Good Guy Amazon??

[Guest]

Amazon warehouses will start donating things you don't buy

Source: Henry St Ledger - https://www.techradar.com/au/news/amazon-warehouses-will-start-donating-things-you-dont-buy

 

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Amazon has now announced a new community initiative program, which will kick off in the US and UK, donating hundreds of thousands of unwanted products from third-party sellers which otherwise would go to waste. Marketplace vendors will be able to donate to the likes of "Newlife, Salvation Army, and Barnardo’s" in the UK, or Good360 in the US.

Great news for these Charities. Amazon doesn't dispose of any small amount either - 

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The Fulfilled by Amazon initiative (or 'FBA' for short) will start on September 1, with the likelihood being that it will roll out beyond the US and UK sometime after that point. Given the amount of waste Amazon has been guilty of – throwing away three million televisions in 2018 alone – it can't come soon enough.

Especially due to climate change, this is a very welcome move, and a win for everyone. Companies can get rid of unused stock and much better on landfills. 

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Products have tended to be thrown away when they're simply stocked in excess – or suffer from too many returns – and the original manufacturer has nowhere for them to go.

It's still startlingly cheap to ask Amazon to dispose of a product – only $0.15 (around £0.12 / AU$0.22) – but Amazon has made it far easier for those items to find people who can make use of them.

Its quite interesting that these companies have that much refuse stock, hopefully this puts a lot less pressure to get rid of them, and families in poverty get a nice little present from the sallies. Great stuff. 

[justpoet]

OK, now everybody stop buying graphics cards off of amazon.

[GoldenLag]

In other words. They have found a way of getting rid of "trash" while looking like a good guy.

 

Its great as long as that project doesnt turn charity into a landfill

[Tech Enthusiast]

Nice.

 

Amazon can get rid of unwanted stock and fill warehouses with other stuff.

People can get faster delivery, due to wanted items now fitting into warehouses more often.

Poor families can some freebies that make their life a little better.

 

Everyone wins.

Hope other big companies follow this idea.

[Teddy07]

Amazon just wants to safe disposal costs.

[TechyBen]

6 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

Amazon just wants to safe disposal costs.

This. Unless they give food and desirable/needed items, they will just "dump" rubbish on someone's doorstep.

[Tech_Dreamer]

Good guy or covert stock clearance?

[RejZoR]

Why would you give items like excessively returned goods (which implies they are most likely defective or so badly designed they are not meant to be used by anyone) to people in need? That's like giving rotten apples and tomatoes to hungry people and then bang yourself on the chest how good guy you are.

[Bitter]

Will the charities be allowed to turn around and re-sell the items to generate cash? I could see this being a HUGE boon to somewhere like Goodwill or other charity resale shops BUT there's a reason Amazon doesn't want to sell these items...right?

[paddy-stone]

4 hours ago, GoldenLag said:

In other words. They have found a way of getting rid of "trash" while looking like a good guy.

 

Its great as long as that project doesnt turn charity into a landfill

Charities are pretty selective in my experiences. So it won't come to that.

 

I wanted them to have my book collection, as I switched everything to ebooks anyway, and they were very good condition.....and got turned away by 3 or 4 charities at least, in the end I donated them to a bookshop, that then gave the proceeds to a charity they were in connection with (and yes I know the owner, it DID happen). I give to charity when I can, and if they want my unwanted stuff all the better, if they don't then I recycle it usually (depending on what it is of course). I have recently started giving to a rescue center, they are amazing and do so much good for our community and further afield, they bring in loads of dogs from abroad too.

[Spotty]

- Thread Cleaned -
Please stay on topic and keep discussion appropriate.

[msknight]

Charities seem to be overwhelmed these days. Also, in the UK there are laws regarding sale and responsibility for electrical items, so there are things that the charities won't touch.

 

It sounds to me like the Amazon warehouses are facing a crisis. Previously they auctioned off pallets and it looks like the YouTubers have got fed up of making videos about them. I wonder how many aren't being bought any more? There are also lost property auctions for the police, airport lost property, storage auctions where people aren't paying their bills... it wouldn't surprise me if we're facing a minor national emergency after all the room we don't have in this country!

 

I did note that it was for third party sellers, however... not Amazon's own stock. Grab the popcorn because there seem to be more to this that meets the eye.

[Guest]

Part of the problem/reason maybe the cost for amazon sellers is the horrendous warehouse prices they have to pay after a few months.

I don't know if it's the case in the UK or in the US, but we had in France a series of articles and tv documentaries after some amazon employees have been filmes throwing away in the trash some perfectly good products which in fact weren't amazon products but sellers products.

And that's when the public discovered that the price of warehousing products for seller was growing proportionnally to the time spent in warehousing. And so some costs which started as 26€/m3 could grow up to 500€ after 6 month and even 1,000€ after a year.

So the sellers didn't want to get the products back (and so pay for  shipment)and that is how you get some big deals after some time and then all the rest of the products were simply thrown in the trash...

