Show HN: Rent Elderly People – Skip Lines and Get Senior Perks

[jeanmayer]

First of all, of course, this is a joke. But... what if it's not? What if it really makes sense? Take a look and let us know what you think!

[II2II]

Let's put it this way: the idea makes so little sense that it has never been done at scale. That is saying a lot since it is:

- An obvious idea. People routinely benefit off of senior and student benefits from friends and family members.

- There are more than enough people who lack scruples and would outright exploit seniors. I would imagine that there are even more people who would be happy to enter arrangements of mutual benefit.

The underlying problem is that such a company would erode social trust. There would be a very short term opportunity to exploit the loophole, so to speak, before senior benefits would be tightly controlled, reduced until such a scheme is no longer profitable, or outright eliminated.

And that is taking the perspective of people who would partake. There are more than a few people who would find such schemes morally reprehensible and would never participate (which would limit the market).

[xivzgrev]

10 years ago there was reservation hop.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7985137

Coincidentally, if Mayer is your last name (from your handle) then you even share the same last name

https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/reservation-hop-most...

[jeanmayer]

yes, Mayer is my last name. That's a funny coincidence.

[qup]

Hopefully these geezers won't have actual mobility issues, or you'll be outcompeted by a company with speedier seniors.

[ooterness]

Reminds me of Punchr, a satirical startup that matches bullies with people that deserve to get punched.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8doxdoQTCkQ

[snapplebobapple]

makes me nostalgic for 2014, back when, while not being ok, it was still allowed to say "gaytarded" without fear of a full cancellation.

[ksoped]

The benefits for seniors made me sad. Poor old people, this might actually be a good idea if it weren't for everything that's obviously wrong with it.

[mchinen]

I enjoyed this.

I wished a bit that the website's "Increased Lifespan (source)" also claimed a 50% lifespan increase from the linked SA blog and associative study that showed a 50% likelihood of survival increase over a given period.

[gregjor]

I know it’s a joke, but if real it could cause businesses to stop offering senior discounts once they get wise to the scam.

[jeanmayer]

well, that makes sense

[ungreased0675]

Even if this is a joke, it’s brilliant.

[zckly]

where can I invest?

[jeanmayer]

click "Learn more" on top banner and you can pay us to build it <3

[rswail]

I mean, of course it's a joke, and yet...

[rvz]

This just in:

rentelderlypeople.com emerges out of stealth and raises $100M from prominent VCs and angel investors to change the world and disrupt the senior citizens market. /s

[OccamsMirror]

Nah, they're too late, ZIRP is over.