Businesses around the world are coming together to support the incredible individuals working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’re showing their appreciation by offering deals, discounts and donations for medical personnel and essential workers, including firefighters, grocery clerks, and more. Over the last week, I’ve been scouring the Internet for these discounts, and have pulled together what I believe to be one of the most comprehensive lists of deals available to these essential personnel.
But that’s not all. There are also a ton of brands just trying to survive right now. Given the world’s impending recession, they’re offering a heap of discounts on their websites available to everyone, non-essential workers included. So if you’re looking to pump some money back into the economy (or just go in for a good, old-fashioned online shopping binge in your umpteenth hour of quarantine), Part II of the below list is for you.
Of course, these are hard times for everyone. So while supporting these businesses may be an option for some, I also recognize how many unemployment claims have been filed across the world since this pandemic started. Do with this information what you’d like: use it, or pass it along to someone who might find it useful. And above all, stay safe and well!
Two things before you scroll: First, most of these perks apply in the US, unless otherwise noted. A great list of Singapore discounts and perks can be found here and here, and a list of hotels offering discounts to frontline workers in Singapore is here. The mirror also has a great list of discounts for NHS frontline workers, which can be found here. Second, I’ll be updating this list regularly as more brands announce deals and donations (and as I receive suggestions). This list was last updated 2 May.
Part 1. Discounts & deals for frontline workers
Automotive & transportation
- AAA: Free roadside assistance is available for medical workers and first responders. Details vary by state.
- BP and Amoco: First responders, doctors, nurses, and hospital workers all get a one-time, 50-cent-per-gallon discount at BP and Amoco stations. Be sure to verify your eligibility with ID.me before fueling up.
- Caliber Collision: Medical workers and first responders get up to $500 in deductible assistance, free rental car (via Enterprise) for those without rental coverage, and vehicle pickup/delivery, whether at home or work.
- GM: GM has extended its preexisting first responder discount to include health care professionals through June 30. Chevy, Buick, Cadillac and GMC are all participating GM brands.
- Honda: Through July 6, first responders and health care professionals get $500 toward Honda models from 2019 or later. To get the deal, you’ll need to finance or lease with Honda Financial Services.
- Uber: Uber Health will provide transportation for front-line health care workers, both to and from patients’ homes as well as between health care facilities.
Clothing & accessories
- Adidas: Medical professionals, first responders, and members of the military all get 40% off their purchases. Professional verification is required via ID.me.
- Allbirds: The popular shoe company has a few ways to get a discount: you can bundle your own shoe purchase with a pair to be sent to a health care professional, or donate a pair directly to a health care worker for $60. Health care workers can purchase final-sale pairs from a special collection at a discounted price.
- Asics: Medical professionals and first responders get 60% off any full-priced product by creating an Asics account using your professional email.
- Crocs: Health care workers can sign up to get a free pair (complete with free shipping). Pairs have been running out due to high demand, so check back at noon ET each day to try to snag a spot in line.
- Dagne Dover: Health care workers, teachers, and members of the military all get 20% off Dagne Dover’s collection of bags, backpacks and wallets.
- Danform Shoes: Health care workers can use the code SUPERHERO20 for 20% off online footwear purchases.
- Free Hooks for Masks: Medical professionals can fill out this form to request hooks for masks that make them comfortable to wear all day, for themselves and/or coworkers.
- Medelita: Get 30 percent off CDC-approved scrubs with a one-year warranty with code ‘FRONTLINES.’
- Merrell: First responders, nurses, police, firefighters, and military members get a 20% discount. Verify your identity with ID.me.
- Nike: First responders and medical professionals (including technicians and researchers) get 20% off most items on Nike’s website. Verify your identity with SheerID.
- Reebok: First responders, teachers, nurses, and military all get 50% off their purchases, with no item exceptions. Verify your identity with ID.me.
- Rothy’s: The sustainable shoe company is offering health care workers and first responders 50% all merchandise.
- Saxx Underwear: Frontline workers, including medical staff, grocery store employees, sanitation workers, transport crews, and police, get a 30% discount on all purchases of unmentionables.
- The North Face: Health care workers in the United States get a 50% discount, and health care workers can also get a 10% discount on non-clearance items at outlet stores in the US.
- Under Armour: Military members, first responders, health care workers and teachers get a 40% off discount. Choose ‘Military and First Responder Discount’ at checkout.
- Vineyard Vines: Medical workers get 15% off their orders. A professional ID is required. It takes 1-2 hours to be approved and receive your discount code.
- We are Leaving Early: A blog and online store launched by my former coworker, featuring very ‘of-the-moment’ merchandise (think: a ‘Quaran Queening’ crop hoodie). 100% of profits from its collection go to Meals on Wheels & The Mask Project.
