KEY POINTS:
About 25 national retail chains have bought into the Government's new SuperGold Card for the elderly - but some of the country's biggest companies, such as Telecom, have snubbed it.
The card, negotiated by Winston Peters' New Zealand First Party in a deal with the Labour Party after the last election, was formally introduced in Auckland yesterday when Mr Peters gave the first card to his 96-year-old mother Joan Peters.
Mrs Peters arrived at the meeting in a wheelchair helped by daughter Heather, the eighth of her 11 children, who lives with her on the family property at Whananaki in Northland. Although frail, she said she was "very proud" of her son Winston, who still has a holiday home at Whananaki.
Heather Peters said Whananaki was an isolated place with no shops but her mother would use the SuperGold card when she went shopping in town "from time to time".
Some 540,000 cards are being mailed this week to everyone aged 65 and over, their spouses and war veterans.
Discount deals ranging from 5 per cent to 25 per cent have been negotiated with national chains such as Big Save Furniture (15 per cent off), Carters Building Supplies (up to 15 per cent off), Postie Plus (5 per cent off) and Dowsons Shoes (10 per cent off on Tuesdays only).
State-owned Kiwibank is wiping all transaction fees and account fees for SuperGold cardholders and Westpac is waiving its annual credit card fee for the first year for new customers only.
But the three other big banks - ASB, ANZ and National Bank - and Telecom and all power companies have refused to join the scheme so far.
Both Cook Strait ferry operators have joined. Interislander is offering 15 per cent off for SuperGold cardholders and Bluebridge is giving them a $50 one-way fare.
But neither Air New Zealand nor any other long-distance travel operator has offered anything. Grey Power vice-president Don Chapman welcomed the scheme but said it fell well short of the range of discounts available through state government "seniors cards" in Australia.
"In Australia, the Government owns the railways and they have huge discounts and get free travel. We were hoping that this would be something similar to that," he said. "But of course how can they get discounts with travel and that when they don't own them?"
He said some local bus and train services already offered discounts for seniors, but Grey Power was "more concerned about some of the bigger issues such as power".
The biggest state-owned power company, Genesis, said it had declined to be involved "for the moment" because any discounts for seniors would have to be paid for through higher charges for everybody else.
"We want to avoid cross-subsidies. We do that by not having any discounts for any particular group," said spokesman Richard Gordon.
Privately-owned TrustPower said the industry depended on selling power at low margins to a large customer base and every previous discount retailer had eventually been swallowed up by larger companies, losing virtually all their retail advantage.
But Contact Energy spokesman Jonathan Hill said his company was still discussing the scheme with officials. "It's a really interesting idea."
Telecom spokeswoman Sarah Berry said Telecom was not considering joining "at this time". But she added: "That said, it's early days yet and we will continue to watch the programme with interest."
The only supermarkets involved so far are New World stores in the lower North Island. They offer to "scan your Fly Buys card at New World and receive exclusive personalised offers and rewards".
Progressive Enterprises, which runs Foodtown, Countdown and Woolworths stores, said it declined to join because its One Card scheme already offered "great value" to customers regardless of age.
TranzRail and InterCity Coachlines said they already offered discounts for the elderly and had not been asked to join the SuperGold scheme.
The general manager of senior services for the Ministry of Social Development, Barry Shea, said the ministry advertised in the Herald and elsewhere to reach companies. Ministry head Peter Hughes wrote personally to the country's top 100 companies.
Mr Peters - who at 62 must wait three years before he is eligible for the card - said 188 businesses had signed up to the scheme by yesterday and the ministry was still talking to another 200.
THE CARD'S DISCOUNTS
PHONES
* TelstraClear: 10 per cent discount on toll calls for six months for new customers.
* Telecom: nil.
SUPERMARKETS
* New World lower North Island: "Personalised offers" with Fly Buys card.
* All other supermarkets: nil.
BANKS
* Kiwibank: Zero transaction fees and account fees.
* Westpac: First-year fees waived for new customers for credit cards.
* ASB, ANZ, National Bank: nil.
POWER
* Nil.
AIRLINES
* Nil.
