“For years, Morton Charney used to show up for dollar days at Shea Stadium, when senior citizens were admitted to New York Mets baseball games for just a buck,” writes Kelly Greene in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“He would pack some sandwiches and take public transportation, and the whole outing would cost him about $10 — less if he decided not to treat himself to ice cream.”

“But the Bronx, N.Y., native hasn’t been to the ballpark lately because the Mets changed their senior-citizen discount plan this year. Instead of dollar days, the team now offers seniors half-price tickets 10 times a year, with the cheapest seat in the house selling for $6.”

“Mr. Charney feels like the victim of a squeeze play. ‘They’ll give the tickets to children, because they’re the future,’ the 69-year-old retired government worker says. ‘I’m history from their standpoint.’ “

“One of the good things about getting old used to be the discounts — 10% off a hotel room here, a few dollars off dinner there. But as the 50-plus crowd swells, some companies are trimming those perks or ditching them altogether. One in every five Americans is 55 or older, and their ranks are growing fast. They’re more active than ever and have a higher net worth than any other age group. A lot of companies are asking: Why should they be pampered?”

” ‘This is the most advantaged, entitled group in America,’ says Ken Dychtwald, a 51-year-old gerontologist in San Francisco, who worked as a consultant to the health-care industry in the 1980s and helped establish some of the discounts he now lambastes. Recently, Dr. Dychtwald says, he watched two older couples get out of a new Mercedes in the parking lot of a movie theater. ‘Three of them got in line and got their senior discounts,’ he says, with some anger in his voice. ‘You can dig yourself a hole … if you give stuff away to people over 50.’ “

“The discount craze got its start in 1955, when the National Retired Teachers Association won cut-rate health-insurance premiums for its members. Three years later, that group spawned the American Association of Retired Persons, now called AARP, which negotiated more deals with hotel chains and other companies. Retailers discovered that the discounts helped them drum up business with the frugal generation that had lived through the Depression.”

“In the 1980s, the trend expanded to hospitals, which offered room upgrades and other incentives to lure then-lucrative Medicare patients. Quick to follow were banks, seeking the age group’s hefty deposits. Airlines and restaurants jumped in with discounts to lure older customers during off-peak hours. Today, the deals cover just about everything. Bally’s Total Fitness offers breaks of $50 to $100 on membership fees for customers 62 and over. Jiffy Lube greases the 55-plus crowd with 10% discounts at many shops, and Great Clips cuts at least $2 off its haircut prices for people 65 and older.”

“But now some businesses are questioning whether the price breaks — which begin at age 50 for AARP programs — make sense. Today’s seniors not only have more money than ever, they live longer, too. As the size of the elderly population grows, the discounts are becoming more expensive than providers ever imagined.”