Senior tax-exempt points card

Abstract

Shopping is the only activity that humans continue throughout their entire lives, and since the purchasing power needed for shopping decreases significantly in old age compared to working age, a system that returns the fruits of shopping during working age to retirement is the most rational, effective, and ideal. However, the challenge is that such a point system does not currently exist anywhere in the world (as of the first quarter of the 21st century). [Solution] A point card used for shopping will be offered that provides services beneficial to long-term life planning. Points accumulated during working years will be redeemed in old age, allowing members to shop at tax-exclusive prices for life in their retirement (more precisely, they will still bear the consumption tax, but the equivalent amount of points will be used to offset the consumption tax, so the payment will be at the tax-exclusive price). A senior tax-exempt point card will be provided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention provides a service beneficial to a long-term life plan for a point card used in shopping. It reduces the points saved during the active years to the elderly period, enabling members to shop at tax-exclusive prices for life in their old age (accurately, consumption tax is borne, but the points equivalent to the consumption tax are allocated, so the payment amount is the tax-exclusive display price). It relates to a senior non-taxable point card.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a point card is a form of marketing strategy and has evolved as an effort by companies selling products with similar quality and price to differentiate themselves from competing companies. There are cases where it is implemented by a single company and cases where multiple different industries collaborate. In the era when DX was underdeveloped, consumers received seals corresponding to the purchase price from the store, pasted them in a dedicated booklet, and selected their favorite prizes from the gift catalog according to the number of booklets. Currently, by being managed by the electromagnetic recording medium of the host computer, only the seal has become points and the booklet has become an electronic charge, but the scheme by which companies surround consumers and the mindset by which consumers are attracted have not changed at all. The mainstream method of using points is to allocate the saved points as part or all of the payment amount for future purchases, but there is also a method of directly discounting the cash value on the spot. The expiration date of points may be indefinite or may have an expiration date and disappear after the expiration. Many people believe that, regarding terrestrial television broadcasting, public broadcasting is paid, while private broadcasting is free. This is incorrect. The correct understanding is that public broadcasting uses a direct collection system, while private broadcasting uses an indirect collection system. Public broadcasters directly bill viewers. Private broadcasters bill sponsors for advertising fees. Sponsors calculate advertising costs in addition to raw material costs, processing costs, administrative costs, and sales costs, and add these to the product price. Therefore, the viewing fee portion of the product price is borne by the product buyer. Similarly, point reward costs are accounted for as sales promotion expenses, meaning they are either included in the cost or used to increase profit margins. In short, consumers receive no benefit from points. Rather, their freedom of choice regarding when, where, and what to buy is restricted, leading to the disadvantage of compulsive purchasing. [Prior art documents] [Patent Documents]

[0003] [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0004] This had the following drawbacks: First, let's consider what "shopping" is. Shopping is the only social activity in human life that is continuously repeated throughout one's entire life. There are activities that humans continuously repeat from birth to death. The main ones are breathing, sleeping, eating, excretion, bathing, and others. These are physiological activities, not social activities. Work and mortgages are social activities that span decades, but they are only a part of life, not the whole, because they do not take place during adolescence or old age. Only shopping is an activity that is continuously repeated throughout one's entire life, from childhood to old age. Activities other than shopping may become something one becomes engrossed in at a particular time, but eventually one grows tired of them, becomes estranged from them, and their percentage of one's life decreases. In early childhood, it's coloring books, origami, clay, toys, dolls... In elementary school, it's plastic models, bicycles, fishing, insect collecting, stargazing... In adolescence, it's sports, music, the opposite sex, fighting, bullying, studying for exams... In young adulthood, it's part-time jobs, beauty treatments, fashion, cars, love hotels... In adulthood, it's matchmaking, buying a home, childcare / education, travel, izakayas (Japanese pubs), gourmet food, culture, social media... In middle age and beyond, it's stocks, asset management, clubs, anti-aging, infidelity. In old age, the main focus is on healthy life expectancy, lifelong learning, family temples, mutual aid associations, bonsai, haiku, soba noodle making, Noh mask carving, and the Shikoku pilgrimage... Thus, as people age, their interests and passions change, and they become estranged from things they were once engrossed in. Hobbies, entertainment, fans, gambling, drinking, smoking—everything flows on impatiently. However, when people develop dementia and enter nursing homes, they may rediscover things like coloring books and origami. But of all human activities, only "shopping" is carried out constantly, consistently, and without interruption. Except for the brief periods at the ends of life, such as infancy and bedridden periods, as long as a person is alive, they cannot escape the act of consumption. Truly, "life is shopping."

