A lot of the people I listen to at the shelter sell
plasma
. For a good portion of them the cash they make from plasma is their only source of income. I'll see them invite others to come with them, because as Todd told me, "they get bonuses for referrals."
At first I was confused by the difference between
blood
donations and plasma sales. Why did people donate the former out of the "goodness of their heart" while the latter was for people needing
money
? And also how come the thing that I thought would be more expensive "whole blood" free while this straw colored liquid that was mostly water so expensive?
I wondered these things but never enough to look it up. It wasn't until a regular from the shelter -- who I'll just call Sean -- died that I learned.
Sean sold plasma religiously. The limit was twice a week, but I'm sure if the law allowed him to sell it more often he would've. In fact this IS what he did. After he died we found out that he was using another tenant's ID so that he could sell more than twice a week.
I remember sipping a coffee in the morning, Todd standing beside me shaking his head before taking another sip of his coffee and then saying, "that's why they don't give you money for whole blood. That shit's actually super expensive and they don't want to incentivize people from lying and getting into real trouble. Plasma you're body regenerates much faster so it's... safer."
That evening I looked up facts about plasma as soon as I got home. I was slurping a of to-go box of tomato egg noodle from an Asian noodle shop while watching
Youtube
videos on plasma. This is what I tookaway from that 20 minute research session.
Plasma is about 55% of your blood. It's mostly water. Over 90%. The
USA
is the #1 exporter of it.
Fascinating stuff. I thought about the blood that ran through my veins. I was filled with gratitude for not having to ever consider selling this because I couldn't afford rent or food. The only time I did give any blood was because I wanted to "help" others. I was in a good position. Me and people like me... like my friend Todd who bragged about donating the Power Red blood donation because apparently it was healthier.
We ran from job to cafes to concerts and what not, and sure we were never going to be
Jeff Bezos
, but we didn't need to sell our plasma just so we could afford lunch. It was a good life.
Interestingly I was selling my plasma a few years back. My parents and I were regularly visiting a shopping centre (I can't remember why) and there was a plasma donation centre. The gas of the car we used to drive there was greatly paid by my fathers' plasma and I got to spend the 25 euros on my own. :) Since I don't pay for gas anymore I should consider driving there again. Easy money?
Yep, 25 every time. You can do it every 72 hours if I remember correctly, but there is a maximum per month I think. I can't remember how long it takes, but probably half an hour to an hour.
Oh, I just looked at the site, its 30€ now. Ah, and you can do a max of 50 times per year. And it takes around an hour. So basically you could do it once a week. Considering the driving time of one hour per direction to get there I would make 10€/hour which is slightly above the minimum wage here in Austria.
as always i'm biased into thinking the limit in
Austria
is more humane and the ones in the states is biased towards profit and neglecting the humans lol.
If I remember correctly you can sit in a relatively comfortable chair with a mounted iPad. So you can surf the net or bring your own device and do stuff you can do onehanded.
Since I don't pay for gas anymore I should consider driving there again. Easy money?
How often would you give the plasma? How long would it take?
Here the biggest hurdle is that it takes over an hour to do.
I can't remember how long it takes, but probably half an hour to an hour.
So basically you could do it once a week. Considering the driving time of one hour per direction to get there I would make 10€/hour which is slightly above the minimum wage here in Austria.
as always i'm biased into thinking the limit in
What would you do durng your donation period?
So you can surf the net or bring your own device and do stuff you can do onehanded.