Consumers Are Increasingly Turning To Buy-Now-Pay-Later Services For Groceries (nytimes.com) 135
Nearly a quarter of consumers using buy-now-pay-later loans now finance their grocery purchases, representing a significant increase from 14% a year ago, according to a recent LendingTree survey. The shift marks a departure from the traditional use of these short-term financing services for big-ticket items like electronics and furniture toward everyday essentials including groceries, utility bills, and streaming services.
The BNPL market has experienced dramatic growth, expanding from $2 billion in consumer purchases in 2019 to more than $116.3 billion by 2023. Morgan Stanley found that 28% of surveyed Americans had used BNPL services with about 30% of those users applying the financing to grocery purchases. Food prices have risen 28% since 2020, creating particular pressure on lower-income households earning less than $50,000 annually, who represent the largest user base for these services.
The BNPL market has experienced dramatic growth, expanding from $2 billion in consumer purchases in 2019 to more than $116.3 billion by 2023. Morgan Stanley found that 28% of surveyed Americans had used BNPL services with about 30% of those users applying the financing to grocery purchases. Food prices have risen 28% since 2020, creating particular pressure on lower-income households earning less than $50,000 annually, who represent the largest user base for these services.
And how do they plan to repo them? (Score:4, Interesting)
And how do they plan to repo them?
Re:And how do they plan to repo them? (Score:5, Interesting)
And how do they plan to repo them?
An army of long-fingered nursing students logging intern hours as tactical regurgitators?
Hey, look on the bright si, oh wait shit sorry. Covered in puke over here too.
(My theory? BNPL is such a horrific 'failure' that it is quite the money laundering scheme that wasn't really meant to make a profit.)
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And how do they plan to repo them?
Save those turds, you might need them in the bankruptcy proceedings!
BNPL for food?! U.S. is so PHUCKED. (Score:3)
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Always remember to get a receipt [reddit.com] when going to the bathroom.
While out doesn't fit the standard narrative, it turns out that there appears to be an issue in Europe as well. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/stat... [europa.eu]
https://www.greeneuropeanjourn... [greeneuropeanjournal.eu]
So we get to do some introspection. Is it your thesis that people in the EU and especially Germany are in the same situation? Or that it only counts if it is happening in 'Murrica?
I personally know people, a friend of the wife's, who have done this for decades, not just since Cheeto and his band of incompetents became kin
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The worrying part is that the numbers of people doing this are increasing and yes it's still worrying if it's happening in Europe too. It doesnt matter that your wife's friend does it or not either way.
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I kept furniture longer, kept cars longer, I even lived in a mobile home until my late 30's.
Lots of people think what works for them will work for everyone, they just need to get bootstrappy enough. Let me set you straight. Well, first I'd like to start off with a little bit with my background. I'm 35 years old. I am divorced, and I live in a van down by the river. You kids are probably saying to yourself: 'Hey, I'm gonna go out and grab the world by the tail and wrap it around and pull it down and put it in my pocket!' Life is not that easy. You're gonna end up eating a steady diet of government cheese and living in a van down by the river!
All people have different outcomes. But that isn't my point. Some people get divorce graped, (my condolences - seriously) some become ill. Even more empathy sent out. Some just die young, and all of the planning is for nought. My approach took a gamble - I could have spent a lot of money while young. then died destitute. My suggestions are to live within your means, and never live off those low easy payments for the rest of your life. That is good advice even if bad shit happens to you. And it is onl
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And how do they plan to repo them?
The you are what you eat loophole to serfdom.
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And how do they plan to repo them?
The you are what you eat loophole to serfdom.
Two words: Soylent Green [wikipedia.org] - yum...
Re: And how do they plan to repo them? (Score:2)
Your kidneys.
Re: And how do they plan to repo them? (Score:3)
They don't. They (probably mistakenly) believe they can make up for non payment with transaction fees. They get their cut up front from the merchant.
Most of these are operating like early Uber at this point: keep bringing in dumber and dumber money investors to keep floating, and hope for something in the macroeconomic environment to flip in their favor.
Why not use a food bank? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why not use a food bank? (Score:4, Insightful)
What happens when there is a run on the food bank? It seems there is a growing inequity problem that is starting to put housing and food out of the reach of more and more people in the 1st world.
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While I love the idea of the average american living on gruel and water. I don't know if that is the sign of a strong country.
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Cockroaches are free.
And as a bonus, farming them saves you money on insecticide.
Make America Gobble Arthropods!!
Re:Why not use a food bank? (Score:5, Insightful)
If people are using installment plans to buy groceries you might want to examine the cause. We’ve seen this before and what comes after isn’t pretty.
