When I was in my 30s all of these senior citizen discounts were being advertised right and left. By the time I reached 55, the boomers had overwhelmed the SCD ( new acronym) gambit and they went away. I have not had a SCD in years.

Home Depot and Lowes will give me a military veterans discount, but that is it.

I wondered what happened to them I turn 60 this month and I never in my life had anyone offer me one or I'm to young some you have to be 65 and not there yet.

Back in the 1978, President Carter deregulated the airlines. And then here comes People's Express and the price wars for selling seats was on. The airlines were struggling and fighting it out for customers. I cannot remember for sure, but I think it was American Airlines that started the frequent flier miles loyalty program. About 2 days after American fired that shot across the bow, the other airlines joined in and started offering their own frequent flier miles programs.

The FF miles programs turned into the dog that caught its tail and ate itself up. It was not too many years before the airlines started putting on restrictions for something they were sorry they had to deal with in the first place. I have not flown for years and there are still FF miles programs out there but I think it is more as a reward used by some credit card companies. Any frequent fliers can correct me.

A lot of places give discounts for 55 and over. I feel old!

https://www.theseniorlist.com/senior-discounts/#most-popular

When we first bought the business pool was $2 an hour for one to four people. Inevitably a few old guys shooting pool would ask my mother if we gave a senior citizen discount.

She'd counter with hell I'm a senior citizen and the landlord doesn't give me a senior citizen discount.

I haven't been asked that forever.

I did a couple years back have a man ask if I gave a military discount. I asked if he was active, he was and showed me his military ID. I charged him half price.

LTG : )

With my work travel, my favorites are earning hotel points. Those are nice for free nights at pinball shows.

All the airlines still have FF miles, and I use them occasionally, such as booking a free flight to New Orleans Jazz Fest. That is one thing I plan far in advance, so I can use the miles.

The rental car company program does not do much, but some years I get upgraded to elite status which gives me premium cars for the standard price.

You know you’re old when you take you wife out to dinner and the conversation always goes something like this:

Me: I’m looking forward to the weekend so I can work on <pinball project>

Her: That reminds me, you need to fix the toilet. Or let me call a plumber.

Me: Nah, I’ll fix it.

Then we sit in silence for the rest of the meal. Lol.

Mind you, we have 5 bathrooms in the house.

You know you’re old when …

… you get offered the senior discount without asking.

Every Golden Coral that I have ate at in the last 10 years has automatically gave me that discount. (I am not quite 55 yet, so this has been going on since my mid 40's).

I went gray early.

I’m barely 62 and not grey at all.

My family greys in the late 20's. At least when I shave my head I still look a lot younger though.

When I grab some beer at Walmart, they just laugh when I offer my ID.

I am at a live sporting event, and I am BORED out of my mind. I would have literally rather thrown the money in the trash and sat at home.

IMG_20220410_212015175 (resized).jpg

Pisses me off the places which demand ID when you're obviously of age, especially when the cashier could be your grandchild. I went to a beer distributor once who demanded your license, and copied information off of it. Saw a previous customer having to do this, and so I promptly put down my selection and walked out.

There were likely writing down the Zip Code, trying to find out the area of their customer base. You were right in not participating in their ID gathering. They could have asked for your info, but you should be able to decline this.

You are correct. It is just marketing and ID gathering, trying to figure out where the customers are coming in from.

Around here we have grocery stores branded Kroger/Dillions. Several years ago, Kroger started it loyalty program where you apply for a keychain card to swipe at purchase time. Kroger give some decent discounts and the card is worth using.

And then some auto parts stores and some drug stores climbed aboard with their own loyalty cards. O'Reilly's Auto Parts gave me a loyalty card to use that will give you a discount after around $500.00 worth of purchases. After handing that card over many many times I asked when I would be getting any discounts. "When you purchase a total of $500.00 worth of product." What kind of discount do I get? $5.00.

All the other loyalty programs are the same. Minuscule discounts. Except for Kroger, I tossed all of those loyalty cards. Harbor Freight does it this way: Phone number, please.

I quit playing their game. Now I say "cash sale". They dutifully shut up and take my money.

I see all the suckers giving there email address at the cash til here in the UK, my turn erm NO!

It’s like when the bank or credit card company call you and start asking for your details which used to happen a few years back, I always said “no you called me why would I give you my personal details” and they would shut up and say yes that’s true lol

Radio Shack used to do this too.
I'd always reply "cash sale", and I'd sometimes get grief from the cashier. I once got into a pretty heated argument with the guy, and I don't think I ever went back to a Radio Shack after that.

Man, Radio Shack was the worst, also I think the first to do it! I too just said CASH, I'm not interested in your cheap crap alkaline batteries.

I must really be getting old, I think I have been posting in a topic for weeks now, and when I tried to find it this morning, it's gone. It's not in the Basement and I looked to make sure I did not drain it.
Was I even posting in it at all, or was it just in my head.

3131038217c93283ef1ae702bf2faff0 (resized).jpg

I like those people, when asked for their phone number, blurt it out with 5 other people in line. And they don't think anything about it.

