Senior’s discounts

By Willie Jose
August 11, 2015



The senior’s discount given to the elderly in the Philippines is one good enough reason for Filipinos  either working and  living  abroad to come back home often.

For balikbayans, treating their families and  friends to  never-ending  lunches, dinners and  get-together parties held in some restaurants  is something they always look forward to simply because of the legally mandated senior’s  discount of 20 percent for the food is a big saving on their pockets.

After they have finished eating and the  bills are served to them, their senior  friends would immediately hand over  their gov’t-issued discount cards to their hosts-- and  voila,  they get  their  food discounts.

The Philippines is a paradise to seniors because in some cities, seniors even get free  entry to   movie houses and  a law has been enacted giving hospital discounts to seniors needing hospital care.

While writing this piece, a good friend of mine has told me that our countrymen  are also enjoying discounts for medication, foodstuffs ,transport fares --and mind you, these discounts are mandated by the law.

This senior’s discount is  a big incentive for  our seniors; it’s something that could   entice them to leave their homes,  eat in some  restaurants or sip  their cups of coffee in  coffee shops that spring up the streets of  the metropolis.

In return, these businesses profitably take a big boost considering that at least one member of the Filipino households is working overseas—meaning that these senior family members  would surely have the money to spend, in spite of the  monthly pensions they get from the GSIS and the SSS.

 Have you not noticed that almost all day, these shopping malls are full of people and these seniors are often seen dining out with their families there.

So,  what’s my point here ? It’s  a good idea even for some developed countries like Canada to take the initiative in enacting  a law that could  extend  discounts  to all seniors for their  food and grocery items, medications, house rentals, hydro, movies transport   fares.

And  we should carry out this law-mandated discounts  Canada-wide.

As it is now, some grocery  stores  and pharmacies are giving  senior’s discount of 5- 10 percent only in some specific days or weeks in a month. The same is true with hotels, plane fares and food items—and their discounts are not compulsory as required by any specific law.

But we have to take into account the big number of seniors in this country’s population. Seeing these seniors spending their money for some discounted items will surely boost Canada’s economy. All throughout the year, we frequently see seniors  in malls, either eating or buying stuffs.

This senior’s discount is also a welcome move because it shows that  Canada appreciates the positive contributions of these seniors to the country. This senior’s discount is not a new idea; look around us--there are  some  restaurants, grocery and drug stores, movie houses and other services/construction industries which are now giving discounts to seniors.

But the challenge is for the Federal lawmakers to make it mandatory to extend the benefits of the senior’s discount to all old people  in the country.

If we love our elderly, please think about their much-needed senior’s discounts, now or never..