App 'Deadweight' Calculates True Cost of Donating Goods to Disaster Zones

A developer built Deadweight, a free web tool, for a DEV Weekend Challenge to help donors understand the real logistical cost of sending physical goods to disaster-affected areas. The humanitarian sector has long warned that unsolicited donations often worsen relief efforts — a phenomenon sometimes called the 'second disaster' — with past examples including donated goods sitting unused in Vanuatu for a year after Cyclone Pam. The tool lets users build a manifest of items, select a shipping route, and receive a line-by-line USD breakdown of freight, sorting, and disposal costs against the declared value of goods. Each cost figure cites its source, date, and confidence level, and assumptions are explicitly flagged to ensure transparency. The app also suggests a counterfactual showing how the same money spent on items listed in an official flash appeal would fare under the same calculations.