AARP....Thoughts?

[KathiCville]

Hi.....I turned 50 about a month ago and---right on schedule---AARP (American Association for Retired Persons) sent me a membership application.

I'm curious: Are there any or many over-50s here on TE who belong to AARP? If so, what do you get out of it?

If you don't belong, is the reason related to AARP itself---something you don't like about the organization? Or??

Dues aren't expensive: $12.50/annual. Just wondering if people find membership useful....irrelevant...something in between?

Thanks!

[KnottedYet]

You get a pretty decent magazine every month, discounts for hotels and such, and 3 or 4 credit card offers a week.

[Trek420]

Hey, you're not 50 ;) :p How do you know?

I'm not a member ..... yet. I think they are a pretty decent group. I'd probably research what they lobby for before joining and if I need their discounts.

[Crankin]

I refuse to join. Something about them creeps me out.
I'm never getting old....

[KathiCville]

Ha, ha, I love it! The first three responses run the gamut! Good point about checking out what they lobby for...or against! I wonder where they stand on cycling-related issues??:D;)

[divingbiker]

I like the magazine. It's worth the dues.

[mimitabby]

they are a strong lobbyist group and they do not have your best interests in mind. Look back to what happened with medicare. millions of seniors looked to them for guidance and got a bum steer. if you can take advantage of them for whatever they have to offer, go for it, but they're not there "for you" they're there to take a profit however they can get it.
and no i do not belong

[withm]

I joined it for a year - figured the price was ok. Thought the insurance benefits might be useful since I was unemployed at the time. They are so paltry that I never bothered with it. Discounts on motels and stuff would be useful but I so rarely stay in motels that the perk was meaningless to me. The magazine is ok, but if you read newspapers or read news online, I did not think there was ever an article that had a genuinely new idea or approach to the topic. I never renewed.

On the other hand, my neighbor is very active in a local AARP chapter and does a lot of volunteering with them. It has given her a outlet that she could not get anywhere else (poor thing - doesn't ride a bike). I have accompanied her to some of these events, but I always felt like the youngest person there.

Perhaps in another 10 years or so I'll be ready for the AARP, but for now they have nothing to offer me.

[shootingstar]

I refuse to join. Something about them creeps me out.
I'm never getting old....

:D You'll get over this one day.

In the U.S. do you have to belong to AARP to enjoy senior's pricing discounts?

In Canada, so far, we don't have an AARP. However there are some travel and hotel discounts if a person shows their birth certificate.

For a British Columbia Canadian resident (not sure about other Canadians), they can apply for and get a B.C. Ferries card which I believe gives them a nice discount during the week for any of the B.C. Ferries' rides..which is helpful if one has a vacation home, etc. on Vancouver Island, Gulf Islands and along the B.C. coast where ferries run. My partner is eagerly awaiting his card..he turns 65 in a few weeks.

to him...it just means more cycling avenues at a cheaper rate!

Since he has cycled alot several times all the way or part way across North American, he has taken advantage of the hotel/motel chain discounts and train fares. It has been to our advantage whenever I travel with him....the savings probably have been over $1,000CAN.over the past few years..at least so far.

With the burgeoning baby boomers set to retire big time...I hope those discounts still remain for us... and who cares what the ticket agent thinks about me when I show my birth certificate.

[OakLeaf]

In the U.S. do you have to belong to AARP to enjoy senior's pricing discounts?


No, AARP is a private organization and the discounts they negotiate with various companies are just like the discounts offered to members of any other private club (AAA, CAA, LAB, etc.).

Some companies have a negotiated AARP benefit, others just offer discounts to people over a certain age. Then some US states have benefit programs and organizations for residents over a certain age.

I'll be That Age in another year and a half, but I don't see that AARP really has anything to offer me. I may not be able to avoid getting old, but I sincerely hope I avoid the attitude that people owe me something just because I'm old.

[Trek420]

This may work as well as an AARP card.

[Crankin]

Shooting Star, I will not get "over it" anytime soon. I am heading toward 55 and I still find I have more in common with younger people. Except for my cycling friends, all of my other same age friends are fat, unfit, and fairly uninteresting. I mean, they are nice people I've known for many years, but we seem to have less and less in common as the years go by. They seem to think that being older means that these negative changes are inevitable. Both myself and my husband have our share of age related health issues and we do not let these things stop us from being active.
I don't want to be 20 again, or even 35, but you will never find me in an age segregated community. I view AARP in the same way. Maybe I'll feel differently when I'm 65 or 70, but I doubt it.

[emily_in_nc]

Well, I'm on the other side of the fence here. I'm not 50 yet, but my husband is, and we've been members of AARP since he turned 50 back in 2003. (If your spouse is a member, you're a member.) I enjoy their magazine even at my age, and they do lobby to help their demographic with health-care issues, Rx prices, nursing home reform, tax issues, and the like. I don't think I've ever used their discounts, except maybe once on a rental car; that's not what I'm there for. I just like the mags and think they do good work for the "mature" segment of the population.

Emily

[OakLeaf]

I figured someone else would mention the thousands of former AARP members who publicly tore up their membership cards and resigned their membership after the AARP strongly supported the Medicare prescription drug scam.

But since no one has, I'll throw it out there...

Here's an article (http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Health/Seduction_AARP_Medicare.html)about their positions on health care issues. I wasn't aware of most of the history that this story details - in fact it's pretty surprising to me. I don't really know what lobbying positions the AARP takes on other things, but this one alone is enough that I wouldn't consider membership unless there's a sea change in their philosophy.

[tulip]

Great hotel discounts, for one! Really alot off. My SO is a member, and we take advantage of their discounts. Other than that, though, I can't really comment.

I don't let a number get in the way of life, but I'll take the discount.

[smilingcat]

they are a strong lobbyist group and they do not have your best interests in mind. Look back to what happened with medicare. millions of seniors looked to them for guidance and got a bum steer. if you can take advantage of them for whatever they have to offer, go for it, but they're not there "for you" they're there to take a profit however they can get it.
and no i do not belong

totally agree. They are big business with big business interests. Your interest is only secondary. Medicare is a prime example. It's just business ya know. and they are just "mining" or "targeting" certain demographic.

sorry to have insulted any one who feels slighted by my comment. My partner refused their offer and they were relentless to get her to join.

And they've been priming me up for several years now.

Ain't takin' the bait.
Smilingcat

[JaneE]

they are a strong lobbyist group and they do not have your best interests in mind. Look back to what happened with medicare. millions of seniors looked to them for guidance and got a bum steer. if you can take advantage of them for whatever they have to offer, go for it, but they're not there "for you" they're there to take a profit however they can get it.
and no i do not belong

This is exactly why I chose to NOT renew my membership. In my opinion AARP helped give the drug companies a huge gift (at taxpayer's expense) with that Medicare abomination of a few years ago. That prescription drug coverage-thing is a crazy mixed-up mess. Medicare is *not allowed* to negotiate lower drug prices?? What was up with that?? That infuriated me at the time and it still does.

Just my $.02. Well, maybe that was $.03. :D

Jane