Food, beverage & grocery
- BJ’s: The wholesale club is offering an “appreciation hour” for health care workers and first responders from 8-9AM on Sundays, when you can shop without a membership. It’s also offering a free four-month Inner Circle membership to frontline workers.
- Costco: Health care workers and first responders get priority access to its warehouse clubs. Show an official ID (and your Costco membership card) to skip to the front of the line. Boom!
- Cumberland Farms: Medical workers, first responders, hospital staff, and active duty military can get a free coffee, any size, hot or iced.
- Dollar General: Dollar General is offering a 10% discount on purchases made by all medical personnel, first responders and activated members of the National Guard with an employment badge or ID.
- Fresh Brothers: When you donate pizza to a first responder, Fresh Brothers will match your donation. Call 310.642.0533 to place a donation order today.
- Genghis Grill: Health care workers get 20% off their carryout and call-ahead orders at all locations with a badge or medical ID to get the discount.
- Hooters: Hospital workers, first responders and military get 20% off with an employment ID. Choose the “Pay at store” option for online orders.
- IHOP: Get 20% off your entire check if you’re a medical, law enforcement, military or firefighter professional. Mention the offer when you call in your order, and show your ID upon pickup.
- Krispy Kreme: Every Monday, Krispy Kreme will give free donuts to health care workers with an employer badge.
- My M&M’s: Purchase these packs, which are $1.99 each (minimum of 20), and support My M&M’s $50,000 donation to Operation Gratitude and thank-you packs for first responders. You can also get a 10% discount and cash back through RetailMeNot.
- Naf Naf Middle Eastern Grill: Naf Naf is giving first responders and active or retired military personnel a 15% discount on their order with valid ID.
- White Castle: Health care workers and EMTs can fulfill their Harold & Kumar dreams with free combo meals upon proof of professional ID. Drive-through only.
Furniture & home goods
- ABT: Veterans, active-duty military, first responders, and teachers get $50 off a $500 purchase. Verify your identity through IDme.
- BlanQuil: Health care workers, military personnel, and first responders can all snag 50% on weighted blankets (or anything else on the website).
- Emma: The mattress company is offering health care workers a 10% discount on their orders with proof of employment via email.
- Leesa: First responders, educators, students, and members of the military get 15% off their entire orders.
- Lovesac: First responders, health care workers, teachers and military get 40% off all Sacs and Sactionals through May. Verify your identity with SheerID.
- Owala: Water bottle company Owala is offering first responders, government workers and medical professionals (including retirees) 50% off their orders. Verify your identity with VerifyPass.
- Purple: Health care workers get 10% off any order of full-priced merchandise (includes mattresses).
- Tuft & Needle: Health care workers, first responders, and veterans get a 15% discount on mattresses.
- Yeti: First responders get a 30% discount on all water bottles and insulated coolers. Verify your identity through IDme.
Hotels & accommodation
- Airbnb: The company is waiving all fees for the first 100,000 stays in its new Frontline stays program. Individuals must first submit professional information to Airbnb to confirm their eligibility, after which they can book directly with hosts.
- Choice Hotels: Essential health care workers, first responders, and transit employees can receive discounted room rates at participating hotels.
- Citi Bike: Critical workers living or working in New York City are eligible for a free 30-day Citi Bike membership.
- Wyndham Hotels: All essential workers (including health care workers, delivery drivers, and grocery clerks) get a free instant membership upgrade to Gold status.
Services
- Barry’s Bootcamp: First responders and health-care workers can attend a virtual class for free on Sundays. To get the credit, send an email to barryscares@barrys.com with proof of employment.
- Care.com: Frontline workers get a month of free premium access to the company’s services, which include care for kids, aging parents and pets.
- Down Dog: All of Down Dog’s wellness, yoga and fitness apps are free through July 1, for health care professionals, teachers and students.
- Headspace: The mindfulness and meditation app is offering free subscriptions for all health care professionals working in public health settings for all of 2020, with a National Provider Identifier or another form of professional verification.
- Home Chef: The meal kit delivery service is offering 50% off your first purchase for medical personnel, first responders, military and teachers. Verify your identity through IDme.
- Sittercity: All those working on the front lines of the crisis are eligible for three free months of Sittercity Premium, which connects families with trusted child care.
- Speeko. Health care and public health professionals get a free subscription to the Speeko mobile app, which has a library with more than 100 activities, ranging from storytelling to giving online presentations.
- Talkspace: Doctors, nurses and social workers get free access to the therapy app’s unlimited messaging plan.
- Thrivetalk: Essential health care workers and first responders get free mental health services. For those who aren’t health care workers or first responders and are seeking mental health services, Thrivetalk is currently offering sessions at discounted rates (e.g., 45-minute sessions are $45 vs. $75, 60-minute sessions are $60 vs. $90).
- Tide Cleaners: Through May 9, families of front line responders can get free laundry services through Tide’s Loads of Hope program.
