European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 14, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes Friday March 14, 1986 letters writers complaints about cafes Are answered i sincerely Hope that you print this letter because i firmly believe that it is time that the military person sees just what is Hap pening Over Here. I am speaking of cafes. How Many people can think Back to the big article in the stars and stripes just a Little Over a year ago concerning cafes takeover of the arc sports shops the general gave his word that nothing would change. They would have the same buyers and they would be keeping the pro style equipment they always had. Shortly after they took Over the sports shops they did hire the buyers but within a month and a half cafes told them that they would not be purchasing any More from the local buyers. Everything would come direct from buyers in Dallas. Also if you will take a look at the sports shops you will find about the same products sold in the exchanges. Shops have also lost the specialized personal service and Fol Low up that they used to have. The sad part about this is that cafes seems to have commanders scared to death. Without people realizing it they Are trying to take Over All operations of everything very quietly. They have taken Over the Gra Fen Woehr shop. They arc presently working on taking Over the Baum older and Parma Sens sports shops plus probably several others that i am not aware of. The same thing happened with the audio centers. Cafes told everyone to close their centers. The army closed. The air Force said no although it did agree not to build any More. The air Force presently has excellent sport shops run by professionals that Are making Money for their bases. Cafes is trying to get these top. The army could make a lot of Money in their sports shops if they would hire professionals. Cafes is again trying to take Over Bowling operations. They have already taken Over some snack bars. Cafes had Bowling a Long time ago and it was a total Flop. Now that the military has built the centers Back up and they Are a Success cafes wants to step in again. Would someone please explain to me How the government can make at to break up and yet what is probably the largest monopoly around cafes is run by that same government and of course no one is trying to break it up. Can you imagine what prices would be in the United states if the Only department store available to everybody was Sears wards or one of those Why is it the government should be allowed to compete except when it comes to cafes please stars and stripes Tell the truth to the military people and give them a con Stant rundown on the weekly takeovers that cafes works on. Name and location withheld after Reading master sgt. Bruce Ziels Doris impassioned responses telling us How wonderful cafes really is and How they Only do what the customers really want had to write. Explain to me if you would How cafes in All its omniscience determined that its customers want cafes to take no in Netherlands thanked my thanks and congratulations to Sec. Dale h. Snyder sr., Punco accent support activity in the Netherlands. Assigned the extra duty of retirement service s officer Sec. Snyder did far More than just read the regulation and attend a mandatory meeting. Through his efforts and a lot of extra work a Netherlands retirees Council has been formed and efforts Are under Way to obtain Exchange and commissary privileges for the retirees in the Netherlands and their authorized dependents. This letter is written by the undersigned but i m sure it expresses the thanks of All the retirees and their dependents living in the Netherlands. Our thanks not Only to Sec. Snyder but to his commander who had the foresight to appoint him and has sup ported him in his efforts. Bobby r. Frey Brun sum Netherlands palme was at White House dinner i thought you d be interested in knowing that there is a factual error in the recent Story of the assassination of swedish prime minister Olof palme. On the Back Page the associated press says palme was invited to the White House Only once during the 25th . Anniversary Celebration in 1970. The visit was cancelled because of a threat to bomb the aircraft taking him to the United this is incorrect. Or. Palme flew Down from new York and attended the 25th anniversary dinner Given by president Nixon along with a number of Heads of government and chiefs of state. I know this to be a fact because i accompanied or. Palme to the White House dinner. William Bodde or. Consul general Frankfurt pen pals i would like pen pals from All Over the world. I am 16 years old. My hobbies Are Reading novels listening to music writing letters watching to and collecting pictures of my friends. I also like Badminton an Tennis. Galvani Carreon ii Manuel l. Teves subdivision Dumaguet City Negros Oriental Philippines 6501 i would like to correspond with others from different countries. I am 23 years old. My hobbies Are singing and dancing. I am roman Catholic and work As cashier. Nilen Regua co Dales Complex inc. Bolton Street Davao City Philippines t would like to have pen pals. I am single an e-5, love computing working out and Riding motorcycles. I plan to travel the world during leave periods and am looking for interesting people to meet. Sgt. Charles e. Riley Vmfa-314 a Fpo ., 09501-8547 i would like pen pals from different countries i am19 years old. Antonita Zamora pm. 4 Manilad Dum Aguele City Philippines 6501 i would like pen pals from All Over the world. I am16 years old. Carmel Caballo 71 Sta. Catalina St. Dumaguet City 6501 Philippines i am 21 years old and would like to have pen pals. I like to knit Cook ride horses read Camp and writ letters. Tammy Walling 14007 e. Rockwell Spokane Wash. 992 6 i would like to correspond with others in other countries. I am 20 years old. My hobbles Are writing Reading biking and Badminton. Rosie Fau Torilla 96-a or. Merlano Road Dumaguet City 6501 Negros Oriental Philippines i would like pen pals from other countries. I am 23 years old. I enjoy cooking Reading and writing friends. Genevive Occena 96-a or. Veciano Road Dumaguet City 6501 Negros Oriental Philippines i wish to have my name included in your pen pal column. I am a native san Delegan and a housewife. I have two boys and a daughter. I enjoy All sports especially volleyball softball and Badminton. My Hob Bles include stamp collecting crocheting ceramics Cross stitch sewing and working on my Apple ii computer. Robin m. Tuaniga a Btry. 3/59 Ada Box 128 Apo 09189-5000 Over mar audio photo clubs. After All How would turning those clubs Over to cafes help the customer let me count the possibilities first it would limit Freedom of Choice the