Thursday, October 1, 2026
I am a new old man. Although I’ve been working in the aging and end of life field for going on 10 years, I turned 65 this year. The silver lining is that I’m eligible for all senior discounts on offer, not just the ones for 50 or 55 and over.
One sign of reaching a certain age may well be an inordinate appreciation of a 10 percent discount. I remember wondering why my parents got so excited about saving a few cents a gallon on gas or a few cents a pound on chicken or hamburger. Now, I’m the one feeling clever about being a savvy shopper and getting one over on the Man, or at least the grocery store.
An unfortunate counterpart to the discounts that save seniors money is the way the value of elders is discounted by our culture and often by seniors ourselves. In a competitive society that assigns a dollar value to everything and everyone, an elder who is no longer earning a paycheck by performing tasks for money is often regarded as superfluous, or even a drain.
In our relatively young, money obsessed country, we often hear mention of not being able to afford government spending on “entitlements” to support our citizens as they age, as if they’re cogs with worn out teeth that need to be discarded to keep the machine running at maximum efficiency. As Oscar Wilde once said, "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Setting aside the fact that there always seems to be enough money for the military industrial complex, bailouts for reckless bankers, subsidies for oil companies and billionaires etc., seeing elders as an unworthy investment is shortsighted in the extreme. If we want to keep our young people interested and incentivized to participate fully as productive members of society, we need to show them that their decades of labor won’t leave them sick, unhoused and hungry in the end.
As if systemic ageism weren’t bad enough, we often discount our own worth as a result of our social conditioning. If we were lucky, we had years of getting paychecks which, although they may not have been as much as we would have liked, gave us tangible evidence of our monetary value in the marketplace. When our role as earners ends, we are hit with a double whammy of having no set tasks to perform — no purpose for which to get out of bed, and no compensation in acknowledgment of the value of our service. It can feel like we’ve been set adrift with no direction or purpose.
I hope that is not your experience, but it is, sadly, the experience of many good people who worked hard to meet the expectations of society and obligations to their families without developing other interests or roles. Days empty of purpose are long.
Janis Clark Johnston, Ed.D. is the author of a book, "Transforming Retirement: Rewire and Grow Your Legacy." She favors the word “rewire” when it comes to adapting to our new roles in retirement. In her book, she says,”Psychologically, rewiring means weaving new skillsets into everyday life. Rewiring is a personality self-reorganization to provide a greater sense of purpose and meaning. Rewiring is viewed here as a psychological reboot that applies to both work and non-work possibilities.”
She goes on to say, “By 55+ years, most of us require a bit of psychological rewiring. Our thoughts about aging and retirement are crucial in seeing beyond surface issues.”
Elsewhere she writes,”Our culture suffers from a fixed mindset about age and wrinkled bodies."
Every age has wrinkles on the inside! The human brain is quite wrinkled; folds inside the brain exist to enlarge the surface area of the cortex to increase brainpower within a small space. Looking at a human brain, you see about one-third of its surface; two-thirds is enfolded in “wrinkles.”
If you’re interested in exploring a new “wrinkle” in the art of aging, you can join Dr. Johnston and myself Thursday, Sept. 10 at the Olympia library at 1 p.m. for the regularly scheduled free monthly Elderhood Roundtable.
Also in the coming week, the salmon are returning! Join other elders for Twosdays@Tumwater Falls on Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. at Brewery Park at Tumwater Falls. Take the air, shoot the breeze and make new friends!
For a complete schedule of Elderhood Senior Alliance events, click here. You can always search local events in the week ahead here or add your own event.
In closing, if you know of a particularly good senior discount deal at a local restaurant or merchant, feel free to share it in the comments below. Everyone loves a good deal!
Glenn Harper provides support in aging and end of life. He is Chair of the Lewis-Mason-Thurston Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council and board member of the Senior Action Network. He facilitates several free Death Cafe and Elderhood Roundtable gatherings in the area where Elders are invited to talk about difficult topics in a nonjudgmental space. Learn more about these events here.
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Tanker1982
Thank you Gary. Good article. Although retired, retired, financially stable ( thank God) I still work part time at a grocery store bagging groceries, cleaning, and pushing carts . Socially and physically a very rewarding job. I would encourage others to remain socially engaged, and physically active
Friday, September 4 Report this
sunshine39
Glenn, Thank you
Friday, September 4 Report this
Snevets
Thank you.
Saturday, September 5 Report this
joycetogden
Glenn-- Some of us had more to adjust to than just retiring locally. I officially retired from the State of New York in July. A few days later I was on a plane in BaltimoreWI airport with 2 cats, then a few hours later I was in Seatac airport. Wandering around downtown Olympia I spotted a sign "Senior Center." I took a nature field trip to check out local plants etc.; when someone asked me if I recognized anything all I could reply was "Weeds!"
Saturday, September 5 Report this
CPWINOLY
Good article, but personally,I find most "senior discounts" ridiculous. Most people my age or older that I know have assets many times greater than the young people who work in the service economy. It's the 20 something workers who deserve a discount. The $1 discount I get at a movie theater, or 10% off at a grocery store has zero affect on my quality of life. That's because I'm old and could afford to buy a home 25 years ago. Most young people, on an equivalent salary that I made in my 30s can't come close to affording a house in this area. I understand that there are some seniors barely surviving on social security, but most of us boomers are doing quite well.
Saturday, September 5 Report this
Chappellg
I do agree with CPWINOLY. I am worth a. Lot more as a senior than I was as a “junior.” It would be much more useful & appropriate for the youth who can barely survive on their minimum wage jobs to get discounts one day a week or in certain businesses like theaters. Im thinking of the 7% senior discount at the market that I get—give that to the under 30
Or even 35
Tuesday, September 8 Report this
SouthSoundActDir73
Janis Johnston is also teaching a Senior Academy class this fall at the Olympia Senior Center called "Out of the Box Creative Thinking". Check out the course description at https://www.southsoundseniors.org/courses
Friday, September 11 Report this