1901 Havana Commissary Receipt

Description: 1901 Havana Commissary Receipt from an military commissary in Havana Cuba. excellent condition. see photos for aging and other flaws. approx 5" x 8" The commissary benefit is not a recent innovation. Sales of goods from commissary department storehouses to military personnel began in 1825, when U.S. Army officers at specified posts could make purchases at cost for their personal use; by 1841, officers could also purchase items for members of their immediate families.However, the modern era of sales commissaries is considered to have actually begun in 1867, when enlisted men received the same at-cost purchasing privileges officers had already enjoyed for four decades. No geographic restrictions were placed upon these sales; the commissary warehouse at every Army post could become a sales location, whether they were located on the frontier or near a large city. From the start, commissaries were meant to take on-post retail functions out of the hands of civilian vendors and post traders and allow the Army to "care for its own." The stores provided food beyond what was supplied in the official rations, and the savings they provided supplemented military pay. The modern concept of commissary sales stores, which were established to benefit military personnel of all ranks by providing healthful foods at cost, reached its 150th anniversary on July 1, 2017.The commissary retail function developed and grew, roughly parallel to the development of the retail grocery industry. The commissaries’ 82-item stock list of 1868 was comparable to the stock assortment in a typical civilian dry goods grocery store at that time. Commissaries kept pace with developments in civilian supermarkets, and the average commissary today has more than 12,000 line items; the largest stores have several thousand more.The list of eligible shoppers has also grown. Originally, only active-duty Army personnel could shop. Today, personnel in all services, including the Coast Guard and National Guard and Reserves, may shop in the commissary on any U.S. military installation, around the world. Military retirees – those who have served in uniform 20 years or more – were first allowed to make commissary purchases in 1878, and they continue to have shopping privileges. Spouses and dependent children of service personnel are authorized commissary privileges, as are recipients of the Medal of Honor, and veterans honorably discharged from service with 100% disability in connection with military service also have authorized commissary privileges.As the role of the American military grew larger, commissaries began to spread around the world. The first overseas stores opened in Cuba, the Philippines and in China between 1898 and 1904. They were soon followed by commissaries in Panama and Puerto Rico. Eventually, all the services adopted the Army's concept of commissary sales stores and tailored the concept to their own needs. The Navy and Marine Corps opened their first commissaries in 1909 and 1910, and the Air Force inherited its stores from the Army Air Forces in 1947 and 1948. By the mid-1970s, each of the services ran its own commissary agency, with differing procedures and systems: the Army Troop Support Agency (TSA), the Navy Resale System Support Office (NAVRESSO), the Commissary Section of the Marine Corps Services Command, and the Air Force Commissary Service (AFCOMS).

Price: 49 USD

Location: APO, Armed Forces Europe, The Middle East, &

End Time: 2024-12-21T18:52:27.000Z

Shipping Cost: 6 USD