Companies showing great CX in the wake of natural disasters

Last week, we highlighted what Southwest Airlines was doing for those displaced by Hurricane Harvey, and now we have a few more examples to share:

Mattress Mack: This story has gotten some attention, and “Mattress Mack” (real name is Jim McIngvale), who owns several Houston-area furniture stores, has opened his doors to those displaced by Harvey. He told NPR that between his two locations, 400 people were residing there — and might be for weeks. Mattress Mack is obviously a small business (only two locations), but even without enterprise-level resources, they did the right thing both (a) for society and (b) in the interest of potential customers of the neighborhood. It’s good branding, yes — but it’s also what companies should be doing, regardless of size.

JetBlue: Ahead of Irma, JetBlue has capped flights out of Florida at $99. Airline margins are incredibly tight, and JetBlue will lose money on this in some form or fashion. Others were realizing this and raising prices — a last-second flight from Miami to Hartford, for example, was over $1,000 on some airlines. Again, in the interest of society and security of human beings, this is good business — even if the bottom line might not be as robust immediately.

Bass Pro Shops: They donated north of 100 boats to government agencies and rescue organizations.

AirBnB: Created an “urgent accommodations” package on their platform post-Harvey and likely doing similar for Irma.

Waffle House: Created a “hurricane playbook” which teaches customers how to prepare quick, easy, healthy meals at home if they’re stranded with limited ingredients.

All told, corporate donations around Harvey alone were between $157-161 million as of this writing, but this goes beyond simply corporate donation. Companies are part of a community and their customers (and employees) come from, and choose to live/work, in that community. When the community is affected, you have a commitment to those people. It’s about going above and beyond in these moments. It really is in all moments, but especially the trying times.

Any other companies you’ve seen doing great things in the wake of not-so-great Mother Nature moments?