Kudos after tragedy: Zappos and the Las Vegas shootings

Zappos, which is owned by Amazon but was founded and remains based in Las Vegas, is helping to cover funeral costs for those murdered in the Mandalay Bay shooting on October 1.

From that article:

“We came to realize that as we’re raising money for this fund… don’t get paid out exactly as needed,” said Steven Bautista, head of Zappos’ charity group Zappos for Good. To fill the gap between immediate needs and long-term assistance. the company decided to help families who couldn’t cover funeral costs themselves.

They began with nine families and have recently been working with more.

Companies often rise up in the face of crisis. This is good — good for humanity, good for the reputation of the company, and just the right thing to do. Southwest Airlines recently got people out of Houston in and around Hurricane Harvey. In Vegas, 74 other local businesses helped victims in some way. Multiple Connecticut companies helped Sandy Hook victims, and numerous Florida-based enterprise companies helped out victims of the Orlando shooting. 

It is important to showcase that your customers, and your fellow neighbors in the area you do business, are more than just revenue to you. You need to treat them like humans, and attempt to better the community in the wake of crisis. It may cost you more money than you’re willing to spend in a quarter, but it’s incredibly important.

Think about it like this: if your mother, God forbid, was a victim in one of these tragedies — and if you had authority at one of these companies — what would you do? It would be a no-brainer. Well, the fact is many victims are someone’s mother. (Or father, or brother, or sister, or niece, or anything else.) It doesn’t matter if their connection is an enterprise decision-maker. It matters that they’re human beings in your area, or who you can see struggling. Reach out. Do something.

Kudos to Zappos for doing the right thing here.