Purely as an observer, its interesting that people over 55 are deemed "senior ".
It's all about making money.
T-Mobile (the cellphone service in question)...probably "crunched" the number's...and found that offering this sort of cell plan to the 55 and up age group made sense financially (the company would make money). After they did this...then they needed to put a "label" to this plan...and "Senior" was probably the label they agreed on (best "label" they could think of). Lol
If they had crunched the numbers in a different way (let's say a 50 and over group...or a 45 & over age group...etc.)...they most likely would have had to come up with a different "label".
Of course many/most of the T-Mobile sales & marketing employee's in charge of this project are all probably under 40 (the Marketing folks might be even under 35 or even 30)...so I guess "55" sounds "senior" to them. Lol
This "senior" label also fits psychologically in with a number of other things in the United States:
- Folks that have done well financially (investments, employment, etc.)...55 is one of the "magical" numbers when these folks consider taking early-retirement. So I guess at first glance...anyone that is retired then falls into the "senior" category (at least to younger folks working for a cellphone service company trying to come up with "label" for a 55+ cellphone plan).
- You may have heard of AARP (American Association of Retired Person's). It's a private company that offers all sorts of plan's, insurance, and discounts for retired person's. Minimum age to be eligible to join AARP is 50. So again...the greater population's "age association" with the words "age", "retired", "senior", etc....keeps getting pushed downwards (younger & younger).
- Lots of stores, restaurants, vacation destinations, national parks, museum's, public transportation, etc....have reduced rates for retired person's. Usually you need to be around 60-65 to qualify for these discounts. So I guess if a "discounted" cellphone plan is targeted at older individuals (55 and up)...I guess the term "senior" can apply (since that group would include lot's of folks in thier 60's, 70's, 80's, etc.).
Again...it's really all about making money. This company (T-Mobile) dreamt up an age-associated cellphone plan for individual's 55 and over...and needed to come up with a "label" to "paste" on the plan.
And "senior" was the best they could do. In 6-12 months this plan will probably disappear or change to something else...and then the new cellphone plan's the company dream's up will get a different "label". Lol
My 2 cents,
- Nick