Convincing Grandpa to Give up his Drivers License
- 5 Comment
When I heard this story on NPR about
what Japanese police are doing to get people over the age of 65 to give up their driver’s licenses I thought to myself, what a great concept.
Basically, the way it works is that businesses offer incentives to these aging senior, such as free delivery from department stores and special interest rates at banks if they will surrender their driver’s licenses and stop driving.
Considering that the US population is growing older, this seems like something that we should implement as well, at least in larger metropolitan areas where driving conditions are more aggressive and the cost of providing added services can be balanced out through volume.
According to the
Dept of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Aging, there are currently 37.3 million US residents over the age of 65, which is an increase of 10% since 1996, which accounts for approximately 1 in 8 Americans. That same +65 y.o. population is expected to grow to 40 million by 2010 (a 15% increase) and 55 million in 2020 (a 36% increase).
So why is this important?
As a business strategist, I find it good to look for emerging opportunities where they may not have existed before. Doing so helps with gaining first mover status in introducing new marketplace offerings, which can be a very lucrative proposition. This brings me back to the NPR story mentioned earlier…
I feel as though providing special services that go beyond the early bird discount and free happy hour snacks at restaurants and bars that target seniors will benefit our society in several ways. Not only will it serve to spur the economy in a way that is actually sustainable (unlike the US Government’s “economic stimulus package”), it is a means to an end for giving a particularly challenged and particularly large portion of our society an advantage that is well deserved (in most cases).
5 Comments on this post
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Jimmy Jam said:
The Japanese have always been leaders in technical innovation. We shouldn’t let them beat us in social movements as well!
March 19th, 2008 at 8:14 pm -
Tbebrin said:
Are you kidding? I can tell you are under 40! Didn’t you know that 65 is the new 55?! You clearly have very little contact with these poor old seniors!! I see people of all age groups, I am frequently amazed at how vibrant and active many in their seventys can be. Many take on new ‘careers’ after they retire from their work-a-day jobs. New careers like golfing and volunteer work. Imagine the impact on local businesses if seniors now have to stay home until their ride shows up! Prehaps we have a better health care system than Japan, that keeps our seniors veable longer. T. (less) Cyreus
March 20th, 2008 at 2:08 pm -
Jason Cyr said:
@Tbebrin…its is all good until a senior citizen mistakes the gas for the brake and plows through an unsuspecting crowd…
Remember this video:
http://video.aol.com/video-detail/crazy-driver-impatiently-plows-over-crowd/403097870March 20th, 2008 at 3:42 pm -
Neil Langley said:
Law of unintended Consequences
Hi Jason,
I would like to explore the law of unintended consequences in this case economic. It is my understanding from previous research that approximately $2 trillion in discretionary income resides in the 65 y.o. demographic. That’s nearly half the value of the current US economy. A portion of their spending is based on being out and about driving themselves and company to and fro in many cases in their car that they purchased often a new car.
By reducing the numbers of drivers in this demographic however slowly you would purpose phasing out their right to drive would have a negative impact on consumer spending. This equates to an opportunity cost for the benefits that you extol for in removing these buyers as foot traffic/drive buys would entail retraining their buying habits and would not be an inconsequential economic drag.
It simply gets back to ya can’t teach an ol’ dog new tricks or at least not cheaply.
April 13th, 2008 at 2:32 pm -
Jcyreus said:
@ Neil – I don’t believe that they would simply stop spending, they would just spend their money in different ways on differents types of products and services.
I’m not talking about taking away anyone’s civil rights here, what I was suggesting was that businesses have new opportunities for offering products and services to the growing population of elderly Americans which could effectively gain them as new customers or increase customer loyalty while improving on road safety for both the elderly and those with whom they share the road.
Make sense?
April 14th, 2008 at 6:00 am
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