Are purported Seniors Deals really a good deal? How many are too hard to find?
Seniors discounts available here are words all over 60s love to hear, but I have to ask today how many of the purported “special deals” are frankly kept well hidden from view and then too hard to get to be bothered with? And how many are just everyday discounts “dressed up” to be sold to Seniors as a sales tactic?
Patricia Farrar wrote in with some concern this week on our Facebook page. “I was trawling through the Fairfax Publications sites trying to find out how to suspend delivery of The Sydney Morning Herald – smh.com.au when I saw “Seniors’ Discount”. I phoned and, guess what? It’s only available to new subscribers, and guess what else? It’s only available if you pay for 3 or 6 months in advance which means hundreds of dollars! How many other seniors’ “discounts” are there that we either aren’t told about or aren’t really worth it?” she asked.
You tell us.
We took a look around at the Seniors Card websites to see what offers are available and were impressed at just how widespread the offers are. Most services and products needed in your life are able to be found at a 5% 10% or 15% discount just by searching through the discount guides in your state. Whether you are buying travel and accommodation, household services, maintenance, equipment, food, insurance, books or so many other items it looks like it might be worth looking for a discount before you buy.
But it pays to check if it is a real discount. A quick look into a hotel ad in the NSW Seniors discount booklet for Sydney shows their website is advertising a room for two with breakfast at $10-$15 cheaper than the price being advertised for Seniors in the discounts booklet (below the ad from the Seniors Discount book is on the left, a clip from their website in on the right.
Each state runs an online directory of discounts in its own way. The websites are disparate, and largely disorganised. You have to wade your way through large amounts of information to understand what is on offer. I guess they like it that way much the same way that many firms that do offer discounts don’t advertise them instore.
But of greatest interest, all of the state government sites also run Senior Shopper, a free phone service that will help you find the best price on any item you have decided to buy. With Senior Shopper you can get direct access to the discounts available for Seniors on electrical goods, travel, motor vehicles, computers, mowers, power tools, white goods, sports gear, fishing tackle, pool services, cameras and much much more. This really impressed me… That means if you plan to buy a TV, you can set Senior Shopper to finding the best priced TV in the market for you. For more information on Senior Shopper services visit the seniors discount website in your state or call them on 1300 366 265.
To visit your state’s seniors discounts take a look below…
Queensland Government online directory https://secure.communities.qld.gov.au/chiip/
New South Wales online directory http://www.seniorscard.nsw.gov.au/discounts/search.asp
South Australia – The Seniors Card directory in South Australia is in ebook format http://www.sa.gov.au/upload/franchise/Seniors/SeniorsCardDirectory/issue3/index.html#/2/
Australian Capital Territory – The Seniors Discount Guide is downloadable as a PDF
http://www.actseniorscard.org.au/discounts.htm
Northern Territory – There is a long list of service providers for the NT here –http://www.health.nt.gov.au/Aged_and_Disability/Senior_Territorians/Information_and_Services/index.aspx
Tasmania has a website divided by category here http://www.concessions.tas.gov.au/
Victoria offers a very easy to use Discount Directory featuring many great discounts
Western Australia has a searchable online database of discounts here
http://www.communities.wa.gov.au/serviceareas/seniorscard/businessdirectory/Pages/default.aspx
What Seniors discounts do you claim regularly?
Explore More
Book Confidently With Us
Pay safely with us
Proudly Australian owned and operated