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Let's bitch about the BX here!


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I will say the electronics protection plan has been a pretty good deal. Got it with my iPad which I dropped and broke. Within 2 weeks I had a check for full value even though the newer iPad had just came out so I got a free upgrade in a round about way. Never had such an easy dealing with a protection plan anywhere else.

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My favorite BX story came from Osan. I was looking for some good socks for running and there was a particular brand/style that they had carried that were really good. I couldn't find any for a while...just cheap, thin crap. I asked the manager when they'd get the good socks in and he replied they stopped carrying that style. Why?, I asked. He replied, "Well, they sold so fast that they were hard to keep in stock, so we stopped ordering them." I was dumbfounded at the answer...the man was clearly a true marketing specialist!

On the other hand, maybe it was returning from Osan. We were in Hawaii and stopped by the BX where we found a display of Waterford crystal tagged at $3.50 a piece. I knew the normal price was about $35 each, because my wife had recently bought a few replacement wine glasses...they mis-marked them by a decimal point. The department manager was walking by and I pointed out the error. He didn't even bother to check and said "Well, that's what they're marked, so that's what I sell them for." My wife promptly bought 48 pieces for $168, instead of the $1680 it should have cost.

Edited by HiFlyer
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I submit BX vs NEX food courts as evidence of how the BX could emulate to improve.

BX = Taco Bell, Charleys, and (if you're lucky) a Blimpie

NEX = Five Guys, Rubios, and Panda Express

Of course, they both sometimes have Subways

Fact.

The Guam NEX is far superior than the Andersen BX in terms of....well, everything really. I actually bought clothes there. I didn't know if that was isolated or if that was something the Navy just did better than AF.

So if the BX isn't subsidized like the commissary, what do they pay for in terms of rent/utilities/taxes?

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Easiest way to match prices is with the Red laser app. Scan the barcode, and it'll show you the price at all the local stores plus online places like Amazon. I've never had an issue getting them to match with that app.

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I got a $200 satellite dish for $10, a $150 tv mount for $5, and a $69 iPad cover (for the wife, I hate Apple) for $2. Don't dismiss the value of the clearance electronics shelf check.

Posted from the NEW Baseops.net App!

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I purchased my golf clubs ($1299 set) for 90% off ($129 out the door) because they were the previous year's style and the BX just wanted them off the shelves to make room for the identical new model with minor color changes. I can't tell you how many times we did the same thing buying clothes when I was an E and we were living on base years ago. Bad business practices = a great deal for frequent shoppers that know what to look for.

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You can get some ridiculous good deals on display model stuff like outdoor furniture/grills. I bought a 500 dollar weber grill for a little over 100 when they were clearing out the PX to move in the Xmas shit.

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My favorite BX story came from Osan. I was looking for some good socks for running and there was a particular brand/style that they had carried that were really good. I couldn't find any for a while...just cheap, thin crap. I asked the manager when they'd get the good socks in and he replied they stopped carrying that style. Why?, I asked. He replied, "Well, they sold so fast that they were hard to keep in stock, so we stopped ordering them." I was dumbfounded at the answer...the man was clearly a true marketing specialist!

Some things never change...my mom tells exactly the same story (substitute "popular American laundry detergent" for "socks") from a PX in Germany in the 1960s. The sales clerk's words were, "Oh, we had to stop carrying that -- it was so popular we just couldn't keep it in stock!"

However, I will second all of the opinions that the BX is valuable for those stationed overseas. Maybe not quite as essential as the commissary, but helpful when you just need something common in a hurry and don't even know where to look for it on the economy, or if the item isn't common in that country. Finding affordable, casual clothing in the right size can be a challenge in Japan without the BX, too.

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Ya gotta admit, that is why most of us shop there! Walmart might have sales, but rarely do you see stuff marked ridiculously down because they just want to get rid of it. I've scored some sweet deals that way.

Another bonus is the employees, while stationed at a small European location we got to know some of the folks working in key positions at AAFES. Saw a nice skateboard that I wanted for my son, but it had no price. My bud the manager marked it for ten bucks. A week later it was priced at something like $80.

Also scored a nice pair of boots from the uniform shop marked down considerably because they had been "returned." Turned out some Army troop mistakenly bought them then found out he couldn't wear them. Other than his trying them on, they were never walked in.

So yeah, while some prices may not be that great; it's like going to a gun show...you never know what sweet deal you may find!

Cheers! M2

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You must not be at Altus. They closed our BX.

Really?

Pretty sorry BX to start with. I expected aafes to continue dumping cash into that and the many other fine establishments at Altus.

Edited by addict
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Apparently AAFES only counts permanent party when deciding the size of the BXs, so in trending with this thread's well established BX idiocy in management, they did not count the thousands of pipeline and TDY students that go through that base every year.

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Apparently AAFES only counts permanent party when deciding the size of the BXs, so in trending with this thread's well established BX idiocy in management, they did not count the thousands of pipeline and TDY students that go through that base every year.

Genius.jpeg

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My favorite BX story came from Osan. I was looking for some good socks for running and there was a particular brand/style that they had carried that were really good. I couldn't find any for a while...just cheap, thin crap. I asked the manager when they'd get the good socks in and he replied they stopped carrying that style. Why?, I asked. He replied, "Well, they sold so fast that they were hard to keep in stock, so we stopped ordering them." I was dumbfounded at the answer...the man was clearly a true marketing specialist!

That must be a standard line at AAFES managment training. They said the same thing to Nav students at Randolph when they stopped carrying these super cool German made pens which were ideal for our chart construction.

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Apparently AAFES only counts permanent party when deciding the size of the BXs, so in trending with this thread's well established BX idiocy in management, they did not count the thousands of pipeline and TDY students that go through that base every year.

Haven't been to END, but judging by the DLF and CBM BXs, they do the same thing at UPT bases. Both of those places are tiny and terrible.

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Haven't been to END, but judging by the DLF and CBM BXs, they do the same thing at UPT bases. Both of those places are tiny and terrible.

Sorry I was talking about Altus, END's BX is decent, but all Altus has is a shoppette and clothing sales.

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