With Exchange online shopping benefit, veterans reap savings
DALLAS -- In the six months since the Army & Air Force Exchange Service officially expanded online shopping privileges to all honorably discharged veterans, more than 50,000 former service members have used the new benefit.
“With the national average sales tax being 8.5 percent, the veterans online shopping benefit offers significant savings to all who raised their right hand and took an oath to defend our nation -- no matter how long they served,” said Exchange Director/CEO Tom Shull, a Vietnam-era Army veteran who worked tirelessly to secure the change in Department of Defense policy after joining the Exchange in 2012. “This benefit is a modest way to thank all who have served and welcome them home.”
The veterans online shopping benefit, which launched on Veterans Day 2017, marked the first expansion of military exchange privileges since 1990. Veterans have used their new benefit to order nearly 500,000 items at ShopMyExchange.com – tax free.
Dan Sacco, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Trumbull, Connecticut, had been without an Exchange benefit for nearly 50 years, after leaving the Army in 1970. When he shops with ShopMyExchange.com, he knows he is making a difference to service members and their families.
“This is an incredible benefit to offer,” said Sacco, who has shopped ShopMyExchange.com for electronics, clothing, gifts and more. “There’s no taxes, no shipping charges with a MILITARY STAR card, and it supports the military. It’s better than Amazon. There’s no negative.”
Every purchase veterans make online improves life for service members and their families as 100 percent of Exchange earnings support programs including military uniforms at cost; school lunches below cost for warfighters’ children overseas; child development centers; youth programs; fitness centers; and career opportunities for spouses, veterans and wounded warriors. In the last decade years, the Exchange has distributed more than $2.4 billion to critical military quality-of-life programs.
To verify eligibility and begin shopping, veterans can visit ShopMyExchange.com\veterans or
VetVerify.org. (Courtesy of AAFES News)