Military Living readers, please take a moment to enjoy this profile on Mr. Eric West and his company, Patriot Publishing USA. Mr. West has created multiple publications through which he helps veterans, active duty service members and their families save money and gain community support. If you enjoy the content we publish here on Military Living, we’re sure you’ll like what you can find through Patriot Publishing USA! Mr. West writes:
“In 2016, Publisher Eric West, wanted to do more for veterans and military family members in Northeast Florida. His daughter had just become a Navy wife, his mother is an Air Force brat and 2 of his uncles did 5 tours in Vietnam. He is very patriotic and loves his country. He knew helping veterans was not only the right thing to do but a must thing to do. He came up with the idea of a money saving, coupon magazine that he could mail to veterans and distribute through the local American Legions, VFW halls, Fleet Reserves, County Service offices, VA clinics and more in the area. So, in the early summer of 2016 the first issue of Military Deals USA was printed. In it were coupons, deals and special offers from local military friendly businesses. There was also a story contained in the center focused on an issue of importance to the local veteran community. Stories have focused on Veteran’s Treatment Court, the local USO, historical sites, suicide prevention and more. The magazine is a quarterly publication. Unfortunately, with the COVID-19 pandemic advertising dollars have dried up and have made getting a printed publication out again a challenge.
The website www.militarydealsusa.com, initially mirrored the magazine. It has since been re-worked and focused on helping local military friendly businesses in NE Florida reach the community. The site takes their military discount, turns it into a coupon and helps local veteran and military families save money and shop with truly military friendly businesses! It only serves veterans and military family members in NE Florida.
Why coupons you might ask? In 2018, Mr. West had a burning desire to help more veterans. Shaking hands and thanking veterans for their service was not enough. Producing and distributing a national magazine was too expensive and not as effective in today’s digital world. So how could he help more veterans? He knew more and more people were shopping online but how to tap into this. He came up with the idea to produce a coupon shopping site that he called MilSaver.com. Mil is from the military mirroring the email address for some in the community. Saver because that is exactly what you can do when you shop on the site. The site has over 500 stores and features over 20,000 coupons. Coupons are added daily to the site. The site is unique. It is open to the public, yes civilians can shop on the site. It’s free to use, unlike some other popular shopping sites. It donates 90% of their profits to support veterans and military families. It also has given the opportunity to small military charities to have a custom link on their sites to help generate donations to their organizations. The site also features a Military Discount page for special savings for military families.
The first cover of the Military Deals USA magazine//Image courtesy of Eric West
The site is dedicated to helping veterans. It does not support Amazon which does little to help veterans. When you shop on this site your information is private, it will not spam you and it will not follow you around the internet. If you like to save money and support veterans this is the site you should shop for office supplies, birthday presents, Christmas presents and more. With the COVID-19 pandemic making more and more people shop online now is a great time to try www.milsaver.com/. To date the site has donated 1000’s to help veterans and military families but they can only help when you shop on the site.
In addition to producing the websites and magazine Mr. West is also a member of 3 area Veterans Councils, assists with Vets4Vets of NE Florida, volunteers at veteran events and assists the Northeast Florida Women’s Veterans. He helps the women in their program prepare for job interviews by acting as an interviewer during their mock interviews.
Why does any of this matter? Veterans are not treated very well once they separate from the armed services. It has gotten better but it is still not particularly good. We train these men and women to fight, drive tanks and boats, shoot, blow stuff up and more. Once they get out of the service they are made to rely on charity, grants, handouts and money raising to fund the initiatives they are focused on. Most of these men and women do not possess this skill. Why do we do this to them?
A better way does exist! Veterans whether drafted or volunteer, protect our nation so that the American people can live in peace! They deserve our respect, our gratitude and every discount and deal they can get! You can change the way veterans are supported just by shopping online. In 2019 $586 billion worth of goods were purchased online. If a fraction of that moved to https://www.milsaver.com you could change the way ALL veterans charities and organizations are funded forever! So please help us change the world and shop https://www.milsaver.com today!”
This article is shared with you by Militaryliving.com, your premier source for temporary Military Lodging, Military Space-A Travel, Military RV Camping and Military Travel information.
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