View Full Version : NPS Senior Skip Day Oct 8 .. plus claim a FREE LIFETIME National Park access voucher
On October 8 at over 400 participating national parks, seniors receive free admission during Senior Skip Day (http://dealnews.com/lw/artclick.html?2,1461829,12155350,iref=fp-body,reqid=VgnfiwoKMqwAAjZDt38AAAAA) in celebration of the National Park Service's 100th Anniversary (http://dealnews.com/lw/artclick.html?2,1461829,12155350). Plus, seniors can also claim a lifetime National Park access voucher (http://dealnews.com/lw/artclick.html?2,1461829,12155356,iref=fp-body,reqid=VgnfiwoKMqwAAjZDt38AAAAA) for free. (Quantities are limited.) Qualifying seniors must be age 62 and older.
http://humanaseniorskipday.com/
Sheriff Cougar
09-28-2015, 22:19
Thanks, Disco!
I thought all Geezers got free admission. I need to get my Golden Age pass or whatever they call it now.
Wayne
Sent from somewhere around here.
Thanks. The senior pass only costs $10, I believe, but if it's free on October 8, why not go for it if you happen to have a participating nps site near you. Amazingly, I do: Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton.
Encouraging more people to go to the parks is a good thing. But I've never understood why seniors should get free or cut-rate park entry while younger people pay higher and higher fees every rate. If you look at poverty rates, wealth, and income, seniors are the richest group of Americans by age.
You know who needs discount park passes? Young kids or families with young kids. The poverty rate is 10% for senior citizens and 20% for children under 18.
GoldenBear
09-29-2015, 11:06
> I've never understood why seniors should get free or cut-rate park entry while younger people pay higher and higher fees
> The poverty rate is 10% for senior citizens and 20% for children under 18
Senior citizens vote.
Younger people don't.
People under 18 can't.
It's that simple.
It's not that people my age SHOULD get a discount, others my age simply DEMAND one, and the powers that be are too afraid to cross us.
Well, maybe not THAT simple, but I think you get the idea.
Like you, I find it ridiculous that I get a discount to go to the movies, when I didn't get any such discount at age 17 -- even though I have (literally) 5000 times more in assets than I did at that age. That's why I refuse such discounts when given a chance. The problem comes when someone gives me one, or insists I take one, even when I don't ask for it (try explaining to a high school kid at a fast food joint that I didn't ask for a senior price soda, and thus should be charged for a small size). I invariably just take the discount rather than be a schmuck demanding a higher price. Thus, rather than repeatedly arguing with a ranger at an entrance station, I'll just buy the NPS senior discount next spring, then turn around and donate a larger amount to the National Parks Foundation.
Senior discounts exist because of the misconception that senior citizens are struggling on fixed incomes when, in fact, in aggregate, seniors have the highest net worth of any group in the United States. But I do not object to the cut rate NPS discount. Anything that gets older people out and exercising is a very good thing and the medical benefits, although not measurable in any scientific way, probably result in much more savings in Medicare than loss of revenue in NPS admissions.
Yes, it's good for retirees or anyone to get into the parks. But I think that the long-term benefits of getting kids out into the parks (which will hopefully make those kids a lifetime supporter of parks and natural places) VASTLY exceed the benefits of letting retirees in their RVs into the parks.
Not all park visits are created equally.
Thanks. The senior pass only costs $10, I believe, but if it's free on October 8, why not go for it if you happen to have a participating nps site near you. Amazingly, I do: Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton.
Unfortunately, Houston, TX is in a National Park wasteland. It would cost more than $10 in gas just to get me out of Harris County. I may try to get to the French Quarter while we are in New Orleans next month and see if I can get the pass at the Jean Lafitte N.P. Visitor Center.
As for free access for Seniors: All of the preceding arguments for free admission apply. I would add: Seniors are rarely, if ever, responsible for vandalism of public facilities.
Wayne
ps: No RV for me. I just need secure trailhead parking.
Wayne
Overheard at Acadia National park this past weekend, said by a group of young twenty something's: "Everybody here is so old. There are hardly any people our age here." In response I replied "Old people have all the money. They have a lifetime of earnings saved to spend. Young people are just starting to work and are more worried about the newest iPhone than saving money." I got a blank stare.
rocketsocks
09-29-2015, 15:42
Do ya have to show a student ID?
Thanks for all the responses so far! I downloaded my voucher already. BTW, sometimes discounts aren't offered to make things more affordable, but to encourage participation. Think "ladies night". So, even if seniors can afford many things, the senior discounts may be offered to get them off the couch, out of the house, and spending all the money they do have.
Overheard at Acadia National park this past weekend, said by a group of young twenty something's: "Everybody here is so old. There are hardly any people our age here." In response I replied "Old people have all the money. They have a lifetime of earnings saved to spend. Young people are just starting to work and are more worried about the newest iPhone than saving money." I got a blank stare. I spent much of last week at Acadia biking and saw few young people on the bike trails. Maybe I was going too fast or maybe I was out too early. I did not see many folks in their 20's outside of the trailheads or parking lots.
I spent much of last week at Acadia biking and saw few young people on the bike trails. Maybe I was going too fast or maybe I was out too early. I did not see many folks in their 20's outside of the trailheads or parking lots.
Which is exactly why we should cut the free/cheap park admission for senior citizens and make park visits cheaper for kids and young adults.
Aye, let's add some inter-generational warfare to our usual assortment of gripes. Hey you old pharts, get offa my lawn!
Aye, let's add some inter-generational warfare to our usual assortment of gripes. Hey you old pharts, get offa my lawn!
I'm not old! I'm middle-aged!
When you think about it, the national parks aren't all that expensive to begin with. You can buy a $80 pass giving you the right to carry a carload of people into all national parks for a full year. Granted, I still think of $80 as a lot of money in absolute terms but not in the context of a typical vacation. It would cost a family of four more money to do nearly any other activity just once - such as going to a baseball game, renting kayaks for a day, going to lunch and the movies, etc.
When you think about it, the national parks aren't all that expensive to begin with. You can buy a $80 pass giving you the right to carry a carload of people into all national parks for a full year. Granted, I still think of $80 as a lot of money in absolute terms but not in the context of a typical vacation. It would cost a family of four more money to do nearly any other activity just once - such as going to a baseball game, renting kayaks for a day, going to lunch and the movies, etc.
FYI, coffee, there are lots of people who can't afford to do any of those things. Lots of them.
LIhikers
09-30-2015, 00:23
Aye, let's add some inter-generational warfare to our usual assortment of gripes. Hey you old pharts, get offa my lawn!
Now that right there is funny, funny I tell ya!
Just think of it as a partial payback for being drafted and forced to go to war, and then coming back home to raises you "snot noses" !
rocketsocks
09-30-2015, 07:23
Just think of it as a partial payback for being drafted and forced to go to war, and then coming back home to raises you "snot noses" !
No amount of Continental breakfast thrown in could repay that debt...thank you for your service. :)
Pedaling Fool
09-30-2015, 07:48
I never ask for military discount, just doesn't feel right -- much like a disservice to my service.
And I won't ask for a seniors' discount, only because I hate asking for favors. But that's a few years off:banana
I never ask for military discount, just doesn't feel right -- much like a disservice to my service.
And I won't ask for a seniors' discount, only because I hate asking for favors. But that's a few years off:banana
oh, I have no problem asking for a military discount from the Feds. None at all.
I have no moral qualms whatsoever, claiming a senior discount where it's offered. I used it to get tickets for my myself and my wife and sister when going to see "A Walk In the Woods." It's not like I was depriving a hard-working, productive young person of a seat.
Rain Man
09-30-2015, 10:26
LOL... all you guys need to get out of that box you're in. Or, as the Good Book says, "having eyes, they see not."
I propose it has nothing to do with the NPS, nor with "us" v. "them" age-wise. As a wise man once said, "follow the money" to find the guilty party.
Local Chambers of Commerce thrive off revenue generated in local communities when the big bad government provides revenue sources (nearby national parks), without which disguised welfare those businesses would fail.
Thus, to get more visitors who have the discretionary funds to spend locally, those Chambers of Commerce get their lobbying and political arms busy. Wah-lah. A government policy that puts more money into their pockets.
DUH. Ah the other analysis is smoke and mirrors.
You're welcome.
~wink~
Odd Man Out
09-30-2015, 12:00
My wife turns 62 just a few days before oct 8. Unfortunately the closes NP property is a few hours away, so we can't use it. alas.