It seems like everyone offers a senior discount these days. Some stores give a break to folks who are 50 and older, and some require 60 or 65.

Retailers say the trend began about 50 years ago and has become popular with senior citizens. Now everyone wants some type of discount.

I learned about this years ago – when I wasn’t really looking for discounts. I just wanted material for my fishing rod covers. So I told the clerk, “I just need a yard of flannel. The color isn’t too important. How much is this red piece?”

“That’s on sale for $2.85 a yard,” she said. “It’s nice and soft, isn’t it?”

“I want it for fishing rod covers,” I said quickly – just in case she was thinking I needed more underwear. Everybody knows you can’t make a pair of long underwear with a yard of fabric, anyway. (Unless you leave off the flap.)

“That sounds good to me,” I said. “This looks like a little more than a yard. I’ll just take the whole piece.”

The clerk measured the material and determined it to be a yard and a third. “That will be $3.80,” she said. “If you are 55 or over, you get another 10 percent off.”

Surely she knows I’m over 55, I thought. I’m the same way with women – I can’t tell a 30-year-old from a 50-year old, anymore.
Finally, I decided, “What the heck! Just give me the discount.”
I want you to know I don’t go around looking for senior discounts. And I avoid “early bird specials” like the plague. Not that I’m defensive about my age. I just figure there are older people than me. Why should I get all of the breaks?

I don’t know how we got into this fix. Somebody must have thought older folks needed rewards, and started giving senior discounts to everyone over 65. Then, someone recognized this as a marketing ploy. So, they dropped the age to 60, then 55.

Before long, we’ll be getting discounts for just showing up.
I’m not complaining, of course. It’s just that being a senior citizen isn’t what it used to be. Used to be you had to be “old” to be a senior. Now anyone who orders green Jell-O is offered the discount.
Now we have stores with discounts on Tuesdays or Mondays, and a few that feature a storewide game of bingo. If we don’t like to shop, we could always play bingo.

I don’t really mind a few specials, and I do want my rod covers when the weather warms up. My rods are not fancy, but nobody knows if the fish will start biting.

Readers with questions or comments for Roger Pond may write to him in care of this publication.