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Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

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Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#71

Post by micromacrofoot »

neodymiumphish wrote: post #42
gnicholas wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would often forget to type "smile" when searching for stuff, but then I'd just add to cart, close the window, and go to my cart via smile. That seemed to work. But I think we can all see this for what it is — belt tightening. Will they increase other philanthropic activities to the tune of what they were previously giving away via Smile? I would be very, very surprised if so.

They actually might. Whatever the overhead was in managing and tracking payments to that many charities based on payments from that many customers had to be significant. Instead, they could just throw 50 mil across the top 10 each year and not have to deal with managing the smile program anymore.

big corporate donations require 0 engineers, that’s a huge savings

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#72

Post by nickthegreek »

shepherdjerred wrote: post #43

While it's sad to see this program close, I feel like backlash isn't the answer. How are companies supposed to create beneficial programs like this if they know they're expected to keep it forever?

For one, they can afford it. Two, it factors into my decision on the value of Prime to me as a consumer. Prime also offers me the ability to sub to a twitch steamer for free every week. That puts real money in creators pockets. YouTube Premium gives creators more cash when I visit than a free user. I enjoy using services that allow me to give back to creators.

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#73

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

iambateman wrote: post #14

The fun part of Amazon Smile was that it let customers decide how they wanted to change the world…but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much. This is surprisingly honest for corporatespeak and I think reflects the god-complex which tends to follow people who spend a lot of time taking in billions of dollars. The reality is there were a lot of charities - maybe even most of them - who wer…

> …but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much.

Or, a less cynical take is that they really can have more impact by focusing on fewer charities. Another commenter posted Amazon Smile's Form 990 from 2018 [1], the most recent year on Pro Publica's website that has a full listing of all the charities that received funds.

The total PDF is 2121 pages long, and the list of charities starts on page 18. They made about $37.5 million in total donations that year. The top charity, the ASPCA, received $1.8 million that year (note that the ASPCA had total revenue of $267.7 million that year). But the main point is that the charity on the top of the second page, which is only about 100 charities from the top (ordered by total amount received) received just over $10,000, and the charity at the top of the third page received $5659. And there are still over 2100 pages of charities to go!

So it seems imminently reasonable to me that, rather than give a couple hundred bucks a year to thousands and thousands and thousands of charities, to instead consolidate that to fewer charities where it can do some sizable good.

1. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/46262...

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#74

Post by Shank »

According to Amazon, I generated $326.89 in donations. I feel good enough about this impact to have installed Smile Always on all of my browsers and resisted using the mobile app entirely. It’s not super impactful but it’s still kinda sad to see it go.

I think based on the Amazon’s statement, which states that it didn’t have the desired impact, they could’ve just rolled it out as the default. The reality is that it’s now 5% back to Amazon and you can trivially calculate that back in missed profits they didn’t get.

Belt tightening or legitimate disappointment with the impact?

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#75

Post by mardifoufs »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #73
iambateman wrote: post #14

The fun part of Amazon Smile was that it let customers decide how they wanted to change the world…but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much. This is surprisingly honest for corporatespeak and I think reflects the god-complex which tends to follow people who spend a lot of time taking in billions of dollars. The reality is there were a lot of charities - maybe even most of them - who wer…

> …but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much. Or, a less cynical take is that they really can have more impact by focusing on fewer charities. Another commenter posted Amazon Smile's Form 990 from 2018 [1], the most recent year on Pro Publica's website that has a full listing of all the charities that received funds. The total PDF is 2121 pages long, and the list of charities starts on…

Couldn't they just make the charity list much shorter? While still giving users a choice?

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#76

Post by jvnnmfjvfjvflkj »

gedy wrote: post #39
iambateman wrote: post #14

The fun part of Amazon Smile was that it let customers decide how they wanted to change the world…but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much. This is surprisingly honest for corporatespeak and I think reflects the god-complex which tends to follow people who spend a lot of time taking in billions of dollars. The reality is there were a lot of charities - maybe even most of them - who wer…

Yeah it's a bummer, we used it to donate to our local charter school.

What prevents you from donating to your local charter school without Amazon Smile?

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#77

Post by jzb »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #73
iambateman wrote: post #14

The fun part of Amazon Smile was that it let customers decide how they wanted to change the world…but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much. This is surprisingly honest for corporatespeak and I think reflects the god-complex which tends to follow people who spend a lot of time taking in billions of dollars. The reality is there were a lot of charities - maybe even most of them - who wer…

> …but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much. Or, a less cynical take is that they really can have more impact by focusing on fewer charities. Another commenter posted Amazon Smile's Form 990 from 2018 [1], the most recent year on Pro Publica's website that has a full listing of all the charities that received funds. The total PDF is 2121 pages long, and the list of charities starts on…

But smaller organizations will be missed entirely. My charity is a cat shelter in St. Louis. I’d rather they get my cut than a larger charity that means less to me and has bigger fundraising machinery.

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#78

Post by laverya »

vwcx wrote: post #24

It's amazing to look at the AmazonSmile form 990. It's a 2000 page pdf with a list of every charity that received a donation along with the amount: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/46262...

[flagged]

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#79

Post by culi »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #73
iambateman wrote: post #14

The fun part of Amazon Smile was that it let customers decide how they wanted to change the world…but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much. This is surprisingly honest for corporatespeak and I think reflects the god-complex which tends to follow people who spend a lot of time taking in billions of dollars. The reality is there were a lot of charities - maybe even most of them - who wer…

> …but now they’ve decided they - Amazon - know better, thank you very much. Or, a less cynical take is that they really can have more impact by focusing on fewer charities. Another commenter posted Amazon Smile's Form 990 from 2018 [1], the most recent year on Pro Publica's website that has a full listing of all the charities that received funds. The total PDF is 2121 pages long, and the list of charities starts on…

not sure how that follows... the impacts of donating has diminishing returns. I'd much rather see a diverse of array of causes supported. I doubt any of these charities rely on Amazon Smile as a primary source of donations but a lot of smaller charities would benefit

Funny sidenote is that my chosen charity was actually ProPublica

Re: Amazon Closing AmazonSmile

#80

Post by CoastalCoder »

laverya wrote: post #78
vwcx wrote: post #24

It's amazing to look at the AmazonSmile form 990. It's a 2000 page pdf with a list of every charity that received a donation along with the amount: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/46262...

[flagged]

Honest question: why would tech companies oppose those charities in particular?
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