The No. 1 rule of retailing has always been the customer is always right. The No. 2 rule could be the customer is always young.
That becomes a tricky rule, however, when a store or restaurant offers some kind of deal to senior citizens. In the process of trying to foster good will, the business may suggest to the insecure, prematurely gray 40-year-old that perhaps he or she is entitled to the senior discount.
Oops.
Fear of this faux pas may well be why so many businesses that want to offer senior discounts are reluctant to say so, according to Sylvia Spade-Kershaw of Austin, Texas, author of “Discounts & Good Deals for Seniors in Texas.”
“When I was doing the research, it was very hard to find these places,” she said. “A few places will put a sign in the window or behind the cash register, but they don’t advertise it.”
There are ways around the problem, however. Buffets Inc. of Eden Prairie, Minn., operator of buffet-style eateries across the country, including Old Country Buffet in the Chicago area, simply created the Senior Club Card. For $1 a year, seniors get a break of 50 to 70 cents per meal if they show their cards, according to Debbie Tucker, marketing director for Buffets Inc.
And though the company can’t always guarantee that a youthful tongue won’t misspeak, Tucker said, the company suggests that its hosts put it this way, “Are you eligible for any discounts today?”
“By having the Senior Club Card, you show the card to get your senior pricing. That way, you’re not offending anybody by asking,” Tucker said, explaining that the discount is for people 60 or older. She added, however, that 80 percent of Buffets Inc. business is younger than that.
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“But you can offend people both ways, if you do ask or you don’t ask,” Tucker said.
Perhaps AARP spokesman Tom Otwell, at the organization’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., has the best approach.
“One time I was taking my kid back to Connecticut College in New London. I was not 50 (the AARP eligibility age), but my hair looked 50. I didn’t want to drive all the way back home, so I stopped at the local Red Roof Inn. I didn’t say anything about it, but the clerk said, `And would you like your AARP discount?’ I was probably 45 at the time, and I said, `Sure.’ “
No offense taken.