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Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

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Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#21

Post by kelnos »

TMWNN wrote: post #17
ferminaut wrote: post #10

> All US charities have received $400,026,236.70 as of December 2022. $400 million in donations to charities and Amazon has the gall to say "the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped."

One million eligible recipients around the world, according to Amazon, so $400 per recipient over the decade the program has existed.

That's the average, sure, but since Amazon allows each customer to pick a charity, I imagine some charities got a lot more, and some a lot less.

According to my account page, I've generated $100.71 for the charity I selected, and, overall, they've received $273.64 as a part of the program. So I guess the charity I selected wasn't all that popular. But I expect other, more mainstream charities, were.

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#22

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

One of my favorite things about AmazonSmile is that I got the pick the charities based on what I considered important. Many times charity giving by companies can have different motivations (an example is Microsoft "donating" Windows and Office to schools so that that is what kids grow up more comfortable with).

By being able to choose who go the donations, it felt empowering and less likely the company was using charity to pursue secondary interests.

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#23

Post by stonogo »

TMWNN wrote: post #17
ferminaut wrote: post #10

> All US charities have received $400,026,236.70 as of December 2022. $400 million in donations to charities and Amazon has the gall to say "the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped."

One million eligible recipients around the world, according to Amazon, so $400 per recipient over the decade the program has existed.

Assuming equal distribution is disingenuous. FreeBSD as an example has received nearly twenty thousand dollars through this program. It made a difference.

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#25

Post by patwolf »

I now reflexively start typing smile.amazon.com instead of amazon.com into the url bar. Hopefully the smile url will continue to work because it's going to take me a while to unlearn.

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#28

Post by shusaku »

TMWNN wrote: post #17
ferminaut wrote: post #10

> All US charities have received $400,026,236.70 as of December 2022. $400 million in donations to charities and Amazon has the gall to say "the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped."

One million eligible recipients around the world, according to Amazon, so $400 per recipient over the decade the program has existed.

Checking my account right now: I generated $2.86, and my charity received $399.79. Yay for being average I guess!

I’m surprised they couldn’t squeeze more out of this program though. With credit cards, I think the points system definitely works to make you feel better about your purchase.

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#29

Post by sokoloff »

justapassenger wrote: post #12

Very nice corporate speak for “our financials look bad for 2023, so we’re canceling program that’s eating our margins”.

It might be worse than that. I’m cookied into some affiliate or other for Amazon essentially all the time.

I always assumed Smile was mostly a way for Amazon to get me to direct that to a charity instead of a stale affiliate link.

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#30

Post by atomicnumber3 »

kelnos wrote: post #21
TMWNN wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One million eligible recipients around the world, according to Amazon, so $400 per recipient over the decade the program has existed.

That's the average, sure, but since Amazon allows each customer to pick a charity, I imagine some charities got a lot more, and some a lot less. According to my account page, I've generated $100.71 for the charity I selected, and, overall, they've received $273.64 as a part of the program. So I guess the charity I selected wasn't all that popular. But I expect other, more mainstream charities, were.

The FSF has received almost 35k. That's not bad imo.
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