[0005] Next, let's consider the fact that "shopping" requires money. Consumers have high incomes and purchasing power during their working years, so they can buy a lot. On the other hand, in retirement, incomes are low and purchasing power is small, so they can only buy a little. Here, to ignore the effects of inflation, we present comparative indicators regarding the difference in income between working years and retirement. For example, the cost of driving school and the cost of childbirth are the same in any era. The initial taxi fare and the cost of ramen are the same. The price per liter of gasoline and cola are the same. Movies and paperback books, the cost of attending a national university and a regular passenger car, prostitution and funeral expenses, cigarettes and hot springs, retirement pay and the building price of a detached house are the same. And, monthly income in retirement is the same as the starting salary of a new graduate. Shopping is the only activity that humans continue throughout their entire lives, and since the purchasing power needed for shopping decreases significantly in old age compared to working age, a system that returns the fruits of shopping during working age to retirement is the most rational, effective, and ideal. However, the challenge is that such a point system does not currently exist anywhere in the world (as of the first quarter of the 21st century). [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] This service allows consumers to accumulate points earned through point cards during their working years, with the points being redeemed starting in their retirement years. Each time a member makes a purchase in retirement, the equivalent of the consumption tax is applied, effectively giving them the benefit of shopping at tax-exclusive prices throughout their lives. There are two reasons why the service period can be set to lifelong, even though it is unknown at what age members will die. Firstly, it is calculated separately for men and women from the average life expectancy table at the start of the service. Then, according to the "law of large numbers," members who live longer than average and those who die prematurely cancel each other out, converging to the average within the margin of error, just like in the life insurance business. Secondly, the expected survival period is counted in months, and individual monthly usage limits are set according to each individual's accumulated points. This ensures fairness in the system and acts as a limiter on excessive purchases, making it mathematically profitable and enabling product development. The present invention is a senior tax-exempt points card with the above configuration. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] 1. In retirement, when income decreases compared to working years, one must make efforts to save on living expenses. At such a time, being granted the perk of being able to "shop at tax-exclusive prices for life" would be wonderful for household finances. 2. In an aging society where everyone is anxious about their old age, a reduction in consumer spending effectively has the same effect as an increase in pensions. 3. Choosing services that alleviate future anxieties provides greater psychological satisfaction than receiving short-term discounts during one's working years. 4. By accurately capturing consumer needs, this marketing strategy can differentiate the company from competitors. 5. In effect, it has the same effect as joining a small personal pension plan, but you're unknowingly accumulating contributions just by doing your normal shopping, and you earn points according to the amount of shopping you do, which incentivizes increased spending. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This is an explanatory diagram of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] The following describes embodiments for carrying out the present invention. This service allows consumers to accumulate points earned through point cards during their working years, with the points being redeemed starting in their retirement years. Each time a member makes a purchase, the equivalent of the consumption tax is applied to the points, effectively giving them the benefit of shopping at tax-exclusive prices throughout their lives. Points earned from all members' purchases are pooled together, converted into cash, and then managed by fund managers in the asset management department according to a long-term stable portfolio plan. While it varies depending on individual circumstances, a person's working life typically spans 40 to 50 years, from graduating from high school, university, or graduate school (master's degree) and starting work at a company between the ages of 18 and 24 until retirement at 65 or 70. Assuming a typical lifetime earnings range of 150 million to 300 million yen, the total amount spent using point cards can be calculated by subtracting taxes, social security, and public utility charges from lifetime earnings, and then further subtracting the total amount of shopping expenses that are not eligible for points. Assuming a net worth of 100 million yen, and a point accrual rate of 0.6%, the points would amount to 600,000 yen. This is in addition to the points earned from double, five-times, and ten-times campaigns, and furthermore, the investment gains from converting all members' points into cash and investing them over the long term. If we assume 1.5 million yen and divide that by 25 years (300 months) from age 65 to 90, it comes out to 5,000 yen per month. Assuming a future consumption tax rate of 20%, the monthly limit for purchases made at pre-tax prices would be 25,000 yen. Any amount exceeding that limit will not be applied to purchases made at the regular price including tax. Therefore, the monthly spending limit will vary for each individual member depending on their lifetime earnings and the total amount of points-eligible purchases made during their working years.

