Posted by Lending Club :: July 26, 2007 @ 12:13 pm

A few days ago, I was talking to my brothers and sisters, when one of them mentioned a trip to Disneyland that my family had taken when I was only a couple years old. They all started cracking up---something very funny had happened. You know that feeling you get when everyone is laughing at an inside joke and you have no idea what’s going on? Man, I wanted to know what was so funny!

As soon as they told me, I couldn’t stop laughing either---my dad (a notorious penny-pincher) had apparently asked the Disney ticket agent what discounts they offered. Then he started pulling out his discount tricks: AARP, student IDs, child prices. Then he pulled out the kicker---a check with his old L.A. address on it. He had moved away from L.A. 10 YEARS EARLIER, but he kept it in his wallet JUST IN CASE HE WENT TO DISNEYLAND.

My dad is ridiculous sometimes, but he taught me something very important---a lot of places offer steep discounts, and all you have to do is ask for them. Just yesterday, I went to a movie and asked for a student discount. I didn’t even have my student ID with me, but they had no problem giving me the discount.

I just saw an interesting post by Tim Ferriss (author of the amazing book The Four Hour Workweek) where he describes how he saved hundreds of dollars on a rental car just by asking for a discount.

I can think of several times where I overdrew money from my bank account. My bank charged me 20 bucks each time, but just by asking, they waived the fee. Be nice, cheery and polite, and you’ll be surprised how many discounts you can get.

What’s the worst that can happen? They say no. The best that can happen is that you’ll save a lot of money. You’ll never find a better ROI than that.