Senior Discount?

[Tampa8]

Wow! Since I am one of those seniors who is obviously a little feeble minded, I was wondering where you came up with this brilliant research? Of course some of us like being talked down to. I just don't happen to be one. I did like the part about the military though. I retired with 34 years of service but you know, we weren't very technically advanced or I would have stayed longer! I just wanted to stand there with my flintlock and shoot people!!

The posters here are not representative of most of the subscribers by the fact they are here. I certainly in no way would mean it to be anything but what I see. And that is most homes with older people (Not those just turning 65, older) do have simple boxes, often not DVR's. They also have lesser packages and watch the same channels over and over again, often news and DIY type shows, and anything on CBS.( ) And I can tell you at least around me many do not have HD even if they now have an HD TV, which many do not. Obviously there are exceptions. Like everything that will change as more people growing up use technology more. Remember, even well after TV's were in households by far most homes with older people did not have one. Then when Color was introduced very few older people had it even when that was well established. And to this day many older people do not have (or want) HD.
My inlaws have DISH because of me, they just got HD last year but do not want an DVR. The only reason they got HD was because so many channels had the picture cut off.

 

[TheKrell]

And to this day many older people do not have (or want) HD.

Yup; we're technically astute around here. But I would like to report on the inexplicable intransigence of my oldest friends in town. We are all in our 60's, and they absolutely positively refuse to buy an HDTV until one of their 3 Sony CRT SDTVs breaks, which of course hasn't happened. For years! And they are wealthy DINKs. Just unbelievable.

 

[Tampa8]

Excellent point. Many who I know can afford it, just won't spend the money on an HD TV because the one they have "works perfectly"

 

[boba]

In other news..amazon has a special on floppy disks

What size I think mine is a 5in.?

I find it interesting the age of so many frequent posters.

 

[boba]

In other news..amazon has a special on floppy disks

What size I think mine is a 5in.?

I find it interesting the age of so many frequent posters.

 

[Juan]

What size I think mine is a 5in.?

I find it interesting the age of so many frequent posters.

nope

but they have
Amazon product ASIN B000HLZXH2
and

Amazon product ASIN B00008OTDV

 

[rvvaquero]

I would not be a supporter of discounts for any particular group. As a group, seniors are probably as capable of paying full price as most other groups. Many young families are struggling in lower paying jobs than what we boomers had available to us. Military veterans as a group cover all ranges of the economic scale. In today's economic climate, first responders are probably as financially well off as most any working group. For the record, I'm a senior and a veteran and a retired first responder of over 36 years.

If Dish does decide to offer senior discounts, I would hope it's participation would not be based on membership in some political organization like AARP. JMO

 

[navychop]

I find it so hard to watch anything on the 27" or 36" SD CRTs that I am just going to have to bite the bullet and get somebody to cart them off and crack open the wallet.

BTW, I am ASTONISHED at work at how many 20 somethings we hire have NO keyboarding skills, and sometimes are absolutely computer phobic!

 

[navychop]

I would not be a supporter of discounts for any particular group. As a group, seniors are probably as capable of paying full price as most other groups. Many young families are struggling in lower paying jobs than what we boomers had available to us. Military veterans as a group cover all ranges of the economic scale. In today's economic climate, first responders are probably as financially well off as most any working group. For the record, I'm a senior and a veteran and a retired first responder of over 36 years.

If Dish does decide to offer senior discounts, I would hope it's participation would not be based on membership in some political organization like AARP. JMO

I'll gladly take the senior discount, the military discount, the frequent shopper discount and the high credit worthiness discount, and walk out of the store with my stuf, them having paid e to cart it off!

 

[ChadT41]

Just to make my point clear, Tampa kind of nailed it. The users on this board, from all different backgrounds, ages, desires and user style, are not that of the average consumer. As mentioned, there is a large population of older customers that have a setup that currently works for them, and are satisfied with the bill they have currently and do not want thinks like HBO or Cinemax. The average older customer does pay significantly less, which makes sense as a lot of the channels and shows cater towards the mindlessness of the younger crowd(MTV real world, and "Survivor" for instance), but as pointed out, there are exceptions. Military and first responders have a propensity to buy the top package and use that as part of their social lives, or invite the whole cried over to watch a game or fight or something of the nature. As pointed out there as well, however, they do stretch all over the entire economic scale so we are just talking about the ones that would sub to a pay TV service. I am not saying any company should have to offer the discount, my point was to cover what would be more financially feasible, and which would show a greater return on investment.

