A question for you older guys.

[pwhitaker]

I'm 70 and have never taken advantage of any of the "wonderful" deals they keep offering. My rule is if I didn't request it I probably don't need it.

[tbn.al]

Short answer. Nope.

[Dan Schultz]

Doesn't matter if you are a member of AARP or not. You can still ask for (and get) AARP hotel discounts.

I'm sixty-five and don't partake in any of that stuff. It's just designed to rip off old folks.

[bisontuba]

Hi-
An AARP card does allow discounts for things besides hotels--some restaurant chains, car rental, etc. And they do lobby on behalf of IMPORTANT things --like Social Security, Medicare, etc. Dues are very, very cheap too.
My 2 cents.
mark

[Ace]

I'm 75. I don't know much about AARP even though I get stuff from them several times a year. It always goes in the waste basket.

Ace

[TubaRay]

Warning: I am attempting to not add politics into this discussion. Therefore, I will try not to express a political view.

If you like ObamaCare, you will probably be pleased that AARP came in support of this law. It seems they have an interest in the sale of insurance. You might want to check this out. As I understand it, they lost a LOT of members when this was revealed. It even spawned another seniors organization.

As for discounts, I was a member the first three yrs. I was eligible. I probably save (literally) $3-$4.

[jacojdm]

Doesn't matter if you are a member of AARP or not. You can still ask for (and get) AARP hotel discounts.

I'm sixty-five and don't partake in any of that stuff. It's just designed to rip off old folks.

I just turned 30 and have, for several years, frequently taken advantage of AARP room rates.

[scottw]

As for discounts, I was a member the first three yrs. I was eligible. I probably save (literally) $3-$4.

I'm saving at least this much every Saturday afternoon when we go bowling. Our local bowling alley is giving both Pam and I their seniors discount. That amounts to $10 every time we go bowling. We bowl 3 lines apiece.

No one asks for an AARP card for any senior discount I have ever used. In fact, I have never been even carded for age, let alone needing AARP.They see grey hair and admit me at the reduced price!

[DonShirer]

My wife joined AARP when she reached 65, I didn't. After two years, with no significant savings, she quit.

[gwwilk]

I'm 68, and I've never responded to any of their mailings. For some reason they seem to have stopped. Maybe they do have some redeeming value because they now appear to be trying to save trees and they aren't bothering me any more. [politics]Special interest groups such as the AARP have helped dig the hole this country now finds itself in.[/politics]

[Rick Denney]

The AARP is like many membership organizations. They attract members on the basis of the services they can provide, which they usually do not provide themselves beyond working a deal with whoever does provide it. Thus, they have cheapish insurance and stuff like that. Then, they take the dues and use them to do the following:

1. Lobby for the political aims of the people who are in actual charge of the organization. They claim in their lobbying that they represent the membership, when in fact the membership is rarely if ever consulted on the positions those lobbyists promote. In my view, this is fraudulent--they do not represent the votes they claim to, and any politician believing they do is being suckered.

2. Build a staff empire.

3. Propose on federal projects that play on their ability to represent a membership, particularly for policy projects that need stakeholder input and consensus. They become the surrogate for their members because it is easier for the feds to work with organizations than to actually poll those populations directly to really understand their needs and desires. They poll their membership, sometimes, but rarely in a way that actually gets at the truth. Thus, they rarely represent actual stakeholder needs and desires.

Also, rarely in my experience are membership society staffs really expert. They know a lot of experts, perhaps, but they are often insufficiently expert themselves to gather that knowledge in any meaningful or representative way.

There are organizations that are open about their lobbying, and about the positions they are lobbying for. There are other membership organizations that really are tightly run by their elected boards. And there are still others that never claim to represent their members in federal policy making. But AARP and other organizations based on demographic membership (rather than professional or special-interest membership) almost always exemplify my generalizations.

As soon as a membership organization becomes large enough to need a professional staff member with a title like Executive Director, then that person is now in charge of what happens, not the officers elected from the membership. And organizations that cater to demographic groups almost never have the controls in place to ride herd on the staff. The AARP was constituted as a lobbying and political organization right from the start, and members have little or no control over the positions it takes and lobbies for, or the selection of people who are actually in charge. I suspect the founder was casting about for a demographic group that would grow and turn over enough to sustain the revenue.

If you join such organizations, understand them first. Make sure you agree with the positions they hold and lobby for. Make sure the dues are commensurate with the services they provide. Make sure you can bolt at any time your agreement ends. Make sure you know who is really in charge, and then make sure you know how they spend their day.

Rick "who has a lot of experience with membership organizations from several sides" Denney

[Mark]

In summary: If you are a member of the NRA, you will probably not want to be a member of AARP.

[Mark]

BTW, I am elegible for AARP and I will never join. AND, I am NOT an older guy. I just need to breathe more often when playing the tuba.

[iiipopes]

I'm also 49, turning 50 towards the end of the year. Yes, I'm going for it. I'm going to flash my AARP card everywhere. I'm taking all the discounts, from ten cents on a cup of coffee to anything else I can qualify for. I need the discounts to offset the increased premiums on my health insurance that are going to sock it to me big time for the "red zone" of health insurance: too old for a good rate, even though my particular health issue is taken care of by a generic $5 prescription of warfarin monthly, but too young for medicare.

