AARP is an organization for older people (the name once stood for “American Association of Retired Persons”). I like the idea of such organizations. I’m 58.
AARP facilitates getting discounts on various things including travel and restaurants, which is fine. I have an AARP card and use it for this sometimes.
I’d like it also if the organization provided trustworthy information especially suited for retired and older people. However, here AARP is suspect. I think part of their reason for being is to provide a sales channel to people with retirement savings. I’m especially bothered by their close association with the Colonial Penn insurance company, whose commercials just kind of stink as if they are targeting vulnerable and unsophisticated oldsters. AARP and Colonial Penn were actually started by the same person, and some experts say AARP helps sell insurance and other products to its members when it’s not in the member’s best interests to buy it.
So… do we like AARP or not? Or do we like it in specific and limited ways?
My bias, I am an independent life and health insurance agent and retirement planner who specializes in working with people age 55 and up. Let’s get that out of the way upfront.
That being said, when it comes to the stuff you get as an AARP member. They are great. AARP helps people, that’s always good. When it comes to what they recommend…they sell out to the highest bidder. It isn’t much of a secret that AARP endorses whoever pays them the most money. They used to endorse Prudential, now they don’t. Why? Because The Hartford and New York Life won the bid a few years ago. Did Pru do anything wrong? Not really. Are The Hartford and New York Life particularly great? Not really. Same thing with United Health Care. It’s fine. It’s not usually the best deal for the people who have it, but it’s not horrible.
I actually think Colonial Penn *is * pretty terrible, but that’s rare and has more to do with what I think are deceptive marketing practices and aggressive fear based sales tactics than anything than anything inherent about their products.
At the end of the day AARP is a marketing organization for the companies they endorse. Don’t trust them any more than you would trust an ad on TV or in the paper and you won’t get hurt. Sometimes the stuff they endorse IS really good, but that can be said of just about anything.
I got an invitation from them on my 50th birthday. I know all that information is public but I felt like it was an invasion of my privacy.
I don’t like unsolicited mail any more than I like spam or telemarketers. If I want to do business with you I’ll contact you, otherwise get the fuck out of my face.
Up until recently I was getting at least one letter a week from them.
Finally I sent them a nasty letter telling them to remove me from their mailing list and were they so stupid as to think if I didn’t respond to their first 20+ letters the next one was going to change my mind?
If it was a person doing that to me it would be harassment.
They are obnoxious, rude, and pushy.
They can kiss my ass.
I did join back when I turned 50 and I’ve stayed in; partly for the discounts and somewhat for the publications. And mostly because there isn’t something like it out there that I really care for. Their politics can run from far Right to far Left with very little in-between and they do get a little confrontational for my taste but they got a strong influence in Washington and some individual states and it isn’t going to go away any time real soon.
I can understand that general feeling and even agree with it. Deciding to join or not is like picking one major political party over the other, choosing a small splinter movement, or just staying independent. It comes down to the individual.
But if you believe Wiki its got about 37 million members and is among the largest membership bases/organizations in the US – think about 4 million for the NRA and 400,000 for the UAW – 14.5 total members in all labor unions combined. Cut AARP in half and its power won’t fade very much; double it and it won’t grow very much. Its about a wash in terms of “power”. One thing I will say for it; it does vote/push what most would consider the best interest of its membership. And this in an organization where membership basically has no voice. That isn’t a bad reputation to have.
(For comparison - think roughly 55 million for Republicans and 72 million Democrats nationwide. AARP is that huge.)
I’ve looked at joining for their purported discounts on stuff but in comparison shopping their deals aren’t really all that great and a few minutes browsing will generally get you an equivalent or better deal. They exist as a customer delivery engine for advertisers and service providers to the over 50 set. That is their main reason for existence.
I was a member of AARP for several years, then realized that I’m not in a position to take advantage of the benefits, so I let my membership lapse. I still get incessant requests to reinstate my membership, probably twice a month.
In many hotels, asking “Can I have a discount?” will get you the same as both. It’s common for hotels to have a standard discount that they apply to more or less everything.
Their policy positions are outlined here. They cover such issues as redistricting, campaign finance, living wage, paid family leave, immigration, migrant workers, fiscal stimulus, capital gains taxation, gasoline taxes, eminent domain, disaster relief, zoning, subsidized housing, homelessness, the Uniform Securities Act, consumer fraud, net neutrality, telecommunications mergers, carbon pricing, and texting while driving.
If it’s a political advocacy group you are looking for, rather than a source of coupons and discounts, depending on your point of view there is the Alliance for Retired Americans.
I know nothing about them now beyond what can be read on that Wikipedia entry; I worked for them very briefly in the 1980s when they were still known as the National Council for Senior Citizens. At the time I was not particularly impressed (the culture was very AFL-CIO, too much of a you’ll-sleep-with-the-fishes-if-you-cross-me ambiance for me), but what happened in the 1980s is hardly relevant now.
Mmmmmm… Many are saying things that add to my doubtful impression, and nobody has said much to alleviate it.
Overall I’m settling into the belief that if I find it worthwhile carrying their card, and remember to use it to get discounts, great. But it would be foolish to think of them as some kind of institutional friend.
That, and I should remember to burn anything from Colonial Penn…
I also don’t like the AARP’s politics. Like many leftist organizations, they are dishonest with their members. People sign up thinking it’s a generally benign organization promoting what’s best for seniors. But in reality it’s a group that is left wing and basically an apologist for the SS ponzi scheme, among other things.
It reminds me of the ads you see on television for the HSUS which are all focused on poor, sick animals. The people donating probably don’t realize they are funding an anti-hunting group that doesn’t really care about puppies at all.