Private donations at Amazon

Interesting though not compelling

Published on January 4, 2005 By Draginol In Current Events

Amazon.com is running a donation system on its home page to provide aid to tsunami victims. Since it has pages in different countries, you can see how well it does per country.

USA: http://www.amazon.com/

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/PX3BEL97U9A4I/104-4679654-9766331

Total collected: $13,910,657.00

Number of donations: 171,710

Population of USA: 293,027,571

Approximate per capita donation to RC thru Amazon: $0.0475

Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/

http://s1.amazon.com/paypage/P1K4EVLBRBZ771/104-4679654-9766331

Total collected: $62,579.82

Number of donations: 1,023

Population of Canada: 32,507,874

Approximate per capita donation to RC thru Amazon: $0.0019

United Kingdom: http://www.amazon.co.uk/

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/P3RDR40PV9HS5E/104-4679654-9766331

Total collected: $391,910.39

Number of donations: 7,611

Population of United Kingdom: 60,270,708

Approximate per capita donation to RC thru Amazon: $0.0065

Germany: http://www.amazon.de/

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/P3USRMAJ8GVL0F/104-4679654-9766331

Total collected: $170,477.00

Number of donations: 3,427

Population of Germany: 82,424,609

Approximate per capita donation to RC thru Amazon: $0.0021

France: http://www.amazon.fr/

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/PMS8ISE6626LD/104-4679654-9766331

Total collected: $29,161.50

Number of donations: 795

Population of France: 60,424,213

Approximate per capita donation to RC thru Amazon: $0.0005

Japan: http://www.amazon.co.jp/

http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/P3C9345RXUJQOM/104-4679654-9766331

Total collected: $87,818.00

Number of donations: 2,488

Population of Japan: 127,333,002

Approximate per capita donation to RC thru Amazon: $0.0007

I don't find the numbers as compelling as you might think. For instance, perhaps people from Germany or France go to amazon.com instead? Or perhaps the number of Internet accounts in those countries is fewer? We don't know.

What we can, however, conclude is that anyone harping on how much GOVERNMENTS are providing to aid other countries is only part of the story.

The US government may have "only" provided $350M (so far) to help victims of the tsunami, that's a drop in the bucket compared to private organizations.

A more fair measurement of how "stingy" different countries are would be to look at their GDP and then look at what % of the GDP the government confiscates for itself. The US government confiscates something like 25% of the GDP of its citizens compared to twice or more in some European countries.

Then add the cost of military expenses in here. Sweden, for instance, is giving a lot of money for its size. Great for them. However, how is that aid actually getting there? At the end of the day, someone actually has to take that money, buy supplies with it, transport it to the region and deliver it to people. And guess how that's being done? The US military.

People were wrong about the US being the world's police. It's also the world's fire department.

Comments

shadesofgrey

on Jan 04, 2005

don't find the numbers as compelling as you might think. For instance, perhaps people from Germany or France go to amazon.com instead? Or perhaps the number of Internet accounts in those countries is fewer? We don't know.

Good point--also, people might be donating to other organizations in those countries.

Glorfindel

on Jan 05, 2005

The fr business is the less succesful of all Amazon (or maybe the second worst, after Canada, I don't remember exactly)
So, the number are not very compelling, as you said. French people don't use Amazon much (I don't understand why, btw)
For example, a cellphone based donation drive made 1.25M euros in one day.
Heard on the radio this morning, total donations from all french sources (from gov to individuals) is currently estimated at 135M$.
I don't know if it's stingy or generous.

Sir Peter Maxwell

on Jan 08, 2005

Why are you Yankies trying to prove how generous you are? Being rapacious and ungiving is no vice old boy, just admit it and stop the self-denial old boy.

Sir Peter Maxwell

on Jan 08, 2005

Anyone that is feeling guilty about not donating should visit an article I have written on the subject. It scientifically proves that giving is actually counterproductive and that the whole media hysteria surrouding the Tsunami is horrid peasant histrionics.

generalmaxwell.blogspot.com/2005/01/let-tsunami-victims-rot.html

Rab

on Jan 11, 2005

I'm surprised the UK number is that high. The Disaster Emergencies Committee website (www.dec.org.uk) is well-publicised and is, IMO, the best place to donate. Why donate through a bookshop?
Btw - there is a fair bit of UK coverage about the importance of US helicopters in getting aid to the right place.

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