perks

Despite how much Americans spend to look younger, some pretty nice perks accompany aging. If you’re getting older, there are reasons to celebrate: Not only are you wiser, you’re also eligible for discounts at some of your favorite places. Here’s a sample of what you can find when you want to make the most of your Social Security or pension benefits.

Image source: Getty Images.

Cell Phones

Groceries

Hotels

Restaurants

Retailers

Travel

This list represents a tiny percentage of the discounts available to those 50 and older. Rather than taking more than you want from your retirement savings, here are tips for landing more discounts:

• Don’t be shy about asking: Even if it’s not advertised, many businesses are interested in catering to established consumers and offer price breaks to keep them coming back. You can save real money by making it a habit to ask.
• Consider AARP: If you’re not a member of AARP yet, that’s where you’ll find a shocking number of discounts. A standard AARP costs around $20 annually, although a discount may be available when you join. Spending $20 or less annually may just help you fight inflation.
• Carry ID: Some places require proof of age before granting a discount. You should be good to go as long as you have ID.
• Make banks work for your business: Despite being in the business of making money, here’s a breakdown of the some of the most common perks banks offer seniors:

-Waived fees: Banks often eliminate monthly maintenance fee for checking and savings accounts.

-Free checks: Some banks offer free or discounted checks.

-Safe deposit boxes: Ask your bank about discounts available to seniors on safe deposit boxes.

-Higher interest rates: Some senior discount programs offer a higher rate on savings accounts.

-Miscellaneous savings: Banks may offer additional perks like free bank drafts, discounted money

orders, and even prescription discount cards.

The power is in your hands as a consumer. For the most part, you get to choose where to spend your money. Whether you’re saving for a vacation or making sure you’re ready for the next bear market, it’s OK to make businesses work for your patronage.

If you thought artificial intelligence (AI) has a sizable addressable market, take a gander at the retail industry. Based on estimates from Mordor Intelligence, the global retail industry will grow from an estimated $27.3 trillion this year to about $36.9 trillion by the turn of the decade.

With an addressable market this massive, it should come as no surprise that retail is one of the most competitive industries on the planet. However, there are a handful of retail standouts, including e-commerce giant Amazon, superstore chain Walmart, and of course warehouse club Costco Wholesale (COST 0.64%).

While Amazon and Walmart have (mostly) grown their respective businesses traditionally, Costco is the oddball of the bunch. It’s known for its quirky deals, such as the $1.50 hot-dog combo for members, generous return policy, and its penchant for selling one-of-a-kind and unexpected items, such as gold bars and luxury jewelry.

Image source: Costco.

Costco’s 79.6 million paying members, as of the end of the fiscal third quarter (May 11, 2025), have come to expect these perks and surprises. But a new rule is a complete game-changer for many of its paying cardholders.

Costco’s executive members just earned a lucrative new perk

To shop in one of Costco’s more than 900 warehouse locations, you’ll need a membership. Approximately 42 million of its paid membership are gold star and business level, which each carry a $65 annual cost. The remaining 37.6 million are executive level, which carries twice the annual cost ($130), but also lays on the perks.

According to Costco, its executive members can earn up to 2% back on most purchases totaling up to $1,250 annually, as well as receive a monthly credit of $10 for eligible delivery orders topping $150. Executive cardholders may also qualify for discounts on Costco travel packages.

The reason the company caters to this group is because they’re responsible for the bulk of net sales. Despite accounting for “just” 47% of total memberships, executive cardholders were responsible for approximately 73% of sales during the fiscal third quarter. Keeping these folks happy and sustaining annual renewal rates above 90% is key to Costco’s success.

But a newly announced perk for executive members, which was unveiled in June but only fully implemented earlier this week, is bound to turn heads.

On June 11, Costco revealed plans to allow its executive cardholders exclusive shopping hours seven days a week in its more than 600 U.S. warehouses. On weekdays and Sundays, only executive members will be allowed to enter its warehouses from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., with this exclusive shopping window narrowed to 30 minutes (9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.) on Saturdays. Though this policy technically went into effect at the end of June, there had been a two-month grace period where gold star and business members were allowed in. This isn’t the case any longer.

While some non-executive members have expressed frustration with this new policy, it’s a smart move by Costco to put the proverbial carrot at the end of the stick and encourage existing gold star and business members to upgrade.

Image source: Getty Images.

Membership fees are a key ingredient to Costco’s competitive edge

Though membership fees aren’t the only factor responsible for making Costco such a successful growth stock and phenomenal multidecade investment, they play an undeniably important role.

Groceries act as the primary lure responsible for getting people into Costco’s warehouses. However, food and beverages traditionally sport razor-thin margins. Since membership fees flow almost entirely to Costco’s bottom line, they can be used as something of a buffer to offset the minuscule margins tied to groceries.

