Benefits & Discount Not Worth Much

[j871237r]

AARP should do better on Benefits & Discounts.  They are not worth that much.

[SereneSeagull]

Nah, For me I disagree. I’m getting ready to renew my annual membership for $20.  I’ve racked up hundreds of dollars of gift cards within the year already. For FREE.  Playing games, answering quizzes, and playing Informational videos.  Again… free points, gets me free gift cards.  To Amazon, Walmart, Chilis, Outback, Sonic, Burger King, and many others.  Not only for myself but Stocking stuffers and birthday gifts.
 
You can B all you want, but stacked, these gift cards take a whole meal or more off a restaurant bill for me.  Walmart trips to the grocery store with these saves money.

So my question to you…. If someone gave you $5 and said it’s yours, you deserve this, I insist… would you take it, or say no thanks? 

Think it’s not worth much?  I’ll gladly take them.  

[WW393731]

local transit hub has recycled newspaper bin.  I was looking through it for a paper to grab for the bus when someone came up and handed me $10  I tried to tell her no but she kept pushing it on me while walking away.  I took it but wondered if she thought I was more needy of it.  Strange how we perceive each other

[SereneSeagull]

Yes, true.  I think that comes from a feeling of kindness, @WW393731  in seeing someone rifle through a recycle bin,  despite what your intention may have been in wanting to read on your transit bus.  I sometimes see a guy pulling a wagon around to trash cans walking around the stores going through trash and recycle bins.  There’s a metal scrap place nearby that pays money for scrap.  Is he someone in need, or a person who sees a way to make extra money?

One holiday season I remember being in a Walmart headed to a pretzel shop located at the front of the store to buy a gift card for a child on my list.  Ironically I didn’t have much cash on me at the time, but was gathering all of my bills to make the card a nice one.  Someone standing ahead of me saw me fumbling to count enough Ones.   She then reached her hand to me and gave me the change she had just gotten back in her return from buying her pretzel.

     I said, oh thank you but it’s ok,  that I had the money, just not too organized in getting it.  She insisted and said God spoke to her to do this, and Merry Christmas.  Her perception of me may have been something else, but her kindness will always be remembered.  And it is.

[TRL1111]

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@SereneSeagull wrote:

She insisted and said God spoke to her to do this, and Merry Christmas.  Her perception of me may have been something else, but her kindness will always be remembered.  And it is.

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That's great, as long as she doesn't complain about taxes.  I bristle at generosity that is dependent on how someone is perceived, or the momentary mood of the giver.

[SereneSeagull]

You can take it as you want, @TRL1111 , I took it as a nice gesture.  You can be cynical if you want, I chose to be touched with the generosity that was given.  I bet you’re a hoot around the holidays.  

[TRL1111]

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@SereneSeagull wrote:

I bet you’re a hoot around the holidays.  

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Yeah, I'm no fun at all because I don't understand why people can't be generous year-round.

[SereneSeagull]

Don’t spend too much time pondering it, @TRL1111 .  Can’t change others, can only change how we react to them.  If I allowed all of this crap to bother me, I wouldn’t be enjoying my own life.  Take the generosity as it comes for whatever reason.

[TRL1111]

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@SereneSeagull wrote:

Again… free points, gets me free gift cards.  

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They're not really free, though, if you had to spend time playing games, answering quizzes, and playing informational videos in order to get them. Oh, and don't forget all the data that's being collected on you as you do these things.  You can bet big money that they're getting more out of you than what they're paying you.

So it's not the same as somebody coming up and just handing you $5. 

[SereneSeagull]

I’ll take yours, @TRL1111 if you don’t want them, any day, thanks!❤️

[TRL1111]

@SereneSeagull wrote:

I’ll take yours, @TRL1111 if you don’t want them, any day, thanks!❤️

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I doubt I have any.  There's no chance I'm going to watch videos or answer quizzes in exchange for gift cards because I know what's important to any company these days is data, and I can guarantee you they're making more from the data than they're paying out in points.