MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Living overseas can be a daunting and new experience for some.
Having to adjust to a new culture and lack of what a person is used to can be unsettling.
Residing aboard Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni means there is only the commissary for American produce and products.
With such a limited supply for so many people, the act of hoarding certain goods from the Commissary can cause some obvious and unforeseen consequences within the station.
“With the yogurts and the dairy creamers, the three or four weeks in a row we ran out of product because the ships were late, it all got taken the first day it was put on the shelf,” said Blaise Grondin, MCAS Iwakuni Commissary store director. “I watched one lady literally stick her arm in the shelf and scoop it all in her cart. One woman took an entire weeks order.”
When a person hoards, it eventually causes a bottleneck in Commissary sales.
Once a person has their freezer full of yogurt, the amount of sales in the hoarded products comes to a stop.
Even though the product is no longer selling, shipments still come in and all which doesn’t sell gets thrown away.
“Twentyseven to 28 days after I order, the ships should get here,” said Grondin. “If people start hoarding and I increase my shipment to match the demand, when people stop hoarding, I’m still receiving an increased shipment and most of it doesn’t get sold.”
In addition to causing problems within the Commissary, hoarding a product has an impact on the consumers as well.
“Being on such a small base, to take every last item of a store shelf, when it’s the only store people have on base to buy from, that’s just harmful to your neighbors,” said Grondin.
Most shipping delays happen in the winter months, when shipping ports are most likely to be frozen over from ice storms.
“We go through delays in shipping every year in the winter,” said Grondin. “The reason the ships are being delayed is because the first port the container ships stop at when they leave the states is Dutch Harbor, Alaska. If Dutch harbor is having an ice storm, the ships don’t go out. The delays are completely and totally out of my control.”
While it may be easy for individuals to rid themselves of old and unwanted products, the same can’t be said for the Commissary.
“The food in this store is literally considered government equipment,” said Grondin. “I have to account for it all on an inventory form, either going out through the register, purchased back by the company who supplied it to me or going into salvage.”