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On a completely unrelated note, I wonder how long it will be before many billionaires suddenly decide to vacation in New Zealand. It's crazy watching this unfold while the el
Re: Why not use a food bank? (Score:3, Interesting)
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Then you engage in some undocumented shopping.
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I'm pretty certain he is trying to make a joke about shoplifting.
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What happens when some orange lunatic pulls all the funding for food banks?
Well... you've always got SNAP (food stamps) -- oh, wait: SNAP changes proposed in GOP’s ‘big, beautiful bill.’ Here’s what to know [thehill.com]
The bill cuts federal funding for SNAP by about $267 billion over a 10 year-period.
Under the new plan, work requirements are extended from people 18-54 to 18-64 years old, and adults caring for a dependent child under the age of 7, instead of the current 18, would be exempt from the SNAP work requirements.
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What happens when some orange lunatic pulls all the funding for food banks?
Oh FFS. Food banks are locally run, staffed, and financed.
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Trump admin halts hundreds of trucks for California food banks [calmatters.org] USDA cancels $1 billion in funding for schools and food banks to buy food from local suppliers [cbsnews.com]
The food banks are completely overwhelmed (Score:5, Insightful)
Meanwhile the big beautiful bill that is almost certainly going to pass the Senate will slash food stamps and funding to food banks. It's also going to slash funding to combat bird flu so you can expect egg prices to skyrocket soon. Tax cuts for billionaires soon to be trillionaires have to be paid for somehow or the bond markets freak out...
I don't think the people here on this forum truly understand how desperate things are getting out there. And we haven't even seen the worst of it yet. That's all scheduled for right after the midterm elections...
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I'm starting to think I can see Trump's genius 4D chess strategy here. One of his minions was asked about the 10% tariffs on bananas and the fact that Walmart put prices up by 8%. His answer was that things made in America don't pay tariffs. Ah, but you can't grow bananas in America, right? Well there lies Trump's genius! Climate change will soon change all that!
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Ah, but you can't grow bananas in America, right?
Actually, yes, you can, all over the place. I used to grow bananas in my back yard in Florida as did my neighbor. You just need the right climate and there are a lot of other areas in the US that will grow bananas through fruiting, depending on the variety.
You can't grow bananas at scale (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes with a lot of effort and in certain places in America you can grow a few bananas. But you're not going to be running a banana plantation here without significant cost that will raise the price of bananas well beyond what anyone can afford.
You don't just need the right climate you need the right soil and conditions and you need lots and lots of water.
So yes America could grow bananas if you're okay with paying, I mean it's one banana how much could it cost $10?
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with zero throughout the season
with zero effort throughout the season,
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Sorry, but that's not "regardless of the winter". A hard freeze will kill them off. I lived in a place where that was a "once in 20 years" event, but it still happened. (Granted, it never got hot enough for the bananas to fruit.)
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I cant believe you're so committed to thinking it's commercially practical to grow bananas in the US as if the fact that they're virtually all grown in other countries happened purely by accident.
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the amount of preparation in the soil
You mean none? In Florida, I was growing them in sand. Here in NC, it's pretty much clay. That's pretty varied.
I mean for fuck sakes you have Google you could look this up it's not hard.
I don't need Google. I've grown them in two entirely different places. It's really fucking easy. It's among the easiest plants I've ever grown.
The problem isn't that we can't grow them the problem is we can't grow enough of them to meet demand. That's going to cause prices to skyrocket.
We can grow quite a lot, and thanks to citrus canker in Florida, it might be a good way to replace the blighted fields of citrus.
Trump is a senile old man (Score:5, Insightful)
Trump is just a figurehead. There are evil and very intelligent men behind him doing terrible things to us all
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Ah, but you can't grow bananas in America, right? ...
You could if you wanted
Bananas are not "that" picky.
I mean in some areas where water is scarce you grow alfalpha, for cattle to produce milk. Makes sense, right?
And at some other places you grow Almonds, and so much water they have there not either.
Bananas on the other hand are not "that" water intensive. But in general a plant gives fruits only once, like Maize or Wheat.
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I'm starting to think I can see Trump's genius 4D chess strategy here. One of his minions was asked about the 10% tariffs on bananas and the fact that Walmart put prices up by 8%. His answer was that things made in America don't pay tariffs. Ah, but you can't grow bananas in America, right? Well there lies Trump's genius! Climate change will soon change all that!
Here's a snarky/smirky comment [youtube.com] from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about no tariffs if you build/produce in America, after being asked about bananas by House Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania. Guess he doesn't know about coffee either -- unless he thinks the entire U.S. can get all its coffee and bananas from Hawaii. (The initial exchange about bananas is here [youtube.com] (t=270s)
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Those are probably also practical in parts of Florida, California, and perhaps Texas.
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Those are probably also