Blood costs the hospitals something like $230 per pint. Apparently there are a lot of costs involved with it.  So, paying people in order to have slightly higher donation rates may be very effective and reduce costs anyway. Besides, it takes time that could be spent on other things, and you'll burn energy creating new blood. There are costs to the donor. If you asked me to donate, I'd be a bit meh about it. If you offered me $100 to donate (they probably don't pay anywhere near that), that sounds like a pretty good deal actually.