 

[rvvaquero]

The users on this board, from all different backgrounds, ages, desires and user style, are not that of the average consumer. As mentioned, there is a large population of older customers that have a setup that currently works for them, and are satisfied with the bill they have currently and do not want thinks like HBO or Cinemax. The average older customer does pay significantly less, which makes sense as a lot of the channels and shows cater towards the mindlessness of the younger crowd(MTV real world, and "Survivor" for instance), but as pointed out, there are exceptions. Military and first responders have a propensity to buy the top package and use that as part of their social lives, or invite the whole cried over to watch a game or fight or something of the nature.

Do you have a link to a source for all this statistical information you are spouting? Or, is this just your opinion based on your own personal experience?

 

[dishrich]

The will not discount HBO.

Don't know where you're getting your info from, but a bunch of us on here (myself included) just this month got HBO 1/2 off f/6 months; for myself, I had just come OFF the same, exact HBO promo in March, & also (redid) my BB@home 1/2 price f/6 months promo...
On top of this, they actually (also) offered me ALL the other premiums f/the same promo, but I passed on that, since don't have time to watch everything I have now.

http://www.satelliteguys.us/xen/threads/hbo-50-off-for-6-months.349388/

 

[ChadT41]

Do you have a link to a source for all this statistical information you are spouting? Or, is this just your opinion based on your own personal experience?

We will call it experience, both from Dish, and from spending time with older folks either in my personal life, school, etc. same goes for military and first responders.

 

[rvvaquero]

We will call it experience, both from Dish, and from spending time with older folks either in my personal life, school, etc. same goes for military and first responders.

Fair enough. I thought maybe you had a source for making a lot of very general statements which may or may not be true. Perhaps, they are just representative of the type of folks you interact with.

I spend every day of my life hanging out with, socializing, and living around seniors. I agree that those in the over 80 group are a bit technically challenged and don't always place a great importance on having the most up to date electronic devices. But, those of us in the 65 to 75+ definitely are in tune with big, flat screen tv's, cell phones, recording devices, cameras, internet options, etc. That's my experience.

I spent my entire adult career in uniform, first in the military and then in both fire and law enforcement. I can say without reservation those groups represent every single type of personality with varying hobbies and interest on the planet. To me, to make general statements about these groups is nothing more than uninformed stereotyping. Maybe you were attracted to and hung out with first responder types or military types who behaved in a certain way, but that definitely doesn't make your experience representative or typical.

 

[ChadT41]

Again, the ones I was referencing were the ones that would be more likely to sign up. There is a large number of both that won't even sub to TV. They will do the OTT thing.

 

[jeffmwknight]

I just wanted to chime in on this subject since I spent a good part of last night going over my parents bill which was way more expensive than they needed to be since they only specifically watch certain channels. My parents fall into both catagories, seniors and veterans but they still pay the normal prices like everyone. Even the customer service person at Dish agreed with us that their should be discounts for these groups. We eventually switched them to Flex Pack so it cut their expense more than half.

 

[jeffmwknight]

Actually more to my point is that they did not know the different packages and what is offered. Since they are seniors they don't understand all the various packages, what is needed and not, etc... Of course... Dish is going to not tell them.

 

[JosephB]

Just curious, but why? Most older customers are going to already order not very techie boxes, lowering what they would already charge them, but then a lot of them will be happy with Welcome or Smart pack. There really isn't a good reason to offer it, financially. That said, I would say offer a military and/or public service discount, as the majority of military and cops and paramedics and firefighters holds their TV near and dear and will buy the top package. Giving them a "thank you" credit would drive support, be great for marketing("we support our military and first responders"), and still be financially wise, since they will still have the top equipment, not mind paying the fees, and have a top tier programming package. From a purely business and financial stand point, it could be justified a lot easier.
That said, discounts are courtesies, and not entitlements. We should be happy when we get any, and if we do not agree with the price offered, go with a competitor that offers the price you are willing to pay.

Military and other discounts aren't even about being "good" to servicemembers, anyway. It's marketing. Note that companies that make such discounts available are very vocal about it. They advertise them on national outlets, not just targeted to members of the military. It's a tax writeoff and it makes the public at large feel "better" about the company.

Same thing with senior citizen discounts, but there's not nearly as much of an upside. Also, AARP discounts come with some arrangement with AARP (which is an organization you have to pay to join). For things like that, Dish just counts the discount in the same way they'd count the cut they'd give to Costco or a retailer.

 

[ChadT41]

I understand why companies offer them, however, as a veteran myself, I never expect a discount. I do ask if there is one, and am happy when I get one, however I don't even look down on the company that doesn't offer it. I would rather a company offer the lowest price available to all customers and not discount for veterans and seniors. I know a few eateries here in the Phoenix market that does it that way. Just my way of thinking, I guess.

 

[navychop]

I certainly take advantage of Lowe's and HD 10% military discount.