Aren't senior discounts an ageist business practice?

Factual Questions
41

Another minor hijack: Has anybody ever seen or heard of anything called a “widows’ discount”? Everywhere my godmother goes, she asks for one, and it is really embarrassing. She seems to believe firmly that there is a discount for widows because “people should take care of the widows.” (She has a nice pension and a lakefront home she could probably sell for about a million dollars, and the first time I heard her ask for it, she wanted a discount on getting her boat out of storage.) But the way she talks about it, it seems as though she’s heard about it from somewhere.

She even asks for it in restaurants.

42

Wow, no. I’ve never heard of that. I worked in a restaurant and if anyone had ever asked me for a “widows’ discount” I would have said, “No ma’am, I’m sorry we don’t have that.” then disappeared around a corner in the back and laughed my ass off while telling my co-workers.

43

She is very very very Irish and I think, though she misses her husband very much, she kind of enjoys being the “Widow O’Toole.” It’s part of her persona, being the helpless widderlady. But I don’t think she made it up – she heard it somewhere and wants to promulgate it.

44

Well, a “widow’s discount” and a “senior’s discount” sound about equally ridiculous to me. Maybe you can explain what is the substantial difference?

45

I started the OP so I think my feelings on the senior’s discount are clear, and the restaurant I worked in did not have a senior’s discount either. I just wouldn’t find it as hilarious since it’s a fairly established practice (like it or not, which I don’t), while never in my life have I heard of a “widow’s discount”.

46

Uh, common sense? Most people do some amount of saving. And even someone who’s 80 had, what, 45 years to save and invest, and fifteen to twenty years to burn through it?

Anyway, I was really looking for statistics, as in verifiable numbers. I understand the reasons why someone old might potentially be in a lower financial bracket; I’m curious as to whether there are any numbers that confirm that the majority of senior citizens are.

47

Look at it like this, first of all you CAN discriminate for any reason that ISN’T illegal.

I can say “I’m not hiring you because you wore pointy toed shoes.” If you are consistant with this policy (meaning you apply it to all applicants wearing pointy toed shoes) and it’s not illegal in your area to discriminate against pointy toed shoes, you CAN discriminate against that.

Second of all it’s LEGAL to apply a discount to a price for people who belong to a membership group.

For instance, I pay for the AAA Club. My membership in the club gets me 10% off. I belong to AARP, I belong to the military, I am a travel agent, I am employee, I am paying cash, the number of repeat times a person’s likely to return and shop again, the time of day a person shops, etc etc…

These are groups of people, who have to meet a qualification BUT can get get a DISCOUNT off the selling price.

Laws (in most places) and Visa itself, say you can’t charge an EXTRA fee for using a Visa Card (Yes I know some places do but they aren’t supposed to).

So you CAN’T say I am charging $5.00 for this item and $5.50 if you are using a Visa card.

But you CAN say I am charging $5.00 OR $4.50 if you pay cash. You see the difference.

The reasoning is when a store sets prices they factor in things like shrinkage (stealing), credit card fees, payroll, insurance for employees etc, when they set prices. Since a person is paying for the fee, if they are using cash they should get it for less. (In case you’re wondering government agencies like the IRS do charge extra for Visa 'cause they exempt themselves specifically by law)

Same thing for seniors. They are part of a “Club” so to speak. This club (seniors) isn’t discriminitory 'cause it’s open to ANYONE over 55 (or 60 or whatever). When a discount is offered for seniors they are not saying, "The price for eveyone (including seniors) is $5.00 but young people pay $5.50. They are saying the price for everyone (including seniors) is $5.00 but if you’re a member of this senior club you pay $4.50.

This factoring of everything into a price is the reasoning behind “Ladies Night,” “Lunch specials,” “Before 5pm dinner specials,” “price changes at movies depending on time of day.”

What a lot of people don’t realize is businesses will offer a discount simply if you complain. Every hotel I worked in that had a senior discount our policy was give it to anyone who asks regardless.

On a similar note, I worked in Florida in a hotel on it’s own island off the beaten trail. We had no liquor license, BUT we wanted to give our guest evening cocktails. Well we couldn’t sell it nor could we put the price in as part of the room, so we just gave it away. What this meant is that ANYONE who walked in off the street could get free drinks. But of course we never told anyone that. (and yes the liquor commission asked and we had to breakdown the price scheme of the room price to prove the cost of liquor wasn’t in the room charge)