That senior discount labels you

As my brown hair started turning gray, clerks at fast-food restaurants sometimes would offer me a soda or coffee with a senior discount, even though I hadn't requested it. One day at McDonald's I asked the young woman behind the counter what age was considered a senior, and she said 60. I was 56 at the time, and I said I'm not quite there yet.

"No problem," she responded with a smile. "My manager said if anyone looks close to 60, give them the discount without asking."

This enhanced "customer service" was supposed to make me feel better. Somehow the clerk didn't catch onto the fact that a man of 56 doesn't want to be viewed as 60. I don't care if you're getting a cup of coffee for 49 cents.

But as I close in on 60, I'm finding that senior discounts aren't all that bad. The problem is, businesses are all over the lot on what age qualifies for a discount. . . 50, 55, 60, 65? The discounts are often substantial, even though I don't see a reason from someone who is 60 getting a break on the cost of breakfast over someone who is 30. I understand that many seniors are on fixed incomes, but many are not.

I suppose businesses have senior discounts for marketing reasons, and now that they've created the concept, they must offer them to compete for the business of seniors. But with so many aging baby boomers, I'm wondering what the fate of senior discounts will be. But could you imagine the whining from baby boomers (my generation) if senior discounts were dropped?

But one writer suggests that senior discounts may be cut back substantially when the economy rebounds. In this piece in the New York Times, Daniel Hamermesh says senior discounts are "anachronisms from times when seniors were scarce and generally poorer than the average American." They should go away, he said.
"After all, why should the average consumer subsidize members of this privileged group (including me)?"

I don't know about Mr. Hamermesh, but I'm going to stand in line to get my senior discounts. I'm not defending them, but as long as they are handing them out, I want my share.