Visible signs of ageing

For many of us, turning 65 can be a major turning point in our lives. In New Zealand, it’s the age at which New Zealanders who meet certain criteria can begin collecting the national pension, known as superannuation (or “super”). They also qualify for prescriptions without the $5 co-payment per drug that the current government reinstated (the previous Labour Party government had ended it), we also get many immunisations, like the annual influenza jab, for free. And then there are the discounts, too. And yet, getting all that also means one is getting older, so there’s that.

Superannuation payments are managed by the Ministry for Social Development (MSD), which overseas all benefits. They also run the government programme to manage discounts for those 65 and over, a discount card called the SuperGold Card. On August 30, I took the selfie above (and made a little video) that I shared on social media. I said about the photo:

I received my SuperGold Card today, a card issued by the New Zealand Government to folks 65 and over, entitling us to discounts on products, services, and even public transport. Who doesn’t like a discount?! Yeah, but I’m not as keen when getting them means I’m now over 65… Oh, who am I kidding? I ALWAYS love a discount! 🤣

I then left a comment on version on my personal Facebook, saying that “Among the discounts are funeral services… 😳 Um, I wouldn’t exactly get to ‘enjoy’ that one. 🤣” There are other discounts similarly targeting “seniors”, but most of them are kind of general—like discounts at various cafes and shops. The idea, basically, is to give people 65 Plus a bit of a break, and I thought it was a good iead, years before the programme began back in 2007—when I was 48 and 65 seemed like decades and decades away.

Getting the card really does signify one is getting older, and the programme itself seems to cater toward the older end of the over-65 spectrum. I knew there was an App for the programme, but I didn’t download it until I got my actual card in the mail. Once I did and downloaded the App, I found out that it was basically just a small, easier to access version of the website that tells you where discounts are in your area. That’s useful, up to a point, if one is out and about, however, I’ve found the App listings to be incomplete. I also assumed that one could load their Super Gold Card into the App so in shops we could scan the screen rather than pull out the card, just like we can do with loyalty programme cards for various businesses: The App doesn’t have that functionality.

This is an issue for me because it’s yet another card I have to cram into my wallet—and I have several. My two supermarket loyalty cards, and my general loyalty card, are all loaded into their respective Apps, and the App I use to pay for petrol let me load both my general loyalty card AND my Super Gold Card so I get the maximum discounts when I buy petrol. Yet I still have to carry my Super Gold Card so I can use it everywhere else. I know that many older people struggle with technology, but not all of them do, and many adapt to smart phones quite easily. Maybe the App will catch up when younger baby boomers, Generation Jones, and Gen X make up a larger percentage of users?

This past Tuesday, I used my card and shared a selfie from the supermarket carpark (at the bottom of this post), writing on social media:

Today I used my Super Gold Card for the first time! That also means I got my first-ever senior discount… 😳 That’s probably a look of shock on my face.

This isn’t an ad for anything, of course. It’s really just an acknowledgment of how lucky I am to be around this long so I can get a small discount at the supermarket. Far too many folks never get that chance, as I know FAR too well.

I then turned to the comments to explain the supermarket situation:

Both the New Worlds I’ve been to the most in Kirikiriroa-Hamilton offer GoldCard discounts on Tuesdays, but the nearest Woolworths that does is in a part of the city I never go to, and Maps somewhat optimistically says it’s a 15 minute drive from my house. As I said to my mother-in-law, if I’m going to the supermarket on a Tuesday anyway, I might go to New World for the discount, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to save 5%.

For example, today I mostly stocked up on a lot of staples (and my impulse buy of a loaf of bread—I’m a reckless radical!) and I saved a whopping $6.82 (today, that’s around US$4.19). I’m pretty sure that their Club Card loyalty card gave me far more in discounts, but, unlike Woolworths, their receipt doesn’t summarise them.

I went because I thought it’d be kind of funny to break-in my SuperGold Card at the supermarket, but what I didn’t take into account is that Tuesday is one of the mostest busiest days at New World, with lots of folks there for their GoldCard Discount—and younger folks annoyed at what they perceive as the slower older shoppers. The carpark was *very* full, too. Honestly, I was glad to get away from there.

So, it was mildly amusing to use my card for the first time at a supermarket (clearly, I’m *very* easily amused…), but I’m firm now that I absolutely won’t go out of my way to go there on a Tuesday. Now, if they raise the discount… 🤔🤣

The thing is, I really am what used to be known as a “superannuatant” or a “pensioner”, and if people assume that such people are frail and very old, that says something about them, not the older people. So, I make light of the new existential land I now find myself in, complete with its various discounts, and sometimes, perhaps, I may perhaps push too hard. When I shared the photo up top on my Instagram, I said in a comment on that post:

Hm… looking at the photo now, my attempt to make a goofy face ended up making me look older than I really am. It’s probably punishment for joking about being “old”. 😂

The reality is that not only am I trying to adjust to being over 65, I’m also trying to grasp what that, and ageing itself, means. While I was (somewhat) joking in my Instagram comment, it nevertheless realise pays to tread carefully. This is, after all, so very new to me. Still, I take very little seriously, especially not myself—especially not myself. That’s been true most of my life, and I know that much is unlikely to change, even if visible signs of ageing do appear, including silly selfies mocking myself for my period of adjustment.

I really am keenly aware of how lucky I am to be around this long so I can get discounts because I’m 65. Like I said earlier, “Far too many folks never get that chance, as I know FAR too well.”

Indeed.