If you donate at a hospital, blood and platelets are likely to be processed with minimal overhead, delay, and expense. Donated platelets last only 5 days, so the time required to process and distribute them is important.
Donating at a hospital also bypasses the middleman (blood collection centers). That presumably avoids the problem of centers that charge high fees and pay themselves handsomely.
The disadvantage of donating at a hospital is that the blood and platelets may stay in that hospital's blood bank even if there's already an adequate supply there, while some other hospital might be low. Perhaps they share, at least in their local communities, but I'm guessing that blood collection centers are better at the logistics of widespread blood distribution to where it's needed.
There's an overall imbalance between where donations are made and where blood is needed. For example, out of the 50 U.S. states, Alaska is in the Top 10 of blood donation centers per capita (
source), but Alaska still has to obtain blood from the lower 48 states, as during
last month's shortage. And there are plenty of other disparities among sections of the country.
The blood supply also fluctuates when there are holidays (fewer donors show up) and when there is a well-publicized disaster (people line up to donate). So it may be extra helpful to donate during the holidays and in between disasters, but I think it's best to simply mark your calendar to make donations at regular intervals.
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