Certified Yapper

So we’re supposed to believe that once you hit a certain age, prices just start getting cheaper for you? Right after you’ve pulled the ladder up behind you? I don’t think so.

We need to cancel the Senior Citizen discount and put those funds somewhere they actually make a difference.

Money is used differently depending on who’s holding it

Money drives all economic activity, but its real impact depends on who’s receiving it. Giving $100 to someone sitting on $1,000,000 is basically spitting on them. Giving $100 to someone with $0 is a blessing. It’s simply proportionality. And funnily enough, if you’re at negative $1,000,000, that $100 still feels like spit in your face.

So why are we giving discounts to the people who statistically need them least?

According to Fidelity’s breakdown of average net worth by age, households 65 and older are doing significantly better than the rest of us on average. The numbers actually don’t support a senior discount, they undermine it.

Another question is, what is that money going to do? Is it going to be added to a savings account to accrue interest or is it going to be put back into the economy to be used again. I would argue younger people are adding money back into the economy more immediately by purchasing material goods over investments.

who even came up with this idea

The pitch to younger generations has always been: save for retirement your whole life. Fine. But then why are we penalizing the people still in that process while rewarding the ones who already made it?

If you’ve been saving your whole life like they told you to, why do you also need a discount? And more importantly, why should the rest of us subsidize it while we’re still trying to get on our feet?

There is no legal senior citizen discount act or law, it just arose during the Great Depression when seniors were actually disproportionately affected. Eventually leading to the creation of Social Security which I would argue is another reason to discontinue the senior citizen discount as they are already living a subsidized life.

We’re already paying for it

Here’s the part I was just thinking about. Say it costs $1,000 to make 10 units of a product, so each one sells for $100. If grandma and grandpa get theirs for $80, that $40 gap has to come from somewhere. Companies don’t eat losses on purpose, so they spread that cost across everyone else. The other 8 customers are quietly making up the difference. The senior discount isn’t some act of goodwill from the business, it’s a tax on their younger customers, who, again, are the ones who can least afford it.

There should be a Junior Citizen Discount instead

Young people don’t start earning their own money until around 14 at the earliest, and at that age every dollar is stretched thin. Saving even a few bucks is huge. A discount aimed at young people would have a way bigger real-world impact, because of that same proportionality idea. The less you have, the more $100 actually means.

What’s the point of a discount if not to provide relief? Who needs relief more, someone who owns a home or someone trying to save up for one?

A Junior Citizen Discount on everyday goods and services would give young people a real shot at building something and actually contributing back into the economy. That’s where the money does real work.

Listen, I’m not evil…

this is mostly tongue-in-cheek, however the conditions and logic that lead to the creation of social security and retailers giving senior discounts now exist for a younger vulnerable generation. I think this is actually worth a consideration, and maybe instead of dividing ourselves by age and class we can unify over the fact that everything is too expensive and its because of the billionaires in this world. Coincidentally, all those billionaires qualify for a senior discount…..

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