 

https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-finance/gaspillage-comment-amazon-detruit-et-jette-des-millions-d-objets-neufs-chaque-annee-803700.html

https://www.rtbf.be/lapremiere/article/detail_comment-amazon-jette-des-millions-d-objets-invendus?id=10117848

 

Sorry... Articles are in french, but google translate is available.

 

There's been some big public outcry about these fact and so... well... I wouldn't be surprised this is some sort of response from Amazon?

[imreloadin]

I wonder who is getting the 55 gallon barrel of lube

[Curious Pineapple]

Just dip it in the top and you're ready to go

[dizmo]

Interestingly, that's not an entirely accurate story. Their overstock and returns are often liquidated, where people buy entire pallets and then pick through them to see what's valuable and resellable. Same thing with their overstock. Seems odd to be giving people likely defective or poorly made products. Not to mention how do you find the people that need them without others taking advantage? Logistically this seems like a really odd move.

 

7 hours ago, Teddy07 said:

Amazon just wants to safe disposal costs.

They already have ways do dispose of items which results in profit. I see this as something else, but I'm not entirely sure what.

7 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Why would you give items like excessively returned goods (which implies they are most likely defective or so badly designed they are not meant to be used by anyone) to people in need? That's like giving rotten apples and tomatoes to hungry people and then bang yourself on the chest how good guy you are.

Exactly what I thought! I mean, I'm pretty sure legally they can't give away products that are known as defective, but still...

I see a lot of lesser-off people getting slippers with odd stuffed animal heads on them, and plastic cutting boards that aren't BPA free.

[Curufinwe_wins]

We can all talk about how stupid virtue signaling this seems, but lets be honest. 

 

Every time that fruit rots in a field, because they lack the employed people to pick it and can't let random people who want or need it do it themselves for liability reasons, is a failure of society.

 

Is dying from cancer 40 years later due to BPA poisoning worse than dying of malnutrition next week?

 

Again, charities tend to be very selective about this sort of stuff, and places like free-geek would still find massive uses for bulk defective electronics for salvage and repair of select units.

[ARikozuM]

Amazon started doing what every other business tries to do? My goodness. Such innovation.

[rawrdaysgoby]

They might even get a tax deduction

[mr moose]

I don't know what charities are like in the US, but in Australia they have moved with the general wealth of the nation, they do not accept or sell anything that is broken, sometimes they do not even accept electronics goods that are in good condition if they are old or even slightly outdated.  

 

 

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, mr moose said:

I don't know what charities are like in the US, but in Australia they have moved with the general wealth of the nation, they do not accept or sell anything that is broken, sometimes they do not even accept electronics goods that are in good condition if they are old or even slightly outdated.  

 

 

I usually just donate old clothes and toys so I'm not sure on the regulations, but the hospice always accepts them. Sometimes they aren't too grateful these days, which I do feel is a bit concerning, because I'm giving them some decent stuff for free to sell etc. I do suppose it does make more work for them, but you know they don't volunteer or get paid to sit around, everyone has a job. 

[mr moose]

8 minutes ago, floofer said:

I usually just donate old clothes and toys so I'm not sure on the regulations, but the hospice always accepts them. Sometimes they aren't too grateful these days, which I do feel is a bit concerning, because I'm giving them some decent stuff for free to sell etc. I do suppose it does make more work for them, but you know they don't volunteer or get paid to sit around, everyone has a job. 

Being quite a big consumer I have donated whole house lots to charity,  They have become very ungrateful in some cases (yet in some cases rightly so).  What they can't sell they have to dispose of  and what they can't sell is becoming a much bigger list.

 

The reality is the society that buys a new TV because it is cheaper than trying to repair it is the same society that won't buy a busted TV form a charity shop.  Even the poorest can afford new jeans from kmart/walmart so why would they pay more than 50c for something with a hole in them.

[leadeater]

1 hour ago, mr moose said:

sometimes they do not even accept electronics goods that are in good condition if they are old or even slightly outdated

When e-waste started getting charged for or at a higher price than regular waste people started treating charity stores as a e-waste disposal which ended up costing those places a lot of money to then get rid of those items that nobody buys.

 

Waste disposal costs a lot more than it ever has so it's a necessity to be careful what you do and do not accept or you'll be operating at a loss.

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, leadeater said:

When e-waste started getting charged for or at a higher price than regular waste people started treating charity stores as a e-waste disposal which ended up costing those places a lot of money to then get rid of those items that nobody buys.

 

Waste disposal costs a lot more than it ever has so it's a necessity to be careful what you do and do not accept or you'll be operating at a loss.

I've seen the stuff the universities throw away. Otago was doing a bit a while back. Could just ship it straight to a museum. I wouldn't mind some of it. 

[mr moose]

Where I live E-waste is free. in fact everything recyclable (except tires, refrigerants and mattresses) is free (even paint and engine oil is free),  However I like to offer the stuff to charity before just dumping it.