- Trust & Will: US health care professionals get free access to a complete Will-Based Estate Plan, for themselves and their spouses.
Tech & electronics
- AT&T: First responders and medical professionals get three months of free wireless service on the new FirstNet Mobile Responder plan.
- HELM Audio: Through its Tag A Hero and Front Line Hero campaigns, the brand is giving away two pairs of HELM True Wireless 5 headphones each week until May 31 to frontline workers. For those that don’t win, HELM is offering a 50% discount on all merchandise. Verify your identity through IDme.
- OtterBox: Frontline workers get a 40% discount on all orders.
- Tech21: Health care workers get 60% off antimicrobial phone cases by reaching out with a copy of their professional ID via email.
- Theragun: Health care workers can request $250 off a percussive therapy device (basically a super intense vibrating massager meant to help with muscle recovery).
- Verizon Wireless: For new or existing Verizon customers, Verizon is offering wireless unlimited pricing to nurses, teachers, active-duty military, veterans and people who work as first responders.
Part II. Deals for everyone (non-frontline workers included)
Brands offering discounts
- 1 Phillip Lim: Up to 75% off archive sale.
- Alison Lou: Fist-ever sample sale now online. Get 15% off with code ‘SPRING15.’
- Batsheva: Free shipping on US orders and a robust sale section.
- Brother Vellies: Orders placed will ship in 3-5 business days. Complimentary ground shipping is available for orders over $100 within the US.
- Ciao Lucia: 20% off the site with code ‘STAYHOME20.’
- Emily Dawn Long: 10% discount on all online orders using code ‘THANKYOU10.’
- Goop: 20% off select styles in the Stay Home Sale.
- Knickey Underwear: Free shipping on US Orders over $60.
- Kule: Free shipping and returns.
- F.Markey: Mid-season sale, discount applied automatically.
- Lisa Says Gah: New loungewear added to sale section on site.
- Madewell: Extra 50% off sale with code ‘BIGTIME.’
- MATCHESFASHION: 30% off Mid-Season Sale with code ‘MID30’ at checkout.
- Megababe: 15% off site-wide with code ‘STAYHOME15.’
- Need Supply: 25% off site-wide with added items to sale.
- Opening Ceremony: 40% off site-wide with code ‘HEADSTART.’
- Parade: Save 20% on select styles.
- Pretties: Loungewear and intimates selection curated on site.
- Proenza Schouler: Up to 75% off archive sale.
- Rachel Comey: Up to 60% off sample sale.
- Rebecca Minkoff: 30% off site-wide using the code ‘WFH30.’
- Sephora: Robust sale section on site.
- Shopbop: Up to 40% off.
- Sies Marjan: Up to 40% off archive sale.
- Susan Alexandra: 20% site-wide applied at checkout plus complimentary domestic shipping.
- Terry T: Free express shipping on all orders within Australia with the code ‘STAYHOME’ at checkout.
- Totokaelo: 20% off site-wide.
- Veda: 25% off with code ‘FRIENDOFVEDA.’
- Warm: 25% off with code ‘WARMLOVE25’
- Wolf & Badger: Up to 50% off.
- Wolf Circus: 15% off sitewide with code ‘CYBERHUG.’
Brands making in-kind donations
- AGL: Donating 30% of online sales to support the medical staff in the region of Marche where the company has its headquarters and factory.
- Alexander Wang: 20% of proceeds from the pop-up shop linked here will be donated to the United Nations Foundation’s COVID-19 response fund.
- Boll & Branch: 10% off anything from the bath collection. The brand will also donate an additional 10% towards the production of mattresses for pop-up hospitals around the country.
- Brinker & Eliza: 10% of the profits from all purchases to the Domestic Workers Coronavirus Care Fund.
- Catbird: $10 of the purchase price of the Mother of Pearl Love Token is given to Direct Relief and $10 from the purchase price of the The Light You Shed Token is given to the Women’s Prison Association.
- Clare V: Making and distributing non-medical masks by taking suggestions from customers of organizations in their local communities that are in need. Plus free shipping & delivery for all orders.
- Coco Shop: 20% of proceeds to Feeding America plus 10% off your first order.
- Collina Strada: Offers a mask with every purchase for Masks4Medicine.
- Cult Gaia: Offering 10% of sales to No Kid Hungry, plus 20% off almost everything with code GIVEBACK.
- Donni: Donating 15% of all proceeds to LA Food Bank.
- Edie Parker: 15% of sales will be donated to Feeding America, Citymeals on Wheels, and No Kid Hungry.
- Emily Levine: 10% of sales will be donated to the hospital of Bergamo, Papa Giovanni XX.
- Fivestory: Take 15% off the entire site, and 15% of all proceeds will support the WHO’s Covid-19 relief efforts.