Arguably even more important, membership fees afford Costco a pricing buffer. Management understands fully that members of all levels expect various perks, including prices on most groceries that’ll undercut traditional mom and pop shops and national grocery chains. The membership fees Costco receives are one of the reasons it can keep prices on basic need goods so comparatively low. It’s something of a repeating cycle that works in the company’s favor.

Costco Wholesale’s size shouldn’t be overlooked, either. When a company has deep pockets, it’s often able to buy products in bulk, which reduces the per-unit cost for each item. These lower costs can then be passed along to its members as a key perk to shopping in its warehouses.

Even though cardholders are likely heading to Costco for groceries and other household necessities, it only takes a handful of higher-margin discretionary purchases for the company to benefit. It also doesn’t hurt when members buy Costco’s private-label brand, Kirkland Signature, which tends to boast premium margins, relative to comparable products.

There’s no denying this formula works. Just over 90% of its worldwide customers renewed their memberships, based on fiscal third-quarter data, with an even higher 92.7% renewal rate in the U.S. and Canada. It also boasts exceptional membership pricing power, with the number of paid memberships growing following a fee increase on Sept. 1, 2024.

There’s a reason investors have been paying a traditionally head-scratching (for a retail company) forward-year earnings multiple of 47 to buy shares of Costco stock. Given its array of competitive advantages, and the exceptional loyalty of its shoppers, there’s a good likelihood this new perk is going to mint even more executive level cardholders in the quarters that lie ahead.

FREEVIEW’S successor will appear on even more screens after landing a deal with one of the world’s biggest TV brands.

Freely, made from the same company as Freeview, is encouraging viewers away from the humble TV aerial to using Wi-Fi instead.

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This means you don’t need to worry about pesky signal issues – nor having to place your telly near the aerial port in the wall.

For the moment, the service is hybrid so it can take Freeview channels the traditional way as well as via broadband.

Just recently, more than a dozen channels you can’t get with an aerial were added.

This includes a channel for game show favourite The Chase, all Channel 4’s best property shows on 4Homes, plus 5 Cops for all ofmi 5‘s real crime hits.

Freely – which is run by BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and 5’s Everyone TV – has been adding a number of device partners since bursting onto the scene over a year ago.

Fire TV was a big newcomer but now Roku is getting on board too.

Freely will be available on the next generation of smart TVs powered by the Roku operating system.

Roku can be found on a number of major TV models, such as Sharp, Polaroid, and METZ.

“Offering Freely on the Roku operating system is a major milestone for us, as we continue to expand reach for the free streaming platform,” said Jonathan Thompson, CEO of Everyone TV.

Just last month, Freely announced some new features to rival premium services like Sky’s own streamed TV alternative Sky Glass.

A new backward TV guide was introduced, allowing people to scroll back on the screen and instantly see what’s been on recently, with a quick link directly to a catch up stream if one is available.

You can scroll back a full seven days.

A Never Miss feature was also added, which highlight programmes coming up, on now, and those you just missed, alongside the biggest and best shows available on demand.

And My List will let you save up to 50 of your favourite shows from the UK’s biggest free-to-air broadcasters all in one place so you can keep track of them.

RECENT CHANNEL ADDITIONS ON FREELY

• The Chase
• Saturday Night Every Night
• 4Reality
• 4Homes
• 4Life
• 5 GPs Behind Closed Doors
• 5 Bargain
• 5 The Yorkshire Vet
• 5 History
• 5 Crime
• Milkshake!
• 5 Police Interceptors
• 5 Cops
• 5 Trucking Hell
• 5 A&E
• 5 Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly

Image credit: Everyone TV

FREELY ON A STICK?

So far, Freely has only been made available on new smart TVs for sale.

But BBC boss Tim Davie recently hinted that a Fire Stick-like device with Freely on it could come in the future.

“We have been working hard to build digital platforms and content to meet changing audience needs, enriching our offer and welcoming the possibilities of a post broadcast world,” he said during a speech at Salford’s Lowry Theatre.

“We want to double down on Freely as a universal free service to deliver live TV over broadband.

“And we are considering a streaming media device with Freely capabilities built in, with a radically simplified user interface specifically designed to help those yet to benefit from IP services.”

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE BEFORE WE REPLACE FREEVIEW

Analysis by Jamie Harris, Assistant Technology and Science Editor at The Sun

DTT – digital terrestrial television – is the system used for Freeview broadcasts today.

About 18million homes still use it as their main way of watching TV.

Before we even begin to think about switching it off, we have to make sure no one is left behind.

So any internet-based alternative – Freely or otherwise – needs to be just as easy to install and use.

Then there’s the matter of broadband.

The UK needs to have reliable broadband everywhere so everyone has access.

Emphasis on reliable – no one wants buffering mid-way through a live football match.

So not only will broadband need to be pretty much everywhere it will need to be fast enough to handle demand all the time.

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