[TubaRay]

I'm also 49, turning 50 towards the end of the year. Yes, I'm going for it. I'm going to flash my AARP card everywhere. I'm taking all the discounts, from ten cents on a cup of coffee to anything else I can qualify for. I need the discounts to offset the increased premiums on my health insurance that are going to sock it to me big time for the "red zone" of health insurance: too old for a good rate, even though my particular health issue is taken care of by a generic $5 prescription of warfarin monthly, but too young for medicare.

Spend your money in any manner you wish. In my opinion, you are just wasting it. Your drivers license will get almost all of the same discounts, provided your DOB is early enough.

[Dan Schultz]

There is one 'senior thing' out there that IS well worth the money. It's a National Park and Federal Recreational Lands Pass that I picked up while visiting the LBJ Ranch in Texas several years ago. I think it was $10. The pass entitles the holder to vehicle entry with up to three guests (in addition to the pass holder). It's good for the holder's lifetime. There are LOTS of National Parks to visit.

[Uncle Buck]

Earlier in this thread, I think I saw the word "scam" used.

Seems a little strong to me. You either agree with AARP's positions or you don't. You either think the discounts are worth the membership fee or you don't.

But I don't think AARP ever misrepresents what they provide in return for the membership fee. It's either worth it to you or it isn't. But they're not scamming anybody. I wouldn't use the word "scam" unless somebody is lying about what they're going to give you for your money.

On another note - I agree that the senior National Parks pass is one of the most awesome senior discounts out there. We just bought an annual National Parks pass last month at regular price, and didn't feel bad about what we paid, but that senior lifetime pass is an incredible deal.
If you plan to visit National Parks.

[TubaRay]

Earlier in this thread, I think I saw the word "scam" used.

Seems a little strong to me. You either agree with AARP's positions or you don't. You either think the discounts are worth the membership fee or you don't.

But I don't think AARP ever misrepresents what they provide in return for the membership fee. It's either worth it to you or it isn't. But they're not scamming anybody. I wouldn't use the word "scam" unless somebody is lying about what they're going to give you for your money.
[/size]

I'd probably have to agree with you that AARP doesn't scam people. At least not in the usual sense of the word. However, they do collect dues under the guise of representing seniors' best interests, and I believe it could be significantly argued that this is a misrepresentation.

All and all, though, I believe you are correct. One either agrees with their positions, or they don't. I definitely do NOT agree with them.

[Rick Denney]

But I don't think AARP ever misrepresents what they provide in return for the membership fee.

I agree. Even the worst of the organizations I was describing are clear about where their money goes and comes from. Just not many people dig that stuff out.

For example, how many employees does AARP have? How much of their budget goes to pay for those employees? How many of those employees are devoted to the task of attracting more members? At what point is the staff empire feeding its own hunger? This is all published, but you have to know where to look. How many do the looking?

Some quick facts: AARP reported $1.1 billion in revenue in 2009. That included about $263 million in member dues, $135 million in revenues from the programs they provide (i.e., advertising in their magazine, etc.), $656 million in "royalties" (no explanation provided for that unless you dig into their audit--we'll come back to that), $64 million in investment income, minus a $30 million loss on sales of assets.

During 2009, they spent about $225 million on salaries and benefits for their 2200 employees, $115 million or so to others for services (mostly publishing), $93 million on advertising and promotion (a significant chunk of which was used to fill my mailbox despite no interest ever shown by me in their organization), $212 million for printing and postage, $40 million for IT, $21 million in rent, $6 million in travel expenses (the CEO flies first class), etc. etc. They staff offices in every state to provide services, at a cost of about $73 million. They gave quite a few small grants to a wide range of organizations of all types, many of which are issue-oriented. Note that they do not have to report their political position-taking as lobbying, because they are not promoting specific legislation (with some exceptions), and when they do, they work through these grantees. Nothing really wrong with that, but did you know it? Can you tell it from their web page without serious digging?

(Their key employees do quite well, by the way. Their top 30 or so compensation packages ranged from about $250K to $2.1 million in 2009.)

Let's go back to that $656 million in royalties. What's that for? It's for selling their brand and mailing list to third-party advertisers. When you join AARP, you'll start getting all sorts of new mailings with the AARP logo on them. They made well over half their revenue from such sales. That is quite common with membership organizations, and though it contributes to fuller landfills, it also does keep the dues down. But they are not being really forthcoming about the money they make selling their mailing list.

They do, to their credit, publish their positions on the issues of the day with reasonable accessibility on their web site. Who has read those positions?

I'm not saying it's an evil organization. But most people join it to get the insurance deals and the like, without reading up on their political and policy positions. I would not want to pay dues to an organization without having some idea of what they support politically.

Rick "who knows how to read tax forms" Denney

[TubaRay]

They do, to their credit, publish their positions on the issues of the day with reasonable accessibility on their web site. Who has read those positions?

I'm not saying it's an evil organization. But most people join it to get the insurance deals and the like, without reading up on their political and policy positions. I would not want to pay dues to an organization without having some idea of what they support politically.

Rick "who knows how to read tax forms" Denney

I have read their policy positions. I could have guessed the part about the mailing list, by the way. Since I have some idea of what they support politically, I choose not to "contribute" my money. Good thing Tx. is a right-to-work state. Oh. Wait a minute. I've gotten off topic a little(only a little). I am not forced to be a member, therefore I am not. How's that?