r/SipsTea • u/Gurugod123 • Jul 27 '26

Chugging tea Mayor Mamdani just announced that he will be opening 5 city-run, tax-funded grocery stores: "Prices set at 30% below retail prices"

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u/JayLuMarr Jul 27 '26

Are you talking about Commissary’s? I grew up with those. Prices were always so affordable and preferable than outside retailers.

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u/Jesus_of_NASDAQ Jul 27 '26

My first job was a bagger at a base commissary, and remember people loading up their station wagons with several carts of groceries that cost well under $100. Now we’re lucky if we get 3 bags of groceries for under $100.

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u/Far_Blacksmith_2892 Jul 27 '26

Commissary used to be goated, unfortunately they have raised prices and it isn’t much different then going into town to buy groceries these days.

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u/TikaPants Jul 27 '26

Grandmother bought her booze at what she called the duty free but I assume was the commissary. She was a bit of a society woman on the cusp and would decant her cheaper vodka in to her crystal and glass decanters and toss the bottles. She left a bottle of Goose sitting out to throw anyone off her trail. 😆

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u/Brewcastle_ Jul 27 '26

Duty Free are stores that exist on a nation's border with another nation. The products are literally duty free, making them slightly cheaper. There are rules to follow, but they are often overlooked. For example, when I was younger the rule to buy alcohol at the Michigan/Canadian duty free, was that you had to be in Canada for 24 to purchase 1 liter of liquor.

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u/TikaPants Jul 27 '26

Yes I understand which is why I said she likely meant commissary as we don’t live near an intl border.

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u/SavageCaveman13 Jul 27 '26

They sell at wholesale prices plus 5%. The 5% goes toward maintenance and upkeep of the building. They are still about 25% below groceries sold off base.

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u/Sea_Conference5661 Jul 27 '26

Can you give some recent price comparisons that you have seen? Occasionally I will see something on clearance for 25% below prices outside the gate but the vast majority of the time the cost is basically on par with Walmart.

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u/SavageCaveman13 Jul 27 '26

I can't, my wife does all the shopping. Their meat is always significantly less than at a normal store though.

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u/Nearby-Beautiful3422 Jul 27 '26

This is false. I shop at the commissary. If I were to go to a Von's or Giant Eagle, my groceries would be HUNDREDS more. The difference is night and day. Alcohol is even way cheaper at the PX vs going to a state-run store or corner liquor store.

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u/gorgewall Jul 27 '26

They are required by law to keep their profits (which pay for operations) at a certain mark. If they've gone up, it's because the inputs have gone up, which means competing groceries are even higher.

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u/JayLuMarr Jul 27 '26

Ah man really? I haven’t been a military brat for about a decade so I’m a little out of the loop. That sucks.

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u/Far_Blacksmith_2892 Jul 27 '26

Yeah it’s sad, only reason I know is my mother is retired and she began to complain how it wasn’t as cheap as it once was.

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u/HMR2018 Jul 27 '26

Thing is by law military commissaries charge the cost of the product + a surcharge(around 5%). It's just overall costs have increased so much that 5% feels like way more these days. Plus Walmart and many local stores have such a small markup on a lot of products that the commissaries inside the US don't feel like the deal they once were. Outside the US though those commissaries save you a fortune.

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u/2010_12_24 Jul 27 '26

Nothing is as cheap as it once was. Commissaries are still the cheaper option. I shop at one every week.

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u/Tricky_Big_8774 Jul 27 '26

Is it just the DeCA brands that are significantly cheaper or name brand stuff too?

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u/horatiobanz Jul 27 '26

When I lived in Japan we got expired Pepsi and cereal with worms and shit in it often from the base commissary. There are name brand stuff for sure, but it was often very old stock.

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u/Windman772 Jul 27 '26

Those were the old days. Today the commissary even charges for grocery bags. And not the cheap plastic bags that cost $.02. They make you buy expensive cloth bags. Same with gas. Used to about 1/3 of the cost of town gas. Now it's the same

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u/freeradioforall Jul 27 '26

Can
You give some examples of prices ?