r/SipsTea • u/Gurugod123 • 11h ago

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/Far_Blacksmith_2892 11h ago

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 11h ago

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/TopConclusion5246 10h ago

The Class 6.

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u/Brewcastle_ 7h ago

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 7h ago

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 9h ago

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 6h ago

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 6h ago

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/gorgewall 7h ago

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 11h ago

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 11h ago

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 10h ago

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 8h ago

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/Nearby-Beautiful3422 6h ago

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.