- Henning: $50 per Hudson Jacket sold will be donated to the Food Bank for New York City.
- Hunting Season: Hosting weekly auctions on Hunting Season’s Instagram Stories, auctioning samples worn by women who are friends of the brand. 100% of the total winner’s bid will be given to charity.
- KES NYC: For every mask purchased by a customer, KES is meeting that with a 1+1 match in mask donations. The masks are available for purchase online.
- Khaite: Stay at Home Sale, save 40% on select styles. Khaite is also donating $10,000 to the nonprofit organization Baby2Baby.
- Koio: 35% off merchandise sample sale. A percentage of sales will go to the Red Cross and Food Bank NYC (details here).
- La Ligne: 15% off sitewide, and 15% of total sales will go to a different charity each week, including Baby2Baby, World Central Kitchen, and Roar NY.
- La Perla: 10% of proceeds to the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
- Lele Sadoughi: 5% of proceeds will go to Meals on Wheels.
- Lingua Franca: $100 will be donated to the Food Bank for New York City for every sweater purchased.
- Live The Process: 20% of proceeds will go to Food Bank NYC.
- Loup: 15% of proceeds will go to Meals on Wheels.
- Machete Jewelry: For each sale and piece purchased, they will be able to donate up to 25 masks to Mask Match.
- Mansur Gavriel: With every purchase of the Bucket Bag (of any size and color), 10% of sales will be donated to GlobalGiving’s Coronavirus Relief Fund.
- Monogram: Use Code “Together” at checkout for 25% off + donating 10% of sales to Feeding America.
- Larkin: Donating 10% of proceeds from their collection to Houston Food Bank plus an additional 25% off new season arrivals with Mr. Larkin’s Thank You Sale.
- NST Studio: 20% of all proceeds from each purchase are being donated to Covid-19 Charities plus up to 35% off select styles.
- Pamela Love: The designer is making jewelry from home out of polymer and selling them with 100% of the proceeds going No Kid Hungry.
- Parachute: Every time a customer buys a pack of five face masks, Parachute will donate five face masks to those in need.
- PatBO: 10% of all online sales will benefit Baby2Baby for the month of May.
- Patou: 100% of the proceeds from the brand’s organic sweatshirts and T-shirts will be donated to the WHO’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
- Polkadot England: A portion of all sales will be donated to the CDC’s Emergency Response Fund.
- Prabal Gurung: Donate 3M masks to New York hospitals and frontline medical workers with the COVID Foundation on their site here.
- Reformation: Selling mask packs on their website for personal use, small businesses, or donation.
- RIXO: 10% of profits from rixo.co.uk will go to Age UK, and proceeds from its ‘Stay at Home’ T-shirt will go to NHS Charities COVID-19 Urgent Appeal.
- Rosie Assoulin: Everything on the site is 20% off, and if you email the team when you receive your order confirmation, they will donate 15% of your purchase to a charity of your choice.
- Rowing Blazers: 10% of proceeds from all online orders to Direct Relief, and offering 10% off with code ‘BRANDSXBETTER’ through May.
- Roxanne Assoulin: For every Remind Yourself bracelet sold, 10% of proceeds will be donated to the COVID-19 Direct Relief Fund.
- Staud: 10% of all proceeds from Hand-Painted Pet Portrait Bags will be donated to Muddy Paws Rescue.
- Still Here: 20% percent of sales will go to NYC food bank Sephardic Food Fund.
- SVNR: 50% of web sales to Meals on Wheels to provide food for the elderly.
- Tanya Taylor: 100% of site donations will go directly to the creation and distribution of masks for distribution in NYC.
- The Nue Co: 30% of all proceeds will go to Hospitality in Action in the UK and direct donations to small businesses in NYC on a rotating basis.
- Tibi: An online sample sale at up to 80% off. The Tibi warehouse has also set aside 1,000 pieces for people to nominate workers they want to send an outfit to, by tagging @tibi on Instagram or completing the form here.
- Universal Standard: Offering a free piece from the Foundation collection to every doctor, nurse, and medical worker who wants one, while supplies last.
- Veronica Beard: 80% off select styles with a portion of proceeds from each sale going back to the Veronica Beard Gives Back partner, Good+Foundation.
- Viva Aviva: 20% of all online sales will be donated to Food Bank NYC.
- Wol Hide: Shibori dyed tee proceeds are being donated to the Philadelphia food bank Philabundance.
- World: 25% of each sale will go to Rainy Day Fund to cover the lost wages of factory workers who can’t work from home.
Most of this list comes from the efforts of other hard-working people, like the folks at Man Repeller, RetailMeNot, WireCutter, iHeartRadio, and CNN. I simply collated the resources on these pages to create one master list for viewing and sharing. Thanks to these hardworking journalists for keeping everyone informed of these gracious offers.
Take good care,
Sam