Carriers Delay Paying Japan's Texting Donations

Julie188 writes "As the fallout from the Japanese earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown tragedy continues to unfold, Americans want to help. We learned from the Haiti disaster that the easiest thing to do is to text a donation to our favorite relief organization. But, unlike Haiti, Japan's text-to-give donations will take as long as three months to get to the relief agency. And the company handling these donations, mGive.com, has not waived the transaction fees it charges relief agencies."

Comments

As someone who works in mobile payments...

[Itesh]

I wish there would be greater disclosure about this and many other things. It can take up to 3 months for the US, but some other countries such as Latin America and Asian countries not called China and Japan it can take up to 6 months. In the EU, some people don't have to pay their bill monthly, there are quarterly and bi-annual billing cycles. It's a shame, because if there was full disclosure many people would have donated via another method. Hopefully all this exposure will get them to declare this a "crisis" and get the funds moving immediately.

P.S. Please be careful when giving your child a cell phone, it's as easy to buy virtual goods with it as a credit card and companies like mine have no way of knowing that you have given it to your child. If you would like to block these types of purchases, contact your local wireless company and have them remove "Premium SMS" from your child's phone. I wish all wireless carriers were forced to disclose this whenever anyone purchases a "Family Plan".

Re:So ...

[ginbot462]

My advice:

Charity Navigator or something similar. Reward efficiency (i.e. high % of dollar goes to actual cause). Sometimes though if you're trying to support a certain cause, it's hard to find a charity that ranks high.

Really quickly I see:
AmeriCares
International Relief Teams
Direct Relief International

Re:Not only the carriers, also the NGO's

[mr_jrt]

Good 'ol Snopes. http://www.snopes.com/medical/emergent/redcross.asp

"There is truth to one of the rumors, however. During WWII the American Red Cross did indeed charge American servicemen for coffee, doughnuts, and lodging. However, it did so because the U.S. Army asked it to, not because it was determined to make a profit off homesick dogfaces.

The request was made in a March 1942 letter from Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson to Norman H. Davis, chairman of the American Red Cross. Because American soldiers were fighting as part of the Allied Forces, matters had to be considered on a Force-wide rather than solely American basis. The Red Cross was asked to establish club facilities for U.S. servicemen overseas where Allied troops would be welcome. Because English and Australian soldiers were being charged for the use of such facilities, it was deemed unfair that Americans were to get similar benefits for free, especially in light of their pay already being higher than that of their Allied counterparts. For the good of the alliance, the American Red Cross was persuaded to exact nominal charges from American GIs for off-base food and lodging."

...so they don't seem to deserve the bad rap.