Expert: Rod Powers - 6/16/2006

Question
Rod, I have a small business in St. Petersburg, FL.  We wholesale mahogany military aircraft replicas. I've been searching high and low for contact information for the office, offices, person, persons responsible for procuring items for sale in commissaries, px, etc.

Regards

Stephen Paul Wagner

Answer
Hi Stephen,

Well, you're not going to sell the item in military commissaries (commissaries are "grocery stores, which sell food items).

Convincing the BX/PX (Base Exchange) to carry a particular item can be time-consuming and frustrating.  The generally make deals with major companies.

As it so happens, I recently received the following excerpt from a newsletter, giving recommendations about getting various AAFES (BX/PX) to carry books.  Most of the information would also apply to other items.  Here's a portion of the newsletter article:

> ==> How to do business with the military
>
> There are two organizations that operate U.S. military
> exchanges: Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES)
> and the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEX), which
> serve the members of their respective branches of the
> armed forces. Doing business with either the AAFES or
> the NEX can be time consuming. "Does it take a lot of
> work? Yes, it certainly does," says Monroe Mann, author
> of To Benning and Back: The Making of a Citizen
> Soldier. "The question is, 'How badly do you want your
> book stocked in the PX system?' Your answer will
> determine whether you have what it takes to be
> persistent and creative."
> "
> ==> Here are some tips on making it work:
>
> * Try the official channels first. Most authors, and
> those who run the exchange system themselves, recommend
> going through the established distribution channels as
> the first step in getting your books in PX stores (a
> list of the distributors working with both the AAFES
> and the NEX is below). "When it comes to selling books
> to AAFES, it's important to understand the buying
> process," says Paul Lawrence Vann, author of Living on
> Higher Ground: How to Live with Passion, Motivation and
> Joy. "My best recommendation is for people to
> [familiarize themselves with the distributors]. It's
> the genesis of the book-selling process for publishers
> and authors desiring to work with AAFES." You can get
> an idea for the process at
> http://www.aafes.com/pa/selling/index.html
>
> * Take a hands-on approach. While going through the
> process outlined above is the most traditional way to
> get your book in the system, it's not the only way.
> "They say you have to go through the main PX buyer, but
> I tried that initially and it didn't work," says Mann.
> "So I went directly to the individual store
> managers/buyers. It requires some sweet talking and
> some finesse and charm and charisma, but it definitely
> works. My next step is to capitalize on the few PXs
> that actually do stock my book, and try to get them all
> to stock it." If you want to use this strategy, Mann
> suggests starting at the PX closest to you. "Speak to
> the buyer/manager and explain that you're a local
> resident, and ask them to stock a few copies to see how
> it sells," he says. "Once you get an initial success,
> start making phone calls to other PXs nationwide and
> tell them of your success. Slowly, other PXs will also
> start stocking the book." Using this method, Mann has
> gotten his book at the Fort Benning PX, West Point PX,
> Fort Huachuca PX and Fort Drum PX.

Hope this helps!

Rod Powers
http://usmilitary.about.com