When they ask for my email, I ask "why?". Some are justified with their ask but I tell them I don't want any spam or them selling my email to some other rube outfit.

I feel confident that Amazon treats my personal info with respect, but I have bought online from other shops and within 2-3 days the spam starts coming in.

I will say, "I do not have Email". They sometimes look at me funny, then they realize I am old.

My 81-year-old dad said this to someone running a 55+ community, and they looked at him like he had 3 heads. He was a database developer for most of his career, definitely not a technophobe. He just wants to do something better with his retirement than deal with email.

Ehh, I still remember being that naive kid just trying to do what I've been told to do, so I don't give them a hard time.

Do you remember when you were younger and you could tell an old person signed the check just by looking at their hand writing?

My signature has always been a little sloppy ( a trait I honed when employed in a supervisory roll where I was always having to sign my name to something ) but now when I sit down and write something, my writing has that "old people" look to it.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

It's just your striking youthful appearance.

E

You know you are old when …

… someone asks you “What’s a check?”

Now really!
Strangely though, when I turned 18 (the legal age at the time), I was very young looking for my age, but I was NEVER asked for I.D.! I guess it was just a different time.

Yes...I remember the road trips into New Jersey to get beer.

The drinking age was moved up to 19 and then 21. but I was grandfathered. Good times.

I look young for my age, even as I approach 70. I used to get carded in the liquor stores until I was in my late 30s. I enjoyed it.

My experience was similar, but in my case, the age requirements changed after I had just turned the now-required age. It felt like they were changing it just to accommodate me personally.

Have you guys seen or tried the latest "old man challenge"?

The test is to stand on one foot, barefooted, not leaning on anything, with your socks and shoes, laces untied, on the ground next to you, and proceeding to pick them up and put them on and tie them, without steadying yourself against anything or putting both feet on the ground before you are finished.

I pulled it off first try, with my daughter as witness, so I guess I'm not old despite being 61! I plan to check whether I can still pass the test on future birthdays, if not more often.

Good thing I'm not old, I have so much to do!

I'm 61 and our Sheetz require everyone to show ID to buy beer. So once a month or so I bring my passport as ID. More secure than a PA driver's license. But they can't scan it so their world comes to a stop. The manager has to clear it. My way to protest being carded with a gray beard.

I just visited a casino and they ran my license through some creepy reader at the entrance because security. I have to remember the passport trick!

I cam still put my trousers on while standing up, but no way would I try your tying your shoes trick.

Heck, I sit down to do both!

I'd try it, but I'd likely fall down and break my hip!

tomdrum I used to go to the gas station and buy my sister her cigarettes and get carded with my gray hair. Their response was we card everybody here. I still say you can buy booze easier that a pack of smokes!

I could never do that challenge as I am at the point that it will not be to long until I need a cane. I wobble sometimes when I get up and I haven't drank anything.

When I was 10 YO in 1963, a 10 YO kid could walk in to a small independent grocery store down the street and buy a pack of smokes. I did not start smoking unit I was 14, but the 11 YO across the street smoked a little and talked how he could buy them at that store. When I started smoking at 14 cigarette machines were everywhere. 25 cents a pack for cancer sticks. The first warning labels were put on in 1966.

Yup. My older brother used to occasionally send me down to the store to pick up a pack of Kools for him. I was like 9 or 10 years old at the time. Never got hassled.

Same with my sister...dumarier smokes at the drug store lol..I got to keep the change.

The thing I like to watch on the internet sometimes because it brings back the memories and my relatives that are not here anymore are the cigarette commercials. I had a great aunt who didn't smoke but she chewed and as a kid you never ran around in her yard barefooted! Also don't ever kick that coffee can over!

Women using chewing tobacco is a rarity. Actually, I only recall hearing of a woman chewing one time in my life.

In my young carefree days, Beechnut, Redman, and Mail Pouch were quite tasty. And no, I did not play baseball

My grandmother when she was alive was the only one of all her brothers and sisters that did not use tobacco, All my great aunts and great uncles either chewed or smoked. They were poor growing up and living in Kentucky. For you old-timers here my grandmother also helped in the tobacco fields and anybody that has done that knows it's backbreaking work.

See lived to 96 but George Burns smoked a cigar everyday and lived to 100. Who would have figured?

Great series Mad Men! Watched every episode.

Yeah, and Castro smoked about a billion cigars, and he lived too long!

"Tony Winner Robert Morse, Who Played Mad Men's Bert Cooper, Dead at 90"

https://tvline.com/2022/04/21/robert-morse-dead-mad-men-bert-cooper-dies-tony-winner-obituary/

Castro quit cigars later in his life. Actually, he quit in 1985.

https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1994/05/12/in-85-castro-gave-up-cuban-staple-cigars/

Speaking of old, a famous actor named Nehemiah Persoff, just recently passed away at age 102.
He appeared in many TV shows in the '60s and '70s.
Now with his passing, the oldest living actor/actress that I could find is Larry Storch. He played Corporal Randolph Agarn on the TV show "F Troop".
He's 99. I don't think there's any living actor at, or over 100 years of age at this point.
June Lockhart is way up there too.