Rating your store – safely: Annual Commissary Customer Service Survey to start Aug. 24 with COVID-19 safety measures

FORT LEE, Va. – The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) will launch its annual worldwide Commissary Customer Service Survey (CCSS) starting Aug. 24, with new safety measures in place to help prevent COVID-19 exposure.

Beginning Aug. 24, commissary associates will offer customers the opportunity to rate their stores at the commissary entrance area before they shop. The survey will be available for 10 consecutive operating days ending on or before Sept. 11, depending on the commissary’s operating schedule.

“Extreme care will be given to adhere to social distancing measures,” said James Taylor, chief of DeCA’s store operations division. “We are working with commissary personnel at each location to ensure safety protocols are put in place to help prevent exposure to COVID-19.”

Customers will be randomly selected to participate in the survey which evaluates areas such as customer service, pricing, savings, product availability and selection, cleanliness, store layout, and produce, meat, grocery deli and bakery quality.

When being asked to participate, customers will be presented with three options:

• Scan a QR code and take the survey on their own mobile device
• Have the store employee ask the questions and the store employee enter the responses in the store’s iPad
• Or personally complete the survey on the store’s iPad.

Commissary employees will have gloves and disinfectant wipes to sanitize the iPad between each use and provide gloves and wipes to each customer electing to use the store-provided iPad.

“We consider the health and welfare of our customers and our commissary associates our top priority and that is why we will follow the highest standards of DOD health protection as we present this survey,” said Robert Byrne, management and program analyst. “Every effort will be made to ensure the safety of our commissary associates and customers during the annual CCSS process.” 

Last year, more than 20,000 shoppers rated the commissaries an overall 4.51, a 4.9-percent increase from 2018’s mark of 4.30. The score is based on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1, “Poor,” to 5, “Excellent.” Customers gave commissaries high marks for helpful and courteous employees, store cleanliness and layout, and convenient hours.

“This CCSS is an extremely important measure of commissary performance and it provides us the mechanism to benchmark commissary performance during a fixed period of time,” Taylor said. “We’re committed to delivering a premiere customer experience in every store, and the CCSS survey platform continues to be a powerful tool to help us do that.”

In addition to the annual CCSS, DeCA also employs ForeSee, a robust survey platform that gives commissaries a real-time snapshot of patron feedback throughout the year. 

-DeCA-

PHOTO CAPTION: A shopper pays for her groceries at the Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Commissary. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Milton Hamilton)

About DeCA: The Defense Commissary Agency operates a worldwide chain of commissaries providing groceries to military personnel, retirees and their families in a safe and secure shopping environment. Commissaries provide a military benefit, saving authorized patrons thousands of dollars annually on their purchases compared to similar products at commercial retailers. The discounted prices include a 5-percent surcharge, which covers the costs of building new commissaries and modernizing existing ones. A core military family support element, and a valued part of military pay and benefits, commissaries contribute to family readiness, enhance the quality of life for America’s military and their families, and help recruit and retain the best and brightest men and women to serve their country.