美国国家公共电台 NPR With More Big-Box Stores In Reach, Are Commissaries Still Needed?

With More Big-Box Stores In Reach, Are Commissaries Still Needed?

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If you have served in the military, then you've probably shopped at a commissary, those government-run grocery stores for troops and retirees get big discounts. Those savings² come at a price to taxpayers³, more than a billion dollars a year. And now the Pentagon is looking to cut its subsidy⁴ for commissaries. From member station KAZU in Monterey, Calif., Krista Almanzan reports.

KRISTA ALMANZAN, BYLINE⁵: Yep, everything's where you'd expect it to be at the Ord Community Commissary near Monterey - fresh produce when you first walk in; ice cream, aisle⁶ 16; meat at the back.

ALEX KING: We've got everything, anything you can ask for. We have lamb. We have veal⁷.

ALMANZAN: Alex King is manager here.

KING: Sushi - big hit here - the customers are very much appreciative⁸ of that.

ALMANZAN: What sets the commissary apart is who shops here - troops, retirees and their families - and the savings you notice at the checkout⁹ counter.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: All righty, Sir.

KING: We try to offer just around 30 percent savings on all our products.

ALMANZAN: The commissary sets prices at just a little over cost, and that helps commissaries around the world maintain consistent pricing no matter where troops are stationed.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: All right, thank you for your service, Sir. Enjoy the rest of your day.

ALMANZAN: This is a benefit the government started offering after the Civil War, when Congress ordered the Army to sell goods to its troops. Over time, commissaries became part of their pay, a convenient, cheap way to shop. But that savings costs taxpayers. This year, the military spent $1.4 billion to run the system's nearly 240 stores. Next year, the Department of Defense¹⁰ wants to cut 200 million from that subsidy.

TODD HARRISON: I think DOD is going after the commissaries because, you know, they're looking at it as, you know, one extra cost that, you know, maybe they could get rid of.

ALMANZAN: Todd Harrison studies the defense budget with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

HARRISON: The practical question is, are we getting good value out of the money we spend on the commissaries as a form of compensation? Do people value it as much as it costs to provide, or would we be better served by using, you know, that $1.4 billion for other purposes, things that we might get more benefit out of?

EILEEN HUCK: It's something that's really important to military families.

ALMANZAN: Eileen Huck thinks that $1.4 billion is being spent well now. She's with the National Military Family Association. She says the subsidized savings offers troops a consistent grocery bill, no matter where they're stationed - overseas, in remote locations or expensive urban areas. And commissaries have intangible benefits.

HUCK: It's the place where you go to run into other military friends and connect with your community. So while it's intangible and obviously hard to measure, it's important to a lot of people and can't be replicated¹¹ at a Wal-Mart or a Costco.

ALMANZAN: But in the age of Costco and Wal-Mart, more and more commissary shoppers do have options they didn't before. Sergeant¹² First Class Paul Pressley and his wife Amanda Gospodnetich are stationed in Monterey. They can leave their home, pass half a dozen grocery stores and a Costco before getting to the commissary.

AMANDA GOSPODNETICH: If we're going that far, we might as well go the extra - what? - 2 miles to go to Wal-Mart where we can get clothes and everything all at once.

ALMANZAN: They shop at the commissary every once in a while to stock up on pantry items. But low prices aren't always the most important thing.

PAUL PRESSLEY: We have three kids, and so you got to really get in the car and move. And every time we do that, it adds 15 minutes to our trip. So once you got all your freezer items, you don't really want to do that.

ALMANZAN: And the billion dollars or so that the military spends on commissaries might save troops money on groceries, but it can't get those 15 minutes back.

For NPR News, I'm Krista Almanzan.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

3 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

4 subsidy   

n.补助金，津贴

参考例句：

• The university will receive a subsidy for research in artificial intelligence.那个大学将得到一笔人工智能研究的补助费。
• The living subsidy for senior expert's family is included in the remuneration.报酬已包含高级专家家人的生活补贴。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

7 veal   

n.小牛肉

参考例句：

• She sauteed veal and peppers,preparing a mixed salad while the pan simmered.她先做的一道菜是青椒煎小牛肉，趁着锅还在火上偎着的机会，又做了一道拼盘。
• Marinate the veal in white wine for two hours.把小牛肉用白葡萄酒浸泡两小时。

8 appreciative   

adj.有鉴赏力的，有眼力的；感激的

参考例句：

• She was deeply appreciative of your help.她对你的帮助深表感激。
• We are very appreciative of their support in this respect.我们十分感谢他们在这方面的支持。

9 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 replicated   

复制( replicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 重复； 再造； 再生

参考例句：

• Later outplant the seedlings in a replicated permanent test plantation. 以后苗木出圃栽植成重复的永久性试验林。
• The phage has replicated and the donor cells have lysed. 噬菌体已复制和给体细胞已发生裂解。

12 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？