AIBU to be miffed about Chester Zoo?

Difficult one as can see both sides. It does piss me off that some people seem to think because you aren't receiving benefits you can afford these trips. I don't claim anything but not exactly rolling it in. Some months can be a real struggle. The joys of being the 'squeezed middle'.

I guess it's difficult for Chester Zoo (which honestly I don't even rate) can judge who can afford it and who can't. I think they are doing their best with it and I'm glad children can have this experience if parents want it for them.

The bigger picture here though is wealth inequality. Imho we need a wealth tax immediately and many jobs that are low paid need to be increased to minimum £20 an hour, so many families can come off benefits.

That's a whole other argument though...

I'm on UC and work FT as a single parent., most holidays we stay at home using food banks, this scheme means my children get a zoo,trip once a year.
Think before you speak,

Will do thank you. Never checked tbh but ds loves the outdoors so if it helps then great!

Always check the details of these £1/£3 schemes as some of them include DLA - this one included.

That’s the (Xmas) spirit!

Yes, a tabard of shame. Why not? Then everyone knows to avoid the grotty ‘benefits people’

Great! Thank you. May have a look

Hey, why not have the people who are taking advantage of this offer wear a grey tabard, so everyone knows they are on benefits.
I would not put it past some people to think that would be a good idea.

Absolutely this!!!! 👏👏👏

You can also qualify for the £1 ticket if you get DLA or PIP so you can use it too!

Twat

They can't though. The discount is part of a scheme with strict criteria.

They're not actually doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.

If you are not eligible for UC it’s because you earn over a certain threshold.

How can working families who aren’t eligible for UC be ‘worse off’ because UC is based on income and so your argument is completely invalid.

If it was just for those who receive full UC and did not work at all then I could understand your point more but it sounds like you’ve been dragged into the misconception that everyone on UC is lazy and can’t be bothered to work.

Why should kids of lawyers have the chance to go to a zoo but not the kids of Tesco staff?

Just be happy you can pay yourself without relying on charity offers to take your children to the zoo. I am sure most people on pip/dla would have preferred that too.

You're being a dick.

Chester Zoo is a charity that does amazing work in animal protection, reintroduction of vulnerable species into the wild, and education. It costs a stupid amount of money to run an ethical zoo and fund a breeding programme. What they do matters in the wider world and their research has been groundbreaking. Going to a zoo like that is expensive because running a zoo in that way is expensive.

We go every two or three years and it's always a wonderful day. I chose it for my 50th birthday celebration. But I don't mind that it's a very rare treat because I understand that it is an amazing and remarkable thing, to be able to see lions and tigers and bears (oh my!) here in the U.K.

There are many families who never go because the cost makes it impossible. Ever.

In the past, zoos were less expensive because they were less ethical or animal-led. A bunch of exotic animals in small cells with no enrichment nor stimulation is very much cheaper than world class care, huge enclosures based on enrichment and careful breeding programmes.

You struggle, as most people do, with rising prices. You aren't wealthy or necessarily comfortable. (I'm sorry about that.) Neither are the majority of us. But we can still afford to go to Chester Zoo at least two or three times in our lives. Those on UC or PIP frequently can't.

I would far rather the children of those families see the animals of Chester Zoo and are exposed to the magic, awe and wonder of animals than my family get a cheap chance to visit one of my favourite places.

Outreach matters.

I can play devils advocate here. I work full time as does dh. We get 0 benefits due to being medium earners. Ds is disabled and in a specialist school. HE gets DLA. That's his money not ours. A trip to the zoo would come out of this as do most trips in school holidays but not all. The rest is put aside for him for equipment he needs. So, I get ops point of view fully as I get other people's. Everyone's curcumstance is unique and we have to respect that.

Well we are going to take advantage of it! A £5 zoo trip is a small treat for a lifetime of looking after my disabled child, once she reaches 18 we won’t get the same benefits, I’ll have been 18 years out of the workplace caring for her, have no work place pension when I reach retirement age etc. But yes, get upset we get a cheap zoo trip once in her childhood.

But it does. Denying it doesn't mean it's not happening.

Ditto. OP can have my cancer; I’m done with it!

Define fair. Our household income is £125k+ a year. I can afford to pay for the zoo, any time.
My cousin cares for two very SEND kids alone. With no income, as can't work, just benefits, and can't afford the zoo.
Fair doesn't mean the same- fair to me in this case means I pay full price, and my cousin is subsidised.

I honestly think most of the people moaning about this would not have been planning to visit in the 2 weeks this offer is running anyway.

'Working families' - so you mean people with more money than those on benefits? So more money to pay for stuff, and have a better quality of life? Are you for real, or are you sat in Kemi Badenoch's office pumping out divisive Tory propaganda?

Whenever you feel that pang of jealousy that there is an offer for people on certain benefits and it doesn’t apply to you - stop and think. Would you switch places with them? If the answer is no, then shut up.

I don’t qualify for these offers and I am a single parent on £40K. I don’t have much spare money but I could afford a trip to the zoo if I wanted. I am happy these opportunities exist for families who may never otherwise be able to go.

I sometimes used Tesco clubcard points for days out or look for other deals.

So you want them to offer £1 entry to everyone? People on UC and people not?

I’ve never understood this mentality. The cost to you hasn’t gone up. It’s the same price it was last year. But because people with less than you are being offered a big discount all of a sudden you can’t afford it and think you’re hard done by because you can’t get the discount rate. What other people have and have not makes zero difference to you. As I always tell my children. If so and so has more than you, you still have the same amount you did before. Makes no difference what someone else gets.

Same. You're welcome to my life, OP.