Shopping at your NEX - PX - BX

About a month ago before departing Yuma, AZ on our long journey across country I purchased 6 new Goodyear Wrangler tires for my truck (235-80R-17 load range E). I did a lot of web shopping before I went to the Navy Exchange at MCAS Yuma. I got pricing from Discount Tires, Sears and Wal-Mart for the same tire. The difference in the cost of the tire, mounting and balancing was about $15.00 a tire lower at the NEX. The AZ sales tax in Yuma is 10.82%. My set of 6 tires cost me $1162.00 out the door. Had I got them at any of the civilian stores for that price I would have paid an additional $125.00 in taxes for them. We tend to forget the small amount of money we save when we are shopping at the numerous base exchanges until we have a large dollar item to purchase. That new large screen TV or washer/dryer combo may have the same sales price at Circuit City but the tax savings will make the exchanges item look a little better.

FastEagle

Sometimes we forget about the "no tax" savings -- good to be reminded about that at the PX's ...

We should consider all the benefits when deciding if we save or not. Plus, the convience of "one place shopping" too. We can go to the base and get gas, vehicle serviced, buy clothes, buy a TV, buy groceries, pick-up prescriptions, and see a movie -- to name a few, and spend no gas and less aggravation ...

Think about shopping at Wal-mart and trying to get a question answered about a product ... then wait in line for twenty minutes, then find the item you picked up has no scan-tag (or wrong scan-tag), and take another fifteen minutes while someone calls someone else, who sends someone to find the price, and then reports eventually to the cashier.

I'll take base shopping anytime -- even if I break even. Then I think about where the "profit" goes too. Not "Gone from the USA" but right back into base services for the military and retired.

Excellent post, monkey. Those are the reasons I shop at AAFES, in-store and on-line. I just bought a craftsman lawnmower and saved considerable money because of the sales tax and only $25 for shipping because it was a large item.

NEX on line shopping is great, but here in Connecticut you have to watch the large on line purchases because we have a law here that allows the state to collect sales tax on ANY PURCHASE made on line or in a state with a lower sales tax rate. Yes if you pay less than the 6.5% sales tax that Connecticut charges the state of Connecticut wants a check for the difference, I called and asked, they do not issue refund checks for any taxes you pay in another state over 6.5%.

Luckily military exchanges are exempt. But our attorney general Richard Blumenthal is cracking down harder and harder on this lately, there have been cases where they were checking with shipping companies to see if people were receiving a lot of packages.

Man I can't wait to get out of this state!

RE: The internet purchase tax

Seems like all the political entities look for now-a-days is more ways to tax us instead of better ways to use the tax money they already get.

And the day they start taxing the AAFES and BX is the day I go back and sit on my congressman's doorstep...