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The only time I've used these was on Black Friday, and ultimately, it was worth it.
But they are 100% predatory.
And people have an issue with dumpster diving. Fools
Literally what russians were doing while being loud on internet about how sanctions don't work. You can look foward to anti theft tags on bread soon.
What about shaving items and deodorant?
....yup done already.
And butter locked up
Odd to think if you can't afford food now you could afford it later plus interest.
What makes you think they think that? Odd...
First off, I fully agree with you. But how people are lured in is that there is no interest if you pay on time, so it's advertised as interest-free. But obviously the business model is built upon people not paying on time, and as such one should calculate that cost into it…
This works when talking about seadoos and lifted trucks. When it is food the title of "fool" goes from lendee to lender.
...and the additional food then.
Also odd to think people can put off eating until they have the proper funds.
I am talking more about the people lending the money, not sure why they think this would be sound lending. People will do far worse then default on a loan to keep eating.
Money is like stamina - you usually have much more than you think, but accessing it is not without a serious toll. Extreme example - you can probably sell an organ to cover your debt. And there is a wide spectrum of things you can do before reaching that point, many of them crossing the legal, ethical, and humane border.
The original BNPL creditors are not going to make you do them. They need to be legitimate, customer-facing businesses. But they can sell your debt to collection agencies, which will be more willing to put pressure on you. And if that doesn't work - there are always gray market collectors to sell it to.
As someone who has worked a bit in lending (many many years ago), there is diminishing returns to bad loans. No one is sending people to "break knees" over BNPL loans, they charge so many fees just to cover the defaults. There is no real "grey market" to sell these bad loans to (at least for now). They harass and threaten a whole lot, but really don't do much (due to cost not morals). At the point people are taking payday loans out to buy food, you have got to the point of trying to squeeze blood out of a stone.
Oh, I guess I was assuming the vast majority of these folks (I'm one of them actually) are using credit cards, so the loaners don't really know ahead of time.
I can't open the article (forbidden) but I am also assuming this is about the new DoorDash and others eat now pay later crap.
Yeah, "buy now, pay later" usually refers to installment plan services like Klarna and Afterpay. Credit card companies have a different business model.
The business model for those services is basically to do all the shady shit that credit companies can't do anymore because they've been around long enough to become regulated.
Going back to the original point about thinking people will be able to pay later. I doubt that's the goal. My impression is that their income is meant to come from two places:
- garnishing people's wages forever and getting them on interest that they can never repay (won't work on everyone, but maybe enough for margins)
- laundering and selling these subprime loans by bundling them with better loans, like the mortgage industry pre-2008
Yeah, you are getting nothing from garnished wages of a person who went into debt to buy food (people seem to think that you can just garnish 100% of someones income for some reason). You hit the nail on the head with the comparison to the 2008 mortgage crisis, these are very very very bad loans that they will try to bundle and sell. Another game of hot potato with a grenade.
Steve Carrell: HEY... THERES A BUBBLE!
I keep on wondering who the fuck has the money to be using things like grubhub. I realize its a non sequitor for this article but I really don't see how these businesses stay in business.
I used to have lunch delivered where I worked through another local company, but the delivery was "free" because of a deal my workplace made with the company (it was actually not free, because everything was marked-up). It was more convenient than driving some place in traffic and being worried about time while out. Usually, I'd just take meals I preprepared to work though.
yeah I was at a place with that. The times I did not bring something I took the opportunity to enjoy walking to a place but it was a downtown job so no driving necessary.
Credit card debt is a pathway to many abilities some would consider unnatural
I have used it a bunch over the years because I hate talking to people, but I never use delivery so I think it's only a few extra dollars over calling it in in average, plus some places do offer "discounts" and Amazon prime allows grubhub premium for no charge which removes more fees and gives you credit for pickup orders. The discounts aren't much but can bring it down to what it costs by phone and sometimes a little more. I used to throw a few bucks for tip, but i have decided not to do that anymore because I pickup and it's mostly from pizza places which I wouldn't tip if I call it in so why should I this way.
Of course, these days, I barely get takeout or go out anymore because, like the article talks about, money is too tight to reward yourself anymore...
My experience is that there's always a hidden surcharge with DD or Uber eats. Like fries are $3 if you call it in yourself, but are $3.30 or something in an app. A couple years ago I had a $10 off $40 coupon and dash pass from my credit card. Total after fees for pickup was like $55 and just calling it in myself was $45.
Not saying it's impossible to save using them, but good luck.
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People who don't really understand credit cards or have a cognitive disconnect between cost and value when fulfilling their sustenance need.
When people get hangry they don't make good choices.
Roaring 20's pt 2
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never understood this. If you can't buy it now will you be able to.pay later?! You need groceries every month
If you are at the point where you are buying grocoeries in installments, who cares about paying it back. What good is a good credit score if you cant afford to buy anything anyways. Just survive any way you can at that point
If you're living paycheck to paycheck, it takes one unexpected expense and suddenly you're hustling to get food on the table. The cycle then repeats itself.
I've been there. It's expensive to be poor with little to no way out.
You need a car to work. Cars are expensive. You get a old clunker.
You work and live check to check. Maybe $50 or $100 left over after taxes and expenses. Not really possible to have an emergency fund.
A single injury or car breaking down and you need to borrow money. From family, friends or some shitty company.
Oh and then your yearly raise comes around at $1/hr that barely covers your rent increasing let alone inflation.
The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. ... A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. ... But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while a poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socio-economic unfairness.
Yep. This tracks.
My issue now with products is planned obsolescence. Any things aren't made to last like they used to. They also have extra technology in them making them harder to repair. Appliances, cars and more.
Whoops some bill auto-drafted unexpectedly
Your account is negative now, oh and throw a $25 fee on top.
Looks like you're scrounging for dinner tonight. And the rest of the week. Maybe skip some meals because you have no choice.
Shit sucks ass.
Once I bounced a check to our water company and they refused to take checks or credit cards from me for a YEAR as a punishment. It was a one-time accident after paying on time for around seven years. I literally had to drive my ass down there with cash. It's a small rural water service, not a big corporation - they chose to be complete assholes even after I explained the situation (we had a baby that month and forgot a monthly $ transfer in the chaos).
Same mistake probably cost us $120 in overdraft fees. Society financially punishes people who need money the most and rewards the people who have plenty. It's ridiculous.
I once had my electricity bill bounce, and they forced me to pay a deposit of $250. So the amount I owed went from $100 to $350. Plus a late fee. And they never return the deposit until I had paid on time for 2 years.
That was a bad time.
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Cost of living is too high, put it on credit.
Your alternative is starve now.
Either way, this is about to get a lot more bonkers in roughly the next 30 to 60 days as Just In Time delivery... kinda just, stops working, and grocery stores will have to both raise prices and ration items per customer per week to deal with shortages and try to minimize in-store injuries and deaths.
Go look up a compilations of black friday shopping stampedes.
Imagine that, but for groceries, every time a grocery store restocks.... for the forseeable future.
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this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2025
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A Boring Dystopia
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