customer won t have to choose be tween the audio club or the cafes sound Center so one less decision to make. Thanks cafes. Second there will be a smaller selection of audio photo equipment to choose from cafes Only has so much room to hold Stock y know. Again you must be helping the customer by narrowing the number of decisions he has to make on his purchases. Sounds almost communal does t it third the prices of the items will be higher with the audio club out of the picture the number of units bought from each manufacturer will be lower so the Cost per unit according to Law of Supply and demand has to go up. Once again you Are helping the customer by lowering his discretionary income and decreasing his ability to buy anything else with it. Now to be fair i guess i should list some of the negatives which might occur if cafes takes Over the mar clubs. First the customer will no longer be Able to buy an item in a store and know he can take it Back to that store and have it repaired on the spot. Audio photo clubs have in House technicians cafes has pick up Point second no longer will the customer be Able to complain directly to the store Man Ager if repair work in t acceptable and have the satisfaction of seeing his machine repaired again for free usually. Since pick up Point is a concessionaire the Cus Tomer has to complain to the concessionaire first and then can go to the Exchange manager and have the satisfaction of hear ing him say i m sorry but he s a concessionaire and our contract does t let us do that but Don t worry i la write Munich and let them know about this Don t you just love the feeling of satisfaction that answer is guaranteed to give you third the number of video movies available will go Down. On second thought i doubt that. Mar will probably reopen that Concession somewhere else. Bottom line cafes does t like to see profits going somewhere other than cafes but instead of using better management and offering better service they Are using Strong Arm techniques to be come a monopoly. Now 1 realize your next Pat answer will be How cafes returned $52 million or was it $57 million to the services last year for mar. Whoopee air Force Only got about 27 percent of that amount and How much is really seen at base level not much. In Safe it comes out to about $1.25 per military assigned per month and that Money is fenced for capital expenditures Only. I Don t think cafes can match one Safe base whose club returned Over $400,000 to the Central base funds in one year or another that has Over $10 million in sales every year. Let me assure you customers Are not going to mar to spite cafes but be cause mar is providing what the Cus Tomer demands. Sound familiar if cafes is truly committed to that same goal then Don t take Over mar audio photo clubs. Learn from them. Find out their secrets ask your customers Why they go to audio photo clubs. Teach your managers the marketing and person Nel skills they need to run professional sound centers. Name and location withheld editor s note Brig. Gen. . Leedy commander he cafes Europe replies there Are about 700,000 different perceptions of cafes. That s about our number of customers in Europe. We try to project the Correct image of our organization by our actions and have done so in the areas these writers Are concerned about. While i m sure these individuals Are locked into their opinions on this whole subject i Welcome the Opportunity to address their misperception anyway. Even though army and air Force regu lations specify cafes As the primary retailer on military installations we re Spect the fact Community audio photo clubs and sport stores have been serving their customers Well for years. There s no intent on our part to Swallow up any mar retail operation. We assume management of such activities Only at the invitation of the commands we support. The former arc sport shops Are a Case in Point. The writer s perception of the result is skewed. Our sports merchandise buyers Are sur prised to learn their purchasing Power has been limited. They re now proud cafes employees and their highly professional skills have been recognized through pro motions and expansion of their purchasing options. They still buy exclusively for our sport stores and those items Are Only sold there. Sure some items come from our buyers in Dallas that s called an expanded mar Ket and Broadens the Stock assortment made available to our customers. Our buy ers still have a Strong voice in the Quanti ties and selection from stateside vendors. Our cafes sport store employees also take exception to the notion that they be Given up on personal service to their customers since coming to work for cafes. That pro style equipment about which they have a wealth of knowledge is still available just at lower prices. We also expanded our Stock assortment and renovated facilities to enhance the shopping experience. Cafes initiatives in audio video Are driven by our Mission of meeting customer requirements while generating earnings for contribution to morale welfare and recreation funds. With respect to pricing we Are Able to offer our customers the Best value in that cafes buys direct from the manufacturer eliminating the middleman. We buy for less because of our Large volume. A third Factor is professional capability International Money markets and Price trends to buy at the right time. As for warranty concerns i believe the cafes warranty program to be one of the Best. We re the warranty agent in Europe for All products we Purchase. Manufacturers give us the guarantee and we give it to our customers. That Guaran tee goes with our customers wherever they re assigned and is honoured at cafes outlets worldwide. The writer rolled a Gutter Ball on bowl ing alleys we Don t run them. We be assumed operation of snack bars in bowl ing alleys in army communities where Burger King restaurants Are in operation and the proceeds Are shared directly with those communities. What s the Bottom line our customers Are cafes shareholders and we manage cafes under guidance from their Mili tary Board of directors to provide our customers with merchandise and services and to fund morale welfare and recreation activities. We re also a consumer advocate Selling Only first Quality merchandise at the Best possible prices. We make sure Pur merchandise meets strict Quality test ing and purchases Are backed with our satisfaction guaranteed policy. Cafes and mar Are a cooperative team mutually intent on meeting the needs of soldiers airmen and their families in Europe. Competition in the Market place be it cafes mar or retail outlets on the Economy is healthy. The smart shopper ultimately determines who s providing the Best value in merchandise and service for the Dollar
