Need Money, selling blood... Yay or Nay

Kewop Decam

I need a couple of dollars and I've thought about selling blood. Is this a good thing to do or no? If it's an okay thing to do, what should I know before doing it?

Blake T

Nay.

Sell plasma instead you can donate more often.

HalberdBlue

I'm not sure what country you're in but in the USA its illegal to sell blood (exceptions are made for stuff like clinical research). Unless you mean selling plasma, in which case I don't think there are many reasons not to besides it being time consuming. I've sold my plasma a few times and the biggest reason I can think of not to is that you can make better money at anything but a minimum wage job. Though you do essentially get paid for lying down for a few hours.

Legoman05

Friend of mine used to work in a plasma donation center.

You make just about as much if you work - might be better to get a part-time job.

Thanatos

If you're, like, between jobs, there's no reason not to.

Jealous Deva

Sperm is a better deal in general, if you're over 5'11 and haven't had any incurable STDs. A college degree helps too.

tardcore

How much does Plasma go for? Anyone have a general ballpark?

Jealous Deva

$20-$30 with a limit of twice per week.


Considering it takes 45 mins just to give it, you're likely to be there 2-3 hours once you factor in recovery time, paperwork, etc.

If you really want money getting a decent part time job for 8 hours a week is probably a better deal.

Septus

Jealous Deva wrote: »

$20-$30 with a limit of twice per week.


Considering it takes 45 mins just to give it, you're likely to be there 2-3 hours once you factor in recovery time, paperwork, etc.

If you really want money getting a decent part time job for 8 hours a week is probably a better deal.

There's no reason to need to do paperwork beyond the first time, and I never needed any recovery time. So I'd say 45 minutes plus the wait to get in and out. Meanwhile you can read, though a bit awkwardly and with only one hand.

As for selling sperm, my impression is that there's quite a bit of demand to sell and not nearly enough need on the part of the banks to accept any sizeable portion of the demand. But if you do get accepted, then yeah, it can be $120-150, once a week, for 6 weeks(6 months? I forget).

tardcore

Well, the thing with selling sperm is, I wouldn't want a kid showing up at my door ten years down the road. I'd feel terrible.

Etelmik

Meh. $20 for 2 hours of plasma while in an uncomfortable position while watching a movie on the ceiling.

Well, you can try it once or twice, and if it doesn't work out, no skin off your back, right?

If you really only "need a couple of dollars" soon it'll work for you. Remember they may take their sweet time in processing the pay, so if immediacy is an issue, make sure to ask them before you spend the time doing so.

Taximes

Etelmik wrote: »

...if it doesn't work out, no skin off your back, right?

I find something humorous about using that phrase in a thread about donating aspects of your body.

Kewop Decam

sorry, I meant Plasma and there's no way I'm selling sperm. There's this place here that gives you like $120, but I have no idea how much they take out of you.

Grundlestiltskin

I've gone back and forth on the sperm thing. I don't pretty much because my girlfriend threatens to break up with me if I do. As far as the kid thing goes, afaik you have the option of your identity remaining private or available to them at a certain point. Yeah, you could end up in a "Made in America" situation where the kid breaks into the sperm bank office to track you down, but you have no legal responsibility to them (whether or not you have a moral responsibility to them depends on your philosophies regarding family).

A friend of mine who donates (medical researcher with a PhD) justifies it like so: the people who use these banks are going to use them whether your sperm is there or not. If you believe you have good genes, why not help propogate your good genes over some other random moron? It's for the good of the human race.

Plus it's decent money just for wanking.

KalTorak

Septus wrote: »

Jealous Deva wrote: »

$20-$30 with a limit of twice per week.


Considering it takes 45 mins just to give it, you're likely to be there 2-3 hours once you factor in recovery time, paperwork, etc.

If you really want money getting a decent part time job for 8 hours a week is probably a better deal.

There's no reason to need to do paperwork beyond the first time, and I never needed any recovery time. So I'd say 45 minutes plus the wait to get in and out. Meanwhile you can read, though a bit awkwardly and with only one hand.

As for selling sperm, my impression is that there's quite a bit of demand to sell and not nearly enough need on the part of the banks to accept any sizeable portion of the demand. But if you do get accepted, then yeah, it can be $120-150, once a week, for 6 weeks(6 months? I forget).

