Anybody donating plasma?

[JongDoe]

Someone in the Cost of a ski trip thread said they were saving money for a trip in 2023 and that made me think of posting this for mags that have a hard time justifying purchases to the SO or if money is tight.

I was visiting family in Texas and a friend came over and had something on her arm that looked like she gave blood. I asked her and she said she donates plasma and has been making $5k/year tax free for 20 years. It seems like a great way to make some coin for ski gear and trips so i looked into it back home and have now done it 10 times.

I admit it sounded super sketchy, but after researching a bit i see it is totally legit and not risky that I'll be growing a 3rd eye. And you are also helping others, although i have to admit I'm doing it for the coin.
After the initial time where you have to get set up in their system I am in and out in ~ 1 1/4 hours. They hook you up and draw blood, the blood goes through a centrifuge and then back in your body. You do not get weak like when you give blood and you can donate 2x/week as your platelets regenerate quickly. You are hooked up about 45 minutes and I usually just browse the web. Not painful, but obviously not for everybody. I have gone on bike rides an hour after donating with no noticeable difference in energy.

Most places have special pay for new donors. The place I go to pays $100 for the first 3 times, $50 for the next 3, and then $100 for the last 2, so $650 in one month. Then after that it is $55/donation. They load the money onto a debit card and you do not get a 1099 at the end of the year, so it's like making 25-35% more.

Anyone else doing this?

Someone in the Cost of a ski trip thread said they were saving money for a trip in 2023 and that made me think of posting this for mags that have a hard time justifying to the SO or if money is tight.

[prsboogie]

Holy shit, they pay you!! Here on the EC/ New England specifically, they TAKE donations. Haven't heard of getting paid other than a free movie ticket of a $5 Dunkin gift card occasionally.

If someone in New England knows differently please share.

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[m2711c]

[glademaster]

Paging Slaag Master...

Also, let's call a spade a spade, you're selling plasma, not donating it.

[Timberridge]

Wtf dude? 5K barely gets you a pair of Wagner customs and an Ikon pass. Why mess around with this when you can get 50-100K for a kidney?
You can also make some real money if your lady donates some eggs.

[SumJongGuy]

Nothing compared to what you can get for a kidney on the black market..

[Danno]

I am in and out in ~ 1 1/4 hours.
Most places have special pay for new donors. The place I go to pays $100 for the first 3 times, $50 for the next 3, and then $100 for the last 2, so $650 in one month. Then after that it is $55/donation.

So, the first month, you get paid ~$65/hr for it, and subsequent months it's about $44/hr.

[powdork]

Holy shit, they pay you!! Here on the EC/ New England specifically, they TAKE donations. Haven't heard of getting paid other than a free movie ticket of a $5 Dunkin gift card occasionally.

If someone in New England knows differently please share.

Sounds like you're confusing donating blood with plasma. Google CSL Plasma or Biomat USA

[californiagrown]

A plasma center opened up shop in my college town during school. $30 per donation, maximum 2 donations per week. I hardly knew anyone that didnt take advantage. buncha junkie looking MFers walking around with fucked up needle scars on their arms from the less-than-stellar nurses at the centers fucking up the insertions on a fairly regular basis. Poor college kids had $60/week beer/food money, and the low plasma made people get drunk way easier the day or two after a donation.

As an engineer trying to keep scholarships i barely, or didn't actually, qualify for i never had the time to waste on 2hrs per visit.

[powdork]

me too. we'd go donate plasma, buy a couple suitcases of busch and then play drinking games to General Hospital

[::: :::]

hmmmm....
even at a $100/session, that's 50 sessions...each week with single two week break? every yr for 20yrs?

sounds unhealthy at best

[Dantheman]

Also, let's call a spade a spade, you're selling plasma, not donating it.

So? The collection companies sell each unit of plasma for hundreds of dollars, and the pharmaceutical companies that buy it turn it into extremely profitable products. So why shouldn't people be paid, and not just paid, but paid even more than they are?

So, the first month, you get paid ~$65/hr for it, and subsequent months it's about $44/hr.

Pretty good money for a 3 hr/week job where you get paid to fiddle on your phone and show up whenever it's convenient for you.

I did it for a couple of years about a decade ago when money was pretty tight and I had a big chunk of medical debt to pay off ('Merica!). I quit because the center was a bit of a drive and it was first come/first serve and the wait times were quite variable. The juice wasn't worth the squeeze. Then a few years ago a new place opened up super close to my house, they switched to an appointment system, and the pay went up. All that combined was a game-changer so I signed back up. Compensation varies a bit each month because, at least where I go, there are performance bonuses that vary each month, other semi-random bonuses, and sometimes you miss days. But, I usually clear at least $400/mo and my best month ever was $780.

This topic came up in PoliAss a couple years ago and these were my thoughts at the time:

1. Plasma is vital for treating a large and rapidly-growing list of life-threatening diseases. There's no debate that without paid donors the supply of plasma would be massively constricted and the price of plasma-based treatments would skyrocket. A lot of sick people would die or have their quality of life drastically reduced.

