Shoppers crowded a small tent outside the commissary at Gricignano housing area in Naples, Italy, as the store held a two-day case lot sale last May. (Jason Chudy / S&S)
Savvy shoppers know that when an item they use is priced ridiculously low, it’s best to snatch as much as you can.
Suffice to say there will be a lot of grabbing next month when the Defense Commissary Agency-Europe takes part in the semiannual case lot sale. Last September, the agency sold more than $11 million in goods worldwide.
“It is the biggest [program] and generates the most money,” said Gerri Young, spokeswoman for DECA-Europe.
The volume of stuff en route to commissaries in Europe is something to behold, too. Across the theater, there are — or will be — 99 trucks carting about 137,000 cases of 101 different items, Young said.
The types of goods range from breakfast cereal and paper towels to laundry detergent. What makes the sales list will vary from sale to sale, but Young said it usually is dictated by customer demand and what vendors offer.
“It’s not always the same items,” she said. “It’ll be tweaked for each one.”
On some items, DECA customers can expect to save up to 58 percent off the regular shelf price, Young said. Customers can also use coupons on top of the sales price, she added.
The date of case lot sales might differ from base to base, according to an agency news release. Visit DECA’s Web site for a complete list of dates and times for a particular store.
