Is it wrong to use someone else’s discounts on items?
Several weeks ago, on Veterans Day, my grandson gave me a call to let me know that he had just received a free breakfast made available to all active military members. Later that day, he thought he’d check in at the restaurant that was offering 10 free boneless chicken wings to any veteran or active-duty military personnel with a valid ID who dined in. Military.com published a long list of restaurants that were offering discounts or free stuff to military members on Veterans Day. As voracious an appetite as my grandson sometimes has, it was unlikely even he would be able to avail himself of all the wares being offered.
The Baseball Hall of Fame doesn’t limit its military discount to Veterans Day. The woman I’d eat bees for and I were pleasantly surprised when we took him to Cooperstown several years ago and learned that as an active member of the Army, his admission was free. There are a number of other places that offer discounts to anyone with a valid military ID.
It would never cross our minds to ask our grandson to try to use his military discount for us. He could, I suppose, have some of those 10 boneless wings wrapped up to take home and offer some to us. But going in with the intention of doing so would not honor the terms of the discount being offered. Besides, it’s highly unlikely there would be any leftovers.
Buying gifts for others with his discount might be fine as long as the offer didn’t specify any purchases must be for personal use. In some cases, such as USO centers that are set up for active military personnel use, he is permitted to bring his spouse and child if they are with him. In each of these cases, the rules of the discount are what drives how to properly use them.
It's not the same with other discounts being offered to various groups. If I, for example, use my AARP card to get a discount on airline tickets or a hotel room for me as well as other members of my family who are not AARP members, that’s fair game since AARP places no restrictions on using any benefits for family members. Similarly, if I’m a member of a Costco warehouse club, I can bring a nonmember in with me. They can choose items to purchase, but they have to be paid for by an active member.
At the university where I work, there’s an online website that is full of discounts for tickets to sporting events, museums, theater, ballet and other cultural activities. To get to the site, you have to have an active employee ID. But once there, there’s no restriction on whom you’re buying any tickets for.
The answer to whether you can use someone else’s discount to purchase items is that it depends. You should never try to pretend you’re someone you’re not or a member or a group you’re not to get a discount. But if there are no prohibitions on how a discount can be used, there’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of the offer.
As tempting as it might be to skirt the restrictions for getting the discount, the right thing is to always follow the rules.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice, is a senior lecturer in public policy and director of the communications program at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.
Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com.
Follow him on Twitter @jseglin.
(c) 2025 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
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