So, with my 50th birthday right around the corner, the dreaded AARP invite arrived in the mail the other day. My first impulse was to burn it and then curl into a fetal position muttering “I’m NOT old yet. I’m not OLD yet…”
Then I opened it and took a look. $16 for one-year membership. Free travel bag if I act now!!
So is it worth it? Will it make my golden years more tolerable? Any advantage besides restaurant discounts and such?
I get the AARP invites all the time now that I’m 56 but the discounts are pretty small (IMO) and none of the deals are all that compelling or any better than what I could get on my own just shopping around.
I joined for the discounts, but did not find it to be worth the price so I dropped it after a year.
I kind of get the general impression they are more of a front end engine for selling various kinds of insurance than being an actual service oriented organization.
Moderator Action
This is more of an opinion question than a factual question.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
The discounts at hotels are available without actually being a member. I have never been asked to show a card, which I don’t carry. Ask for the AARP discount and you will get it.
The hotel discounts are no better than the AAA discount, and most hotels will only apply one discount, so you can’t get the AARP and the AAA as well.
Membership is not worth it, in my experience.
I get the same impression about AAA.
AARP’s main claim to fame is legislative lobbying for the elderly - and they are damn good at it. When you can say you represent 50 million (or whatever) people, most of whom VOTE, people who run for office tend to listen.
That it the reason to join - add your voice to the lobbying done for old folks. And With Boomers now at the age, (damn, I hate thinking of my own mortality), their numbers should swell. We boomers have demanded everything from new grade schools to regional University campuses. Were the elephant going though the python - we get noticed, and we get what we want.
You might think that, but YOU DON’T KNOW AARP!
(I kind of hate those commercials.)
My husband signed up at 50- and it turned out that nearly all the discounts require you to be 55 (or 62 or 65) and few of them are restricted to AARP members ( you can get the same discount with proof of age). Seemed that he paid the membership fee just to get more junk mai.l
I’m anal retentive enough to keep track of what various memberships save me over the course of a year(s) in terms of motels, eye glasses, whatever. AARP usually comes in around $70-$90 a year; I don’t need their insurance or other bigger ticket items they offer. The AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) usually does better by a fair bit and AAA less unless I have a flat or something like that and need road service.
I joined because they’re a very powerful lobby with politics I generally agree with. The discounts are about comparable to AAA’s.
I used to think that, until I was asked to produce the card at two different hotels. I did end up getting the discount in both cases, but it was because the hotel clerks took pity on me after making me squirm a bit. (I am a member, but I avoid carrying rarely-used cards and usually forget to grab the card before leaving on a trip.)
However, I have never been asked to show a card after making reservations online and checking the “AARP Discount” box on the web form. Those two exceptions involved times that I walked into hotels without a reservation.
I don’t avail myself of any AARP services beyond the discounts, but it’s worth it just on that basis. What amazes me is that I have over-55 friends who proudly report throwing away AARP mail solicitations because they “aren’t old.” So it’s worth paying an extra ten or fifteen bucks at a hotel just so you can continue telling yourself that you’re Not Old?
I refuse to join because they are an extremely powerful lobby and I don’t agree with their politics. They are not just a clearing house for discounts for old people, they are first and foremost a lobby.
In the old commercials, they’d actually say A.A.R.P., but in the ones I see now, they call it “arp”, as if it’s a word.
Possibly but with 2 adult kids and myself on a $ 230 a year plan with 3 cars it has been worth it’s weight in gold (for me) in tows, battery jumps and locksmith discounts.
Yeah, the discounts are pretty weak a lot of the time. But waving an AARP card when you are well under 60 gets a lot of senior discounts from places.
My most recent example: discount code for a car rental. The AARP code on their web site didn’t come anywhere close to getting the discount I got from a code at retailmenot.
AARP has their own AAA-type thing via Hartford. It’s a better deal, IMO.
We got really mad at them several years ago when they supported the MediCare reform stuff. Terrible law, in our opinion. AARP supported it since it meant $ for their Rx services. Never mind what was good for their members. Dropped them for a while but eventually signed up again to get some discounts.
Hey! You talkin bout me?
The first mailing I received from AARP pissed me off. How did they know how old I was? I’m 56 now and throw out everything coming from them over that initial irritation. Yes, I realize it’s not rational.
Love AAA though.
Sixteen bucks these days is pretty cheap for anything, and you get a magazine and a newsletter. Magazines that cost 5 times as much have no more content and packed full of ads.
If you want the travel discounts, just subscribe once, and keep the card forever – motels never check it for current validity, Ive been traveling for a decade on the temporary card that comes with the offer, to use until your membership kit arrives.
Free membership years are easy to come by – keep your eye out for Walgreen’s promotions; their freebie health screening tests events usually include that.