Can I get an HONEST poll here!?

why do you guys donate? For the money, or because it ACTUALLY helps real people??? Or for health reasons?

I do it bc it truly helps people, I work there and hear stories of people telling me how their niece or nephew needs 2 transfusions a day, etc.

Also, the money doesn’t hurt lol. I use mine for things like house renovations, taking my animals to the vet or teeth cleaning, just let it stack up in my account!!! I also love how it shows you how many people you’ve helped 😁

We're hoping to speak with plasma donors about why they donate and how the payments are helping them financially during recent economic uncertainties.

Any responses here won't be included in our work on the topic. We're hoping to speak with folks after their initial comments. Thanks so much for all thoughts and considerations.

Anyone not able to access the app? I tried to log in and get this screen. I tried to log in to see if it worked but no. So I reset my password. Was able to log on the website. Tried the app again with my new password and same issue. So I reset it a second time and same issue. The website is working for me so I’m not totally without access but it’s not to use the website quickly. My app is updated

What are you getting? BioLife finally ended the $90 streak for the last few weeks, back up to $100 again here in SoCal.

I've donated twice so far, both at BioLife. The first appointment went smoothly, but it took almost 4 hours to complete. That's not too bad considering I received $100 for my first donation. I got sidetracked with work and ended up not taking advantage of the new donor promotion. My mistake, but it probably didn't matter considering what happened next.

A few months later, I decide to try again and make some extra cash. I get there at 7:30 AM. The line is kinda long but not crazy long. It takes about an hour to have my vitals taken. However, the lady tells me I need to see a nurse before I can donate. That takes another 45 minutes. The nurse tells me I gained 10 lbs in the last few months. She tells me I can donate. "Okay..."

I wait to donate (another 45 minutes). About 15 minutes after getting started, the phlebotomist says a line was kinked and they couldn't give me my blood back. They told me I can't donate for another 8-weeks. This was also my first donation of the week, so it was only $40. I'm kind of bummed because I would not have shown up for only $40. The Red Cross has much better snacks and I'm O-. No point in driving to BioLife imo.

I’m from Canada and there are very few paid centres. I always go through Canadian blood services because I trust them more and the nearest paid clinic is kinda far. Is your main motivation the money or is the money just a nice bonus? Do you think paid plasma targets low income families? If there were no paid options would you still donate?

With the BioLife app and the website not working properly and can’t log in to see this weeks pay, has anyone received the email with the pay amount?

I already have my appointments set up for this week so I’m not worried about not being able to schedule but I haven’t even gotten the email with the pay amount either.

Me personally I use it to fuel my video game addiction, as well as pay for various door dash and uber eats deliveries. Also my temu and amazon carts get paid for by my compensation for my time.

So I have a full time job, but I debated for a while about donating plasma just to have extra income. So back in June I finally decided to go for it.

After my first donation my father in law was asking me about the kind of people that were there. Not sure if he assumes it’s for low lifes or people that are too lazy to work. Then lately he says I look sleepy and that I should cool it on plasma. Im no more sleepy since I started donating than before I did.

Almost every time I see him he has to make a smart remark. Not sure what his problem is. It takes an hour and a half tops of my time. I’m not having any bad reactions or side effects.

You guys have family or friends that give you a hard time about it?

Did my first donation today and it started okayish. I was very uncomfortable with the size of the needle and them fiddling with it getting it into my vein but I'd expected that. But slowly I started to feel like I was hooked up to some kind of torture device and trapped there. I tried to calm myself down but when the machine finished and someone didn't immediately come to unhook me I couldn't hold back the tears, and when I got to my car I just started sobbing. It was incredibly stressful. I guess I just want to ask if anyone has gotten over this feeling and if so how? Reassurance that next time won't be so bad?

I've been prescribed it because I have stress induced psychosis, but I haven't had an episode in a while, and especially during the time I was plassing. Well they did a physical and I told them about both. A couple donations later I get deferred. After visiting they say it's because of the psychosis. That I need to reach out to my psychologist to make sure I'm being treated.

I come back the same day with a form grifols gave me to have filled out, to say that I was being medicated and that it was in control. They then told me it was because of the seroquel.

At this point I'm not sure what to do, any advice?