[0010] There are two reasons why the service period can be set to lifelong, even though it is unknown at what age members will die. Firstly, it is calculated separately for men and women from the average life expectancy table at the start of the service. Then, according to the "law of large numbers," members who live longer than average and those who die prematurely cancel each other out, converging to the average within the margin of error, just like in the life insurance business. Secondly, the expected survival period is counted in months, and individual monthly usage limits are set according to each individual's accumulated points. This ensures fairness in the system and acts as a limiter on excessive purchases, making it mathematically profitable and enabling product development. The service will begin at age 65, a time when individuals' living circumstances change significantly due to retirement and the start of pension payments, but a certain range will be provided to accommodate individual preferences. The monthly spending limit, which grants lifetime exemption from consumption tax, is determined by accumulated points and the service start date, so the spending limit in retirement will always increase as points accumulate during working years. By regularly notifying users of this, it is possible to build anticipation for the future and stimulate their desire to purchase.

[0011] In the future society, the consumption tax rate is essentially unknown. The possibility of the consumption tax being abolished cannot be ruled out. Furthermore, basic income or variable consumption tax rate cards categorized by income level may be introduced. In that case, consumers with a lower tax rate than the standard rate will face the problem of not being able to use up all their points when using points equivalent to the consumption tax. They would end up with a large amount of points accumulated during their working years remaining unused. Therefore, instead of a service that uses points equivalent to the consumption tax, a system similar to the current one, where points can be freely used towards product purchases within the balance, should be offered as an option.

[0012] The theory of relativity, which states that even if the prices of all goods and services rise due to inflation, the equivalence principle and invariant laws that preserve the relationships between specific items in the market still operate, has already been explained and several examples have been presented. Here, we will add a model example. In this case, the consumption tax rate and the senior discount rate are the same. What this means is that while income is halved in old age, the social consideration of senior discounts is only applied in a limited number of industries, which is a social problem. Currently, senior discounts are established in some areas such as restaurants, barbershops, movie theaters, admission fees to public facilities, and out-of-pocket expenses for medical care and prescription drugs. On the other hand, they are not widespread in areas such as daily necessities (food, clothing, daily goods, consumables, home appliances, durable consumer goods, etc.), housing, automobiles, and public utility charges. In terms of taxes and public charges, income tax and resident tax are effectively applied, but property tax is not. The same applies to consumption tax. If, in the future, a particular supermarket were to run an advertisement stating, "All products are 10% off for customers aged 65 and over," it could monopolize the elderly population of that town. Furthermore, it could also capture the purchasing demand of family, friends, and acquaintances who would ask the elderly to do the shopping for them. This invention provides point-based businesses with a similar overwhelming differentiation that can help them gain market share.

Claims

[Claim 1] This senior tax-exempt point card is characterized by a system where consumers earn points based on the purchase price when shopping at affiliated stores of a specific company, its subsidiaries, or multiple affiliated companies, with points accumulating in proportion to the number of purchases and the amount paid. However, unlike conventional point cards, the accumulated points are not redeemed in a short period of time, but are accumulated until the member reaches old age, and the redemption begins around the time when the member transitions from a high-income working life to a low-income retirement life. The point balance, which is the source of the redemption funds, is equally allocated based on the average life expectancy at the time the redemption begins, and a usage limit is set for each individual member. Within that limit, the amount equivalent to the consumption tax on the price of each product is deducted from the points, so that members can effectively shop at tax-exclusive prices for life, as long as they do not exceed their monthly limit.

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