Amazon Discontinues AmazonSmile, Plans to Cut 18,000 Jobs

The FPS Review may receive a commission if you purchase something after clicking a link in this article.

Image: Amazon

Amazon is another tech giant that’s trying to cut costs, and one of the latest casualties appears to be AmazonSmile, the company’s charity donation program. According to a letter that was recently addressed to customers, Amazon plans to wind down AmazonSmile next month by February 20, 2023, a decade after the initiative was originally launched. AmazonSmile is program that allows customers to donate 0.5% of their eligible purchases to the charitable organization of their choice.

From an Amazon post:

We are writing to let you know that we plan to wind down AmazonSmile by February 20, 2023. We will continue to pursue and invest in other areas where we’ve seen we can make meaningful change—from building affordable housing to providing access to computer science education for students in underserved communities to using our logistics infrastructure and technology to assist broad communities impacted by natural disasters.

To help charities that have been a part of the AmazonSmile program with this transition, we will be providing them with a one-time donation equivalent to three months of what they earned in 2022 through the program, and they will also be able to accrue additional donations until the program officially closes in February. Once AmazonSmile closes, charities will still be able to seek support from Amazon customers by creating their own wish lists.

AmazonSmile’s shuttering is complemented by reports of the company making its biggest round of job cuts ever. The retail giant is planning to lay off as many as 18,000 workers around the globe, with many already having received the bad news in regions that include the US, Canada, and Costa Rica. Doug Herrington, the Amazon’s worldwide retail chief, said that this is part of an effort to lower costs so the company can “continue investing in the wide selection, low prices and fast shipping that our customers love.”

Join the discussion in our forums...

Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

Recent News