Are you currently serving or have served this beautiful country we call the United States of America? If so, you’re in the right place. I’m a fellow veteran myself. I served a total of 8 years in the Army. Did you know that the Exchange is online? You can reap those same benefits from the comfort of your own home? You can even set up pickup times at your nearest locations.
I first learned of this when visiting Twitchcon in 2019. AFFES (Army & Air Force Exchange Service) had a booth as well as other military organizations. Their job was to spread awareness of the Exchange shop opening up online. Note, you do have to be currently in service (reserve or active) or an “Honorably” discharged veteran. No matter which branch of service, you have access to all of the stores once you signup and verify your identity. Did I mention that the signup process is easy as well. All you will need to do is enter your name (while in service), birth date and last four of social. Support is always available to help if you have issues identifying identity and for any other issues you may have.
You may think, like what stores and what are those benefits. The Army and Air Force aka AFFES website is ShopMyExchange. The Navy and Marines operate under MyNavyExchange or NEX / MCX. The Coast Guard store is ShopCGX. There are tons of benefits, the biggest being tax-free shopping. They also offer a credit account that you can apply for called MilitaryStar, which can be used at all stores as well.
With the current climate in the country of price gouging and scalping, this is the perfect solution to get those in demand items. I managed to secure a ton of my tech items, like a PC, PS5, etc without tax. Those items were sold out in most stores and you had to wait in lines and sometimes being turned around due to them being out of stock. The Exchange is essentially equivalent to having a Walmart on base. You can literally get everything you need and not break the bank in the process.
In conclusion, I wanted to ensure my fellow brothers and sisters in arms are aware of their benefits. I hope this finds you well, as always thank you for your service. Feel free to comment below with any inquires. I’ll try my best to point you in the right direction. If I helped you in any way feel free to share to spread the message.