Amazon has revolutionized online shopping. People around the world rely on Amazon for their online shopping needs. Amazon is always on the lookout for ways to make life easier for the masses. It wants to make it easier and more affordable to donate unwanted returns and excess inventory for third-party sellers. Instead of having the items destroyed or sent back, Amazon has announced that it would be launching a new program. The name of the program is Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Donations. It aims to distribute returned and excess products to charitable organizations.
The big news was first reported by CNBC which was confirmed by Amazon on its corporate blog through a brief post. The launch of the donation program follows a series of news reports made earlier in the year. The news reports had found that Amazon warehouses threw away millions of unsold items.
A small facility in France had even sent 293,000 items to the local dump within 9 months. There was also a French TV documentary which claimed that Amazon had destroyed over 3 million products last year.
The documentary had been secretly filmed and it captured Amazon workers loading flat-screen TVs, kitchen equipment, and brand-new toys for transport to the local dump. Despite being a common retail practice to destroy returned, unwanted, or excess items, particularly in luxury apparel, such activity on Amazon’s scale only compounds the effect. Moreover, the items that get destroyed could impact the lives of many people.
Amazon has said that starting from September, it would begin donating products from sellers in the UK and US with the help of charity partners. In the United States, Amazon is working with Good 360 which is an organization that partners with consumer goods companies and retailers to source the highly needed products and distribute them with the help of a network of diverse nonprofits.
In the United Kingdom, Amazon is working with the Salvation Army, Barnardo, and New Life. CNBC has been informed by sellers that the new program would make it much cheaper to donate rather than to dispose of the items or have them returned, where Amazon charges between 15 cents and 50 cents. The program would be the new default for sellers. However, they can choose to opt-out if they are not interested in taking part.
When products are given in the hands of those who need them, it transforms the lives of many and eventually strengthens the local communities. Amazon has also reported that they are aiming to reduce the number of destroyed items to zero. Depending on their conditions, the vast majority of returns had been resold to other customers, returned to suppliers, given to liquidators and donated to charities.
Salvation Army Houston is at the forefront of bringing about change. They are committed to empowering lives and facilitating donations. Furniture donations pick up services are offered free of cost for items that are in excellent condition. The Salvation Army Houston is dedicated to bringing about a change.