I have a friend who donates sperm (high SATs, college education, really good-looking, no diseases) - after a VERY rigorous screening process, they let you do it up to 3 times per week, $125 per visit. No sex/masturbation 24 hours beforehand tho (i think). Also you can only do it for a year, tops, although YMMV depending on the clinic.

Fellhand

You need to sell plasma or platelettes to make money. Do they even pay for plain old blood anymore?

Etelmik

At Taximes:

8-)

Septus

Etelmik wrote: »

Meh. $20 for 2 hours of plasma while in an uncomfortable position while watching a movie on the ceiling.

Again, my experience with two different clinics was a maximum of about 45 minutes spent actually donating. I was also not uncomfortable(from the bed), except for when one of the two clinics used saline to replace the lost plasma, but it was room temperature, so it felt pretty cold inside my arm.

The biggest deterrent for a college student with time to kill, would be the nutrition requirements. You can't just eat crap all day and expect to be able to sell. They'll do a small pinprick blood test each time you go, and turn you down that day if your nutrition is too far out of whack making the plasma undesirable.

Jealous Deva

KalTorak wrote: »

Septus wrote: »

Jealous Deva wrote: »

$20-$30 with a limit of twice per week.


Considering it takes 45 mins just to give it, you're likely to be there 2-3 hours once you factor in recovery time, paperwork, etc.

If you really want money getting a decent part time job for 8 hours a week is probably a better deal.

There's no reason to need to do paperwork beyond the first time, and I never needed any recovery time. So I'd say 45 minutes plus the wait to get in and out. Meanwhile you can read, though a bit awkwardly and with only one hand.

As for selling sperm, my impression is that there's quite a bit of demand to sell and not nearly enough need on the part of the banks to accept any sizeable portion of the demand. But if you do get accepted, then yeah, it can be $120-150, once a week, for 6 weeks(6 months? I forget).

I have a friend who donates sperm (high SATs, college education, really good-looking, no diseases) - after a VERY rigorous screening process, they let you do it up to 3 times per week, $125 per visit. No sex/masturbation 24 hours beforehand tho (i think). Also you can only do it for a year, tops, although YMMV depending on the clinic.

Yeah, the screening process is hardcore, only between 5-10% of applicants are accepted. If you can get it though, it's essentially free money. Donations are considered protected health information and donors are absolved of any legal responsibilities towards the children, in most states it's actually illegal for a bank to disclose names of donors to recipients. Most places I think now let you do it 6 months or so.

And generally the rules are that you must wait 5 days after masturbation or sex to donate, which might be a bit inconvenient for some people.

Fats

Fellhand wrote: »

You need to sell plasma or platelettes to make money. Do they even pay for plain old blood anymore?

I believe it's illegal. Which is too bad, because I think a small amount of money would go a long way towards reducing our blood shortage.

JHunz

Fats wrote: »

Fellhand wrote: »

You need to sell plasma or platelettes to make money. Do they even pay for plain old blood anymore?

I believe it's illegal. Which is too bad, because I think a small amount of money would go a long way towards reducing our blood shortage.

Not to turn this into a D&D thread, but the law was passed because of the results of this kind of reasoning. More blood gets donated, sure, but the trend is that much more of it is tainted with STDs or drugs and has to be thrown out because of the demographics that are influenced by the relatively small amount of money they would be able to pay per donation.

Fats

JHunz wrote: »

Fats wrote: »

Fellhand wrote: »

You need to sell plasma or platelettes to make money. Do they even pay for plain old blood anymore?

I believe it's illegal. Which is too bad, because I think a small amount of money would go a long way towards reducing our blood shortage.

Not to turn this into a D&D thread, but the law was passed because of the results of this kind of reasoning. More blood gets donated, sure, but the trend is that much more of it is tainted with STDs or drugs and has to be thrown out because of the demographics that are influenced by the relatively small amount of money they would be able to pay per donation.

I do understand why it's illegal, but we need to figure something out. Blood use is only going to go up as trauma and critical care technology improves, and the synthetic blood we've come up with has been less than effective. (Everyone here donates, right?)

Anyway, OP, it's a painless process that doesn't take that long. Go for it.

Scooter

I've heard it said in previous threads that if you do sperm, you're pretty much required to come in 1-2 times a week for a couple months? I guess because they spend so much effort screening people, that when they get someone decent they want to be sure to get what they can from you.

Which I can understand, but it is a bit more of a commitment than just walking in for some extra cash one day. If it's true.