CUSTOMER SERVICE
Military exchange websites set to welcome veterans home
Honorably discharged veterans who aren’t retirees are about to be saluted in a way they’ve never been before.
Beginning Saturday, they will get the same access to military exchanges enjoyed by retirees through shopmyexchange.com, the online site for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service.
The new policy will allow veterans to shop tax free through the exchange for life, exchange officials said. About 18.5 million veterans across the nation (including some 300,000 in Oklahoma) will qualify for the benefit, they said.
An exchange spokesperson attributed the expansion to the operation’s current chief executive, Tom Shull.
Shull, a West Point graduate and a Vietnam-era U.S. Army veteran who has a long retail career with Macy’s, Barneys New York, Hanover Direct and Wise Foods, said he wanted to see online shopping privileges for honorably discharged veterans extended to show appreciation for their service.
“Even though they aren’t currently serving, it’s a way to welcome them back home into their military family,” Shull said.
While veterans today often are recognized for their service during a variety of events surrounding the annual Veterans Day holiday, Shull said he wanted to show that appreciation year-round.
Benefits shoppers on shopmyexchange.com enjoy include:
• Tax free shopping. “For bigticket items, that can be a substantial savings,” Shull said.
• Competitive pricing.
• Free shipping for orders of $49 or more.
• Access to a line of credit through the private Military Star Card program.
Shull said veterans should visit shopmyexchange.com to register (discharge statuses will be verified through existing government records).
Once verified, veterans can shop through the exchange’s website, or, if they wish, can shop through sister websites
for exchanges that serve the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
The sites carry much of the same products, though specific service sites also carry servicespecific uniforms and associated accessories.
Supporting service members
Shull also said its important to remember that most of the profits generated by each service’s online exchange goes toward supporting quality-of-life programs for active-duty military members and their families within that particular service.
The Army & Air Force Exchange Service also
sends profits to other services, depending on what branch the buyers belonged to, he said.
Those quality-oflife programs include building and operating fitness and child development centers, paying for below-cost school lunches for children overseas, providing active-duty service members with belowcost combat uniforms and a host of other activities.
Shull enlisted in the Army in 1969. He joined the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colorado, as an officer in 1973, shortly after the division had returned from Vietnam.
“They had not been treated well as they returned home; their service wasn’t honored the way I thought it should have been,” Shull said.
While he observed that had been particularly true for Vietnam-era veterans, he added that more recent veterans also often feel they aren’t getting recognized, either.
“If they were willing to put their right hand up and take the oath of office, then we should always treat them with respect and honor their service,” he said.
Local beta testers
Select veterans have been trying out the expansion for the past couple of months as the Army & Air Force Exchange Service tested out the needed verification software.
Shawn Cottle, a banking executive at Tinker Federal Credit Union, served in the U.S. Air Force at Tinker Air Force Base and the Oklahoma
Air National Guard at Will Rogers World Airport as a security specialist from 1994 through 2001.
He and his family, which includes boys ages 4, 6 and 8, continue to call Oklahoma home while he pursues a master’s in business administration
Cottle said he’s a military brat who enjoyed shopping at base exchanges as he grew up and as a serving member of the Air Force.
So, when he heard from another veteran friend that the Army & Air Force Exchange Service was looking for beta testers to prepare for the expansion, Cottle said he jumped at the chance.
With three growing boys, Cottle said he likes the opportunity to get some good deals on shoes.
“I am always buying the next size before they grow into them so that I have them on hand,” he said.
Cottle said he appreciates the nod the exchange service is making toward honorably discharged veterans.
“It makes you feel good,” he said. “I know you can stand up on Veterans Day or be in a parade, but this makes you feel like you are part of something that people care about.”
His sentiment is echoed by another veteran, Richard Grantham, of Guthrie, who served as an armorer in the U.S. Army between 1973 and 1977.
Grantham said he gets opportunities to visit the Army & Air Force Exchange whenever he visits his daughter and son-in-law, an activeduty commissioned Air
Force officer, and knows about the good deals you can obtain by shopping there.
He stepped up to be a beta tester after seeing a forum post looking for volunteers.
Grantham said he likes to look at the site’s selection of electronics and its clearance items.
He said he recently executed a particularly good purchase at the site where he acquired two gun safes that were shipped to his home for free.
Grantham said he hopes veterans will look at their chance to shop at the exchange the same way as his son-in-law, who thinks of it as a benefit, not a right.
“If you don’t use it, you could lose it,” Grantham said. “I would just encourage other veterans to at least check it out.”