Becoming Senior
07/05/13 07:24
I stopped by the Forest Service office yesterday to pick up new stickers for our cars. We purchase annual passes to the popular day use sites in the black hills. Because I go to the lake frequently, the passes are a good buy for us. The clerk asked me if I qualified for any discounts. I asked her what discounts were available, thinking of times when I have checked into motel when membership in AAA grants a discount. The only discount that she offered was a senior citizen’s discount, which makes sense. The reason she used the plural when asking the question is that the Federal Government issues two slightly different discount cards for National Parks, Monuments and other federal properties: The Golden Eagle Passport and the Golden Age Passport. Both require the bearer to be 62 years old. Our family is eligible for the Golden Eagle program this year, because a single person who reaches 62 qualifies the entire family for the discounts. Had I thought things through in advance, we could have gotten our window stickers at a reduced price this year. Next year I won’t make that mistake.
Still, it feels strange getting to the age of “Senior Citizen” Discounts. There are a host of them and some start as young as 50 years old – the age you qualify for membership in the AARP. I read somewhere that baby boomers are not like their parents. The era of senior discounts was ushered in with the aging of the World War II generation. These “greatest generation” members were being rightly honored by businesses and institutions that offered a discount. They graciously accepted, and were not embarrassed by the designation, “senior citizen.” They were, for the most part, people who had survived the Great Depression. Many of them came into adulthood during that time of harsh economic times. They didn’t waste money. If a discount was offered, they took it.
Senior Citizens discounts were simply good business for restaurants and retail trade establishments. People who had denied themselves for years were in a position to afford to go out more often and to treat themselves with a purchase from a store. The discount made it seem to them like they were saving money and getting a good deal. Marketing professionals advised that the cost of discounts was easily made up in the increased patronage from that age cohort.
Baby boomers are different. They seem to be reluctant to accept the designation “senior citizen.” Many opt to forego the discounts because they are reluctant to come face-to-face with their aging. Others don’t pay as much attention to discounts and, having for the most part been able to purchase what they want when they want, are somewhat less thoughtful about their purchases than members of their parent’s generation. I suspect that there is another dynamic as well. Boomers are much less likely to join or belong to organizations than were their parents. Part of this dynamic is that whereas their parents were founders and beginners of organizations, boomers don’t feel at home in groups that were formed for their parents. I don’t know the statistics, but I have heard that AARP membership is down among baby boomers. AARP is having to change its marketing in order to appeal to the group. They even officially changed their name from “The American Association of Retired Persons” to simply “AARP.” I’m not sure what the name change accomplished, but I guess some marketing professional thought the letters somehow carried less of a stigma.
Choosing not to join AARP is not a financial decision. Membership is inexpensive. There are clearly enough discounts to offset the cost of membership. One who is very careful needs to watch those discounts, as AARP has a lot of “first time” or “first year” discounts. The “savings” one notices in decreased insurance premiums, for example, may not translate to lower costs for the life of the policy. But the choice isn’t about discounts in the first place.
Baby boomers are reluctant to join many organizations that were popular among their parents precisely because they see them as institutions of their parents. I suspect that a new competing organization would have more success than an established one simply because most baby boomers have plenty of experiences of joining an organization to find that leadership is not shred. Boomers are not big on tradition and “the way we’ve always done it.”
One change that I think is good is that people now retire at all different ages. The decision to retire is less influenced by Social Security eligibility than was once the case. Boomers pay more attention to Medicare eligibility. The cost of retiring early is deeply affected by health insurance premiums. The time to retire is influenced by wealth and savings, but it is also influenced by the kind of work one does. A large number of my age cohorts have undergone job transitions in their late fifties – from one kind of job to another. The model of keeping the same job for a lifetime and then retiring at the ceremony where you receive your 40-year pin is fading. I suspect that subsequent generations will experience multiple major changes of direction within the span of a lifetime simply because the rapid pace of technological advance will mean that some career paths don’t last a lifetime.
Times are changing. Sometimes that seems to be for the best. Sometimes I wax nostalgic for the way things used to be. Perhaps that is a sign that I am changing as well. As I approach another birthday that ends in zero I notice that my hair is white and few remember its original color. I wake with a few more aches and pains than I remember from former years. Time takes its toll.
Still, I don’t see myself as a senior citizen and from time to time I unwisely pass up a discount for which I am eligible. It makes no sense, but I need a few more years to plan my next career move.
Still, it feels strange getting to the age of “Senior Citizen” Discounts. There are a host of them and some start as young as 50 years old – the age you qualify for membership in the AARP. I read somewhere that baby boomers are not like their parents. The era of senior discounts was ushered in with the aging of the World War II generation. These “greatest generation” members were being rightly honored by businesses and institutions that offered a discount. They graciously accepted, and were not embarrassed by the designation, “senior citizen.” They were, for the most part, people who had survived the Great Depression. Many of them came into adulthood during that time of harsh economic times. They didn’t waste money. If a discount was offered, they took it.
Senior Citizens discounts were simply good business for restaurants and retail trade establishments. People who had denied themselves for years were in a position to afford to go out more often and to treat themselves with a purchase from a store. The discount made it seem to them like they were saving money and getting a good deal. Marketing professionals advised that the cost of discounts was easily made up in the increased patronage from that age cohort.
Baby boomers are different. They seem to be reluctant to accept the designation “senior citizen.” Many opt to forego the discounts because they are reluctant to come face-to-face with their aging. Others don’t pay as much attention to discounts and, having for the most part been able to purchase what they want when they want, are somewhat less thoughtful about their purchases than members of their parent’s generation. I suspect that there is another dynamic as well. Boomers are much less likely to join or belong to organizations than were their parents. Part of this dynamic is that whereas their parents were founders and beginners of organizations, boomers don’t feel at home in groups that were formed for their parents. I don’t know the statistics, but I have heard that AARP membership is down among baby boomers. AARP is having to change its marketing in order to appeal to the group. They even officially changed their name from “The American Association of Retired Persons” to simply “AARP.” I’m not sure what the name change accomplished, but I guess some marketing professional thought the letters somehow carried less of a stigma.
Choosing not to join AARP is not a financial decision. Membership is inexpensive. There are clearly enough discounts to offset the cost of membership. One who is very careful needs to watch those discounts, as AARP has a lot of “first time” or “first year” discounts. The “savings” one notices in decreased insurance premiums, for example, may not translate to lower costs for the life of the policy. But the choice isn’t about discounts in the first place.
Baby boomers are reluctant to join many organizations that were popular among their parents precisely because they see them as institutions of their parents. I suspect that a new competing organization would have more success than an established one simply because most baby boomers have plenty of experiences of joining an organization to find that leadership is not shred. Boomers are not big on tradition and “the way we’ve always done it.”
One change that I think is good is that people now retire at all different ages. The decision to retire is less influenced by Social Security eligibility than was once the case. Boomers pay more attention to Medicare eligibility. The cost of retiring early is deeply affected by health insurance premiums. The time to retire is influenced by wealth and savings, but it is also influenced by the kind of work one does. A large number of my age cohorts have undergone job transitions in their late fifties – from one kind of job to another. The model of keeping the same job for a lifetime and then retiring at the ceremony where you receive your 40-year pin is fading. I suspect that subsequent generations will experience multiple major changes of direction within the span of a lifetime simply because the rapid pace of technological advance will mean that some career paths don’t last a lifetime.
Times are changing. Sometimes that seems to be for the best. Sometimes I wax nostalgic for the way things used to be. Perhaps that is a sign that I am changing as well. As I approach another birthday that ends in zero I notice that my hair is white and few remember its original color. I wake with a few more aches and pains than I remember from former years. Time takes its toll.
Still, I don’t see myself as a senior citizen and from time to time I unwisely pass up a discount for which I am eligible. It makes no sense, but I need a few more years to plan my next career move.