Check your commissary for cool, ‘mad’ savings in March

  • Published
  • By Sallie Cauthers
  • DeCA marketing and mass communications specialist
FORT LEE, Va. - --  March is the month for commissary customers seeking savings on frozen food products or to stock up on supplies for their NCAA Basketball Tournament viewing parties.

Frozen Food Month kicks off the promotional period with special savings on frozen food items that help customers make quick and delicious home meals, said Chris Burns, the Defense Commissary Agency's director of sales.

"Your commissary is offering its customers super pricing, whopping savings, product demonstrations, and high-value coupons from leading manufacturers," Burns said. "This month-long event has historically been an exciting sales event for the commissary and its customers with easy-to-find in-store displays, giveaways and bundles of coupons."

Throughout the month, DeCA's grocery industry partners will offer giveaways such as a chest freezer and hundreds of shopping sprees in all of the commissaries worldwide. Customers will be able to spot the "penguin" displays to find the "coolest" deals available in their commissary.

As college basketball prepares to crown its national champion, hoop fans will be tuned into the NCAA Tournament action familiarly known as March Madness. Commissary customers in the continental United States will be able to do their own game-time preparation through the March "Munch Madness Event," featuring military-specific discount coupons and NCAA party recipes. Participating stores will display a full-size basketball goal.

Customers also are asked to check their local commissary for the 2011 NCAA displays promoting savings on popular men's grooming products for a chance to enter to win one of numerous NCAA prizes. More than $47,500 in prizes will be given away by the commissary's grocer industry partners during this March promotion. Giveaways include 52-inch LED televisions as well as 68 prize packs that include NCAA apparel, video games and gift cards. NCAA tournament game trips will also be awarded to include tickets, transportation and NCAA merchandise for Walter Reed Wounded Hero patients to attend round one or two of the 2011 NCAA tournament in Washington, D.C.
"These March Madness events reward our customers with an exciting promotion around one of the most anticipated sporting events of the year," Mr. Burns said.
Commissary customers can also enter to win online by visiting the Operation in Touch website at http://www.operationintouch.com/Home.aspx. Entries will also be accepted by mail. Winners will be selected at random, and no purchase is necessary to enter or win.

Besides frozen food and big game snacks, the commissary will also offer a couple of special in-store promotions in March to help make it easy and affordable for families to take that first step toward better health and well-being.

Celebrating National Nutrition Month in March, participating stores will display a health and wellness-themed program called "An Amazing Way to Start Your Day!" This promotion is a bundling coupon promotion that offers name-brand breakfast food and beverage items in conjunction with fresh produce. The stores will offer a children's scooter as a giveaway along with a nutritional booklet with educational information on reading nutritional labels, understanding the nutritional tips published in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's "MyPyramid" dietary guidelines and learning about healthy recipes.

Commissary customers will also find Salute to Military Families Sale information and coupons being printed and inserted into Family Magazine in the stateside commissaries and distributed by Maxi-Saver in overseas stores. Special displays will be located throughout the stores focusing on military families.

As spring approaches, commissaries are gearing up for their 8th annual Race to Savings in-store promotion. It's all about NASCAR and going to the races in Homestead, Fla. Customers at participating stores will have the opportunity to enter to win one of two prize packages being given away at stores in the states, Alaska and Hawaii. These prize packages for two include airfare, hotel, race tickets and pit passes to the Nationwide and Nextel Cup final along with a $300 cash card for meals and incidentals. Some stores will be offering additional prizes as part of this promotion, such as kettle grills and party tents.