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Comment by tiluha | Hacker News Reader

In Germany you get to eat from a tasty assortment of food after donating. When going with friends it makes for a nice little event. Fair deal

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When I previously donated blood at the DRK, not only did I always get a Bockwurst&Brötchen along with a selection of beverages (water, cola, coffee, tea, etc.) but also a little gift bag containing a variety of little food and drink items, like a banana, an apple, little bottles/packets of fruit juice, (fruit/chocolate/etc.) joghurt cups, all in all maybe ~5-7€ worth.

In Norway we get wine glasses or Moomin cups. Most homes I've been in have a sizeable collection of those cups.

Oh wow I had no idea what moomin cups were. They're pretty adorable. That's fun.

Here too, it's also to get your nutrients and blood pressure back up afaik. Not just as a reward.

That's the case in Australia too although the quality of the food varies.

Seems incredibly unethical to exploit starving people by feeding them for selling their body. Horrible stuff. But from the nation that brought us our greatest human experimentation regimen, hardly surprising.

> But from the nation that brought us our greatest human experimentation regimen, hardly surprising.

This is not a fair judgement in this situation. I think money is a far more perverse incentive for donating blood than snacks. Also the snacks are more about helping people increase their blood sugar after giving blood than incentivizing them.

Lol it's cookies and juice. Calm down. Nobody is donating blood trying to stay fed.

> But from the nation that brought us our greatest human experimentation regimen, hardly surprising.

To assume good faith here I'd have to assume wherever you are you've never donated blood?

When you donate blood you've lost a pint of fluids. They give you something to drink to work on rehydrating.

The sugar in the juice and the sugary snacks are to help give you a bit of energy since... you just lost a pint of blood.

Which is to say this is pretty standard everywhere. It's not payment. The ice pack after my vasectomy wasn't "payment for population control". It's healthcare.

I tend to donate at churches and community centers because the food is more often homemade. Chatting with them old ladies is great.

The red cross also has their "rewards" program but it's nonsense stuff like water bottles. I think you can exchange points for Amazon gift cards. Like $15/year.

I like that! Seems very reasonable and fun too.

Any downsides?

One time they didn't get the needle in smoothly and it hurt a little bit, but it really wasn't too bad

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