Amazon Smile program discontinued

[Disneefun]

Yep. Disappointing and the explanation was totally dishonest. They just don't want to have to give anymore. They want to control when and how much they give and, if the belt needs tightening, this now means that they can give nothing to anyone. Yay for them. #Sarcasm. I keep working to wean myself off of them and this now gives me another push. I'll also now be writing a quarterly check to my charity.

 

[Colleen27]

Just another thing to be annoyed with Amazon about. Our charity of choice was the small private school my girls attended, and they were getting about $1000/year from the program thanks to pretty effective advertising to get school alumni to sign on. No, that's not a lot of money... but it was enough to make it our third biggest fundraiser and unlike the top two, it didn't take hundreds of man-hours of effort to bring in that money.

But I think Amazon is at that point that industry-dominant players get to where they realize they no longer have to deliver the perks and customer experience that helped them grow and instead count on customers returning out of habit or lack of attractive alternatives. Prime shipping to my area used to be a reliable two days and is now more like 4-5, "next day" shipping to my daughter in a major city reliably takes 2 days, and their prices have crept up to be comparable to the few brick & mortar shops in my town for items where buying online used to mean significant savings. I still shop them on occasion, though, because there's no place in my town to buy a package of socks or a pair of yoga pants or phone case or a book any more, and I'm not always motivated enough to trek into suburbia in pursuit of those things.

 

[mrodgers]

After receiving the email, as disappointing as it was in terms of what I perceived Amazon's motivation to be, I estimated my expected annual contribution for this year based on historical spend and made an equivalent donation online + a little extra for the now taxable contribution.

Good for you as I would guess most of the people complaining seemingly very highly upset that someone else is no longer making charity donations that they themselves also don't make.

 

[mrodgers]

In the United States the companies do not get a tax deduction for customer donation.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...-charities-offset-corporate-taxes/7622379002/

But they can collect a large sum of money and bank it for a period of time before releasing to the charity as they collect it while collecting the interest.

33,000 customers a day at Wendy's and everyone donates the $1 they ask. Bank that at 4% for a month and they've made a regular person's 2 week paycheck in interest.

 

[jrmasm]

But they can collect a large sum of money and bank it for a period of time before releasing to the charity as they collect it while collecting the interest.

33,000 customers a day at Wendy's and everyone donates the $1 they ask. Bank that at 4% for a month and they've made a regular person's 2 week paycheck in interest.

That’s not a tax deduction.

 

[shh]

But I think Amazon is at that point that industry-dominant players get to where they realize they no longer have to deliver the perks and customer experience that helped them grow and instead count on customers returning out of habit or lack of attractive alternatives.

This. Starbucks is exactly the same way lately.

 

[mrodgers]

That’s not a tax deduction.

Didn't say it was. Just described how they benefit from doing it because it's not from their hearts.

 

[jrmasm]

Didn't say it was. Just described how they benefit from doing it because it's not from their hearts.

I never said that did I?

And check your math.

 

[aprilgail]

It pays the charities so little that to my I can just send them 20.00 and it would be more than they would have gotten from Amazon Smile. The charity I work for is mid sized and what we get from amazon smile is a drop in the bucket.

 

[leahgoogle]

Ugh. This makes me sad. I had it set up to donate to a local no-kill cat shelter. I know several other people that donated through Smile to them too. This definitely will affect the smaller charity.

 

[leahgoogle]

Amazon raised the price on Prime while simultaneously missing almost every 2 day delivery guarantee in the past year. They used to offer a free month of prime for every missed window, but that ended as well. Their prices are rarely the lowest anymore, you run a very high risk of getting a counterfeit item because they mix third party items in with their own stock and label as “shipped by Amazon”, and now this. I’d already moved most of my subscription item purchasing elsewhere, so maybe it’s time to cancel Prime and move to a competitor (who is just as terrible a company unfortunately).

I agree! I would get next year free if they counted every missed window, especially around the holidays!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

It was a program unique to Amazon US, I think.

I noticed none of the prices were different on the "smile" page from the original pages. I wonder if there was a mark up on everything to offset the donation? I can't imagine they just donated profit with no other income... unless they were writing it off their taxes.

I never noticed a difference. Sometimes it would default to regular Amazon when shopping, so I would just make sure before I checked out that it was set to Smile (and reminded others in the household to do the same).

Ugh. This makes me sad. I had it set up to donate to a local no-kill cat shelter. I know several other people that donated through Smile to them too. This definitely will affect the smaller charity.

Same. My charity of choice was a dog rescue that takes on some of the worst cases imaginable, where euthanization would occur in most other places. I still donated out of pocket, as well. I guess I’ll just step it up a bit. Animal rescues are really hurting right now as they’re overly full and in desperate need of donations. As others have said, this will hurt.