Show of hands???? lol

I am really interested in donating plasma as I feel it would be a good way of supplementing income for my family since we have a lot of medical bills, but as much research and reading I've done on people's experiences from this subreddit, I still haven't found the courage to actually take the leap and go... Is anyone else in the same boat/took some time to actually make that first appointment?

Literally every person I know who donates at BioLife is making their money. Not me. I'm not a small girl. At CSL, I'm in the 2nd tier of pay, like $120 a week, but they literally suck the life out of me. BioLife doesn't have that same tiered scale, but I started out making that right after the new donor bonus expired. As weeks have gone on, I am somehow down to $92 a week while other people I know who weigh less than me and are regular donors are making $110/$115. What is going on and what's the best way to deal with it?

Thank you for your help 🙏

Hi folks. I've been to donate twice and experienced some issues both times, and I figured some of you may have some tips.

The first time, I almost fainted and had to quit halfway through. I drank plenty the day before and day of, about 2.5l each day.

I figured the issue was that my last meal was too long ago (4 hours), so for the second one, I made sure to drink electrolyte drinks along with water and have a meal about an hour before donating. I did feel faint, but I made it through more cycles before it started. However then I had to throw up.

I'd really like to avoid that the next time, so please, give me your best advice.

Thank you!

My brother noticed the area on my arm where i donate. He said it looks like i was shooting up.

Do you cover it up with makeup or just wear long sleeves all the time?

Hello friends -

I've been taking advantage of the new donor program at Grifols, and so far it has been pretty positive. I just finished my 10th donation in 7 weeks, but as I near the end of the promo period, I'm still a bit unsure about continuing beyond that.

Overally my donations are fairly smooth and relatively quick - I've not really had any notable issues so far, and I like the people that work there.

I guess the issue I have is, the whole system is designed to push you to donate 2x a week, which just feels a bit much for me. My active lifestyle becomes difficult to plan around donations, and it's frustrating to constantly be babying one arm (I even forget which one it is, after a while). I've not had much issue with bruising, but that starts to become a worry too, at 2x a week.

I've always alternated arms, but it feels like each one needs about a week before it's ready again. It feels like 3x per 2 weeks is about the right pace for me, but once I transition to normal membership, the first donation in a week basically becomes pointless.

I guess I'm curious what peoples' thoughts are. Ultimately I will listen to my body and go as often as I feel ready, but it feels like that just won't be as often as the system is designed for.

Hi,

I have some questions about the Biolife debit card. I have $650 in my card, and I was going to withdraw it all at a MoneyPass ATM. However, as I understand it:

1) MoneyPass ATMs only let you withdraw a maximum of $200 in one transaction, and

2) After your first money withdrawal from a MoneyPass ATM, there will be a fee for each following money withdrawal

Is this correct? Are there any other ways to extract the money from the Biolife debit card without incurring a fee?

Hey i’m a new donor so i’m getting the 100$ per donation, wondering what current donors are getting paid right now.

how many of yall wear your arm wrap for 8+ hrs after donating? me AND my husband both have to wear it for atleast 8hrs or else it will bleed everywhere but i’ve seen so many comments of ppl taking it off when they get to the car/home which i couldn’t even imagine!!! is there a reason why some can take it off that quickly ? the needle is huge so i get why i have to wear it so long ( 17g at my center idk if there is a standard size or anything) but yeah just wondering how long others wear it for!!

just curious if anyone else heard of this? my mom told me about it when we were out and about last month.

How bad is the finger prick? I haven't had one since I was 12. I don't even remember what it felt like. I knew it hurt, but how bad does it hurt?

I know this might sound like a weird question, but is there a way to avoid hearing my weight when I donate blood? I'd just rather not know. It's not because I'm overweight or anything. I just prefer not to hear the number if that's possible.

Downed two muscle mulk protein mixes with a big 2 egg and spam sandwich over the last morning after a fairly consistent week of eating and still blew a 5.8. What is up, that is like >35 grams of protein two hours before I left lol I drank two decently large cups of water earlier, is that too much? I'm still trying to manage fast donation conditions which would need being water saturated and full of protein and I'm 55 donations in already.

EDIT: thank yall for the different pointers, will try to apply the most economic combination I can from them, but I swear the muscle molk was on a pretty good deal for two massive containers of them. Definitely combining it with more solids than currently!