the Worldwide Case Lot Sale will feature a major difference from the previous two years: Commissaries will have the flexibility to hold their sale anytime during the month of September rather than all on the same weekend.

The reason?

"We found that having the sale in every store on the same weekend put a strain on commissary resources and employees as well as spreading industry support too thinly," said Vitikacs, "particularly in areas where several commissaries are located close together and need to share support. This flexibility gives stores the opportunity to participate when they can offer customers the best selection, the best prices, and the best service."

Commissary shoppers should check their store Web page at the locations link at www.commissaries.com for information on when their commissary is having its sale. Information on dates, days and times should be available now.

Case lot sales feature a variety of sought after items ranging from canned and paper goods, to meats and chilled items in some locations.

Since commissaries sell groceries at cost, profits are not the motivation for case lot sales, says Vitikacs. "The promise of increased sales convinces manufacturers to sell products at much lower prices than customers will find anywhere and that translates into significantly higher savings than our average of 30 percent or more."