 

[john7994]

Good for you as I would guess most of the people complaining seemingly very highly upset that someone else is no longer making charity donations that they themselves also don't make.

Appreciate it - I was mad like many of the others here and I even cancelled my prime membership before renewal. Often, we find ourselves dismayed or disappointed with things out of our control - so in a very small way in this case - I focused on the impact and realized, there was something I could do. I have no doubt others have quietly done the same or contribute far more than I ever have to their communities - lot of good people out there still!

 

[flyingdumbo127]

Dad and I were not happy about this at all. To me, it seemed like such a simple and kind, easy way to extends so much extra faith and cheer to numerous wonderful organizations. Grateful to have been able to use Amazon Smile when it did exist and keep in prayer a new version to come.

 

[crjack]

I was very disappointed and frustrated when I received the email about Smile being discontinued.

The animal sanctuary I selected is larger and therefore received a fair amount from the program. I am sure an estimated amount was factored into their forecasting for this year but the program is closing down in just a few weeks.

I think more notice should have been given at the very least. I don't agree with the decision or their reasoning for ending it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm saddened by this as well. Got the e-mail and told my husband. My charity is the place where we got our cat. A cat rescue and shelter. They def. operate on slim margins.

I just looked and as of November they've received $1,575.94.

I feel like it helped having the ease of wish lists via Amazon for various places.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Good for you as I would guess most of the people complaining seemingly very highly upset that someone else is no longer making charity donations that they themselves also don't make.

It was a passive add on that made it good.

It's like SWA's RR shopping. I go through a web portal and get points for my purchases that qualify. I do that every time I purchase from Petsmart for our cat. In this case it benefits me. In the case of the Smile program it benefited the charity of your choice so long as it was available.

I just looked up my charity's wish list. If I purchased cat food for instance they have one listed for $27.68 and 5% of that is $1.38. Sure it's not much but it's just added on and I'm just one person. And it's supplies that they need and I know they need because they've created a list for it that is so easy for people to shop on. A bonus is they are sent directly to their shelter which allows people from all over to purchase not just someone locally. They'll still have the Amazon wish list but now they won't get that extra 5% just for having someone purchase through a web portal.

I can donate more money to them but that doesn't mean that they won't still need supplies as well. And if you ask them sometimes the supplies are more important in a particular moment (food and cleaning supplies/litter being very important).

No need to be so cynical about this.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Anyone else sad about this?
Always used Smile to direct donations from my purchases to the charity of my choice.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/18/ama...-charity-donation-program-amid-cost-cuts.html

Amazon said Wednesday it plans to shut down its charity donation program, in the latest example of the company’s broader cost-cutting efforts.

Through the program, called AmazonSmile, the e-retailer donates a percentage of eligible purchases on the site to the shopper’s chosen charity organization. Amazon said it has donated roughly $500 million to charities since the program launched in 2013.

Amazon now plans to wind down AmazonSmile by Feb. 20, the company said in a notice to customers posted to its website.

“After almost a decade, the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped,” the company said. “With so many eligible organizations — more than 1 million globally — our ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.”

The average donation to charities was less than $230, Amazon said.

Amazon will continue to invest in areas where it can “make meaningful change,” such as assisting with natural disaster relief, affordable housing initiatives and community assistance programs, the company said.

I didn't see this when I posted a thread this morning. Yes I'm unhappy they are discontinuing Smile. It made my love/hate/disfuntictional relationship with Amazon more palatable. I may discontinue a couple of services and donate the $$$ to the local healthcare center I had designated.

 

[john7994]

It was a passive add on that made it good.

It's like SWA's RR shopping. I go through a web portal and get points for my purchases that qualify. I do that every time I purchase from Petsmart for our cat. In this case it benefits me. In the case of the Smile program it benefited the charity of your choice so long as it was available.

I just looked up my charity's wish list. If I purchased cat food for instance they have one listed for $27.68 and 5% of that is $1.38. Sure it's not much but it's just added on and I'm just one person. And it's supplies that they need and I know they need because they've created a list for it that is so easy for people to shop on. A bonus is they are sent directly to their shelter which allows people from all over to purchase not just someone locally. They'll still have the Amazon wish list but now they won't get that extra 5% just for having someone purchase through a web portal.

I can donate more money to them but that doesn't mean that they won't still need supplies as well. And if you ask them sometimes the supplies are more important in a particular moment (food and cleaning supplies/litter being very important).

No need to be so cynical about this.

I liked the passive add-on nature - it was a definite feel good on top of just shopping
But I am pretty sure its 0.5% (not 5%) on eligible purchases

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I liked the passive add-on nature - it was a definite feel good on top of just shopping
But I am pretty sure its 0.5% (not 5%) on eligible purchases

You're totally right and I def. knew that but for whatever reason while I was typing out my comments and figuring out math I was doing 5%. Thanks for the correction.