Times are tough. Just ask Eleanor Beasley, a retired Chicago school teacher who lost everything she owned in a fire and has had to use her retirement to start from scratch again. “I’m 76 years old,” says Beasley, “and I’m still working part-time tutoring children because I have to.”
Beasley also relies on good deals to get by. “Daily deals for food and travel have made it possible for me to put food on the table and visit my children and grandchildren,” Beasley told us. “If it weren’t for that, I don’t know how I could make it all work.”
And Ms. Beasley isn’t alone. A growing number of our nation’s most valuable members, senior citizens, are turning to daily deal vouchers to make ends meet. What are they investing in?
Food
When Richard Smith retired from a Michigan factory job at the age of 67, he thought he was set to enjoy a few years of the good life. “When I retired, my wife and I bought a little condo by the beach and were ready to relax and live out the American Dream.”
For the Smith family, that dream turned into a nightmare the day Mrs. Smith was diagnosed with breast cancer. “It took a cancer diagnosis to wipe out our savings,” said Smith. “A neighbor told us about buying daily deal vouchers and, thanks to those and senior citizen discounts, we’re buying groceries at a discount and even going out to eat a few times a year.”
Health
“A daily deal voucher saved my life,” claims Edwin Baldwin, retired school principal in San Francisco. “I tell everyone this story and they can’t believe it.”
Baldwin, who lives alone in an assisted living apartment, began experiencing mild abdominal pains in July of last year. Baldwin’s children, distraught over their father’s condition and refusal to go to the doctor, bought him a daily deal voucher for a reduced fee x-ray. “That x-ray confirmed colon cancer,” says Baldwin. “I had surgery and today I’m 100% healthy. Now I buy daily deals for visits to the dentist and doctor myself.”
Travel
“I love to visit the grandchildren,” says 82 year old Salt Lake City resident Bessie Arnold, “but my eyesight isn’t what it used to be.” Instead of driving the 500 miles to her daughter’s home, Arnold takes a bus or a plane, and does so with a daily deal voucher. “I didn’t even have a computer when I heard about daily deals,” boasts Arnold. “After buying the first few bus tickets on a local daily deal website from a library computer, I had to get a computer so I wouldn’t miss any of the good deals to come.”
This is just a small sampling of how senior citizens are using daily deals to get more from their money. While daily deal vouchers were originally marketed as luxury goods (cruises, spa treatments, salon visits, etc.), it’s clear to see that many are using vouchers to better their circumstances.
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