AARP - Who Has Joined? Comments Welcome.

boaterboi

boaterboi

Can't ReMember
Location
Clarkston, Michigan
I am 62. Like everyone I started getting slammed with AARP solicitations at age 50. I joined briefly but decided that they had nothing to offer me. Now I still get slammed with snail mailings. I wonder how much that costs them?

Anyway, this is a poll to see how popular AARP membership is:

After 3 attempts I can't post a poll so I guess just comments please.
 

I don't find any value with AARP and see no reason to join. I find its self-proclamations of its worth and its ads and mailings to be more than annoying. A couple of times I've clicked on links to articles on its site and found they're out-of-date. I'm not sure who its target audience is, but it's not me and not any of my friends or siblings either.
 

I'll answer the question. I joined AARP and get their monthly newsletter. There are often some good tips or news relating to seniors that I wouldn't know otherwise. A lot of it is common sense but it does keep us aware of tax changes, benefits/discounts, websites or agencies that could be useful. Once in awhile I cut things out to share with the kids. Doesn't hurt to stay informed and we have no decent library to sit and read. Neither one of us has ever participated in any of their events in person.
 
IMO AARP has moved in a different direction over the years. I was a fan of the AARP of 20 years ago when I used to read the articles in my mothers magazine but the new magazine seems to be targeted towards a different audience.

I get tired of all the junk mail so I send it back to them, and other companies that are kind enough to include a postage paid envelope. It doesn't seem to make a difference but I figure it creates jobs and keeps the trash out of my local landfill!
 
I'm still carrying a grudge against AARP for backing down on their support of that catastrophic heath care bill back in the 80's. Would have been a good thing, but they caved. So I never joined.
 
We joined AARP perhaps 20 years ago, and retained the membership for about 10 years. Then, we let it lapse, as there didn't seem to be any advantage to belonging to that group. It seems that they are little more than a "front" to various insurance companies....AAA, Hartford, etc. They claim to represent Seniors interests, but I don't recall any effective "push" they have mounted to influence legislation in Congress, or even at a State level. We still get their mailings and e-mails, but I haven't seen anything that would make me want to re-join.
 
I only know one person who joined many years ago, and she said the membership was useless. I also have been bombarded with AARP ads, promotions, etc. I don't take well to bullying regardless of what people are pushing, so no, I've never joined and don't ever intend to.
 
We order products online from Schwan's, our usual charge is around $80 every two weeks or about $173 a month. We get a 10% discount if we have AARP, 5% if not. It saves us $103 a year, the cost of the AARP card is $16. We also have a wireless account that gives us $.50 a month discount with AARP. So, we save $93 overall a year by being a member. We like the convenience & quality of Schwan's. We've only had one recall in the 20+ years we've been ordering, they called immediately & came, picked up the product & gave us an immediate refund. Everything comes to our back door frozen in a 3-4 oz servings. Usually order only meat products & occasional grandchildren frozen treats, keeps until they come over for a visit. Yes, we could probably save by buying fresh cuts of meat but the quality is questionable & requires a trip to the store.
 
This is my favorite pet peeve. Most of you believe the AARP stands for the American Association of Retired People. IT DOESN'T. AARP is a wholy own subsidiary of an insurance company. There is NO Amer. Ass. of Ret. Peop. If you believe that AARP stands for a retired seniors group, well; they are under no legal obligation to inform you otherwise. And they don't. You're free to believe what you want to believe.They made over $1,000,000,000 in insurance commissions last year. That's what all the mailings are about. Not bad for a charitable group. If you don't believe me, call them up. They will tell you AARP stands for "ARP". And what does "ARP" stand for, well, of course AARP. IF you ask them right out,if AARP stands for the Amer. Assoc. Ret. Peop. They will say AARP stands for ARP. And around and around.They will do that for hours. You don't believe me, call them and ask them. Ask them.
They may offer discounts, but it's main mission is to sell insurance.
 
I have no problem in what they offer, I don't like them masquerading as a group in behalf of fellow retirees. You may have gotten a discount at that hotel, but AARP also got paid steerage fee by the hotel. The discount and fee are a perfectly legal practice; and a common practice of any travel agency. It has nothing to do with you're being a senior. At least AAA admits it's a corporation, and is not pretending to fight for your right to drive.
I'm sorry, it irks me that a giant insurance corp. gets away with that sham.
 
I joined when I turned 50 and got some discounts on a cell phone plan and car washes. Then I didn't join again. They NEVER stop sending me their mail, NEVER!
 
fuzzybuddy said:
This is my favorite pet peeve. Most of you believe the AARP stands for the American Association of Retired People. IT DOESN'T. AARP is a wholy own subsidiary of an insurance company.
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That is incorrect. AARP was founded in the fifties (Prior to Medicare) for the purpose of marketing insurance products to older Americans. It does receive millions yearly in royalties from insurance companies.

I belong because they provide the only lobbyists for senior interests that I can afford to support. Anything else is gravy.

Fact checker here: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...-waite/aarp-insurance-health-reform-conflict/
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I have no problem in what they offer, I don't like them masquerading as a group in behalf of fellow retirees. You may have gotten a discount at that hotel, but AARP also got paid steerage fee by the hotel. The discount and fee are a perfectly legal practice; and a common practice of any travel agency. It has nothing to do with you're being a senior. At least AAA admits it's a corporation, and is not pretending to fight for your right to drive.
I'm sorry, it irks me that a giant insurance corp. gets away with that sham.
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I understand your point, but if someone wants to save me $93 a year, you can call yourself anything you want, I don't care. I don't buy insurance through them or any other product they endorse. I keep looking at the math & pay my $16. My pet peeve is: my membership expires every Mar. they start sending me renewal notices in July for the next year. Makes one wonder if it's a sham hoping we seniors are not keeping track of the calendar. I have also used my card for hotel discounts, but was told if I'm willing to admit that I am a member then the clerk is willing to give me the discount without showing my card.
 
AARP is a series of morphing. It started as marketing for health insurance to retired teachers in the 40s. Because of the mingling of retired teacher orgs, "retired persons" groups, "retired people" groups, and insurance co. divisions, an isurance company owned the name AARP. As nvtribefan states, in the 50s, AARP did morph into a marketing tool to sell insurance products to older Americans. And recently, AARP has morphed into host of non profit, and for profit divisions, subsidiaries, and separate corporations, all loosely known as AARP. One of the divisions reported over a billion dollars in commissions and royalties in 2015. I doubt it would be inaccurate to say AARP's first priority is to the insurance industry. I'm not sure AARP is a qualified advocate for the elderly, when their main goal is to sell great Aunt Sophie, 85, a whole life insurance policy.
 
I was first solicited by them when I turned 50. I declined because they said they supported seniors but their liberal actions did not speak for this senior and still don't, however because my Medicare Supplement is with United Health it includes membership in AARP.
 
Reading all the opinions here, have to say I have been a member since my mid-forties.(husband was fifty) I read their newspaper and magazine, there is some good info IMO. They are involved with the fight to keep SS and other issues involving seniors and I have signed petitions in the past. I do receive some discounts that I am sure, cover the cost of membership. They do send requests for monetary support from time to time but I don't always contribute.

I don't know if it should be considered a "leftist" publication as many of the problems seniors encounter are related to SS and Medicare and Democrats support those programs. They also answer questions and refer people to agencies able to help them. A recent past edition had both candidates on the cover of the newspaper and stated many of their positions. If you want to drawl that as a conclusion because you feel none of these issues apply to you, then so be it.

I am not familiar with some of the claims being made here but I will be researching this and even scrutinizing the publications. I sort through my mail carefully and toss any solicitations for any insurances I am not interested in and I get them from different places. I don't feel pressure to purchase any of them. I am glad this thread has been started, I just didn't give it any thought in the past. Interesting.
 
Lon said:
I was first solicited by them when I turned 50. I declined because they said they supported seniors but their liberal actions did not speak for this senior and still don't, however because my Medicare Supplement is with United Health it includes membership in AARP.
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Very simular to you, Lon. We belong to United Healthcare also, so we receive the AARP mag. We do go to Denny's quite often and it does give us a 20% discount on meals.
 
Great replies! I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees them as useless. A few are joining to get discounts and that's fine if it works for you. Those constant mailings to everyone over 50 is costing someone a fortune. 50 isn't even old. It makes sense that it's an insurance racket. Best bet in my experience is to find a good local insurance agent to handle that for you and avoid direct insurers at all cost. Because they do cost more!
 
Mama likes the magazine (I've never looked at it) so we subscribed.....when the subscription runs out this time I'm going to try and be sneaky and not renew and see how long it takes her to notice.

The plus side is that along with the price of the subscription you get tons and tons of junk mail absolutely free. :)
 
My personal irk is not what AARP provides, discounts, etc. In that respect, AARP is worth the $16/year. But does AARP stand for The American Association Of Retired People. The answer is absolutely NO. If they called themselves the XYZ, I wouldn't have a problem. It's an insurance conglomerate masking as a senior's organization.
 

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