2. While most developed countries do not allow paid donations, Germany, Austria and certain Canadian provinces also pay donors, and in Italy people are given a paid day off work. As I previously said, the collection companies sell each unit of plasma for hundreds of dollars, so why shouldn't people be paid? No country that doesn't pay donors has a self-sufficient supply. My only issue with paying donors is that compensation is done at the whim of the free market. I'd prefer to see it more well regulated, maybe fixed at a certain percentage of the price the collection companies sell each unit for. But, even the current system feels a lot less exploitative than driving for Uber or DoorDash.

4. It honestly doesn't seem unhealthy. Whole blood donation has been consistently shown to actually be good for you--whole blood donors get less cancer and have less heart disease, and the more they donate the stronger that effect is. AFAIK no one has definitively determined whether this effect is from removal of RBCs, plasma, or both. Regardless, if whole blood donation makes your healthier, it seems at least plausible that donating plasma isn't detrimental to health. It's plausible that it could even be a beneficial hormetic stress. If I take time off for a vacation or something I never feel a difference.

5. The list of criteria that can get you permanently excluded from donation is the same as for whole blood, and it's huuuge. Sure, people can lie, but at least where I go they watch for that hard. I've seen sketchy people get turned away and have never seen anyone donating who looked like a drug addict, living on the street, etc. 100% normal people. They get audited regularly and seem like they are far more concerned with ensuring they maintain their FDA license to operate and happily showed the door to people they thought were conning them. Pre-COVID people sometimes showed up with coughs and runny noses and were be told to go home. It's a very professional operation that seems to follow every rule to a T, though others may be different.

[prsboogie]

Sounds like you're confusing donating blood with plasma. Google CSL Plasma or Biomat USA

Nope, I do both.

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[Dantheman]

Nope, I do both.

Possibly confusing plasma with platelets? Maybe your state does not allow paid "donations," IDK, you said "New England" so I can't look it up.

[Timberridge]

For those down on their luck and needing a bit of extra coin I set up a thread in the PR.

https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...hlight=nigeria

[prsboogie]

Guys I'm an RN, I have donated plasma, platelets, whole blood, double red cells etc...
I did look up the CSL Plamsa rec and there is a center not far from me, about 12 miles away. Need to look into it more but I am interested.

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[tgapp]

Wtf dude? 5K barely gets you a pair of Wagner customs and an Ikon pass. Why mess around with this when you can get 50-100K for a kidney?
You can also make some real money if your lady donates some eggs.

i must be doing things wrong, all I got for my kidders was a couple of lame t shirts in the wrong size and a plushie signed by my nursing team

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[JongDoe]

"Also, let's call a spade a spade, you're selling plasma, not donating it."
Agreed, I said that in my OP. "although i have to admit I'm doing it for the coin."

"So, the first month, you get paid ~$65/hr for it, and subsequent months it's about $44/hr."
This is not taxed, so closer to $60/hour now.

"Google CSL Plasma or Biomat USA"
The place i go to is CSL Plasma. They're currently 20 minutes from my house, but moving in Q1 2022 right up the road from me.

"For those down on their luck and needing a bit of extra coin I set up a thread in the PR."
Got me, funny as usual.

[romeo tango]

For those down on their luck and needing a bit of extra coin I set up a thread in the PR....

are you gatham or mohammed?

.

[JONG SLAUGHTER]

I'M HERE TO DONATE MY JIZZ.

[My Pet Powder Goat]

Ol' Slaag master use to donate to afford his ski life and bird pass.

Pretty sure it was plasma. Maybe platelets (he use to say it would make him a bit weak after)

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[Falcon3]

I did plasma during college, always paid for my spring break. The center closest to me now doesn’t allow me anymore, as I’ve got a cadaverous knee tendon, and they have different rules than the company I used to use.

They actually fill you up with a bag of saline after you’re done with the donation, so for many folks you leave more hydrated than you came in. I did it 2x/week for three years and never noticed any side effects immediately or long term.

[skizix]

Holy shit, they pay you!! Here on the EC/ New England specifically, they TAKE donations. Haven't heard of getting paid other than a free movie ticket of a $5 Dunkin gift card occasionally.

If someone in New England knows differently please share.

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Maybe you donated to Red Cross? They currently only offer a $5 Amazon gift card for a plasma donation. And they will only let you donate once every 28 days. Hopefully they in turn donate it for free, to whomever is on the receiving end.

FWIW, "donating" too often degrades the quality of the plasma. But the FDA regs it to a max of twice in seven days, so probably not an issue in this context (presumably the private places that pay you have to enforce those regs).

[1000-oaks]

I'M HERE TO DONATE MY JIZZ.

A court eventually billing you for 18 years of back child support is going to cost 10,000X more than what you initially got paid. With 23&Me et al., the baby mommas will eventually track you down. Each shot is 1M little blank checks.

[glademaster]

So? The collection companies sell each unit of plasma for hundreds of dollars, and the pharmaceutical companies that buy it turn it into extremely profitable products. So why shouldn't people be paid, and not just paid, but paid even more than they are?

I have no problem at all with people getting paid. I have a problem with people thinking that their transactional exchange is actually some kind of altruism or charity, and the subsequent narcissism and chest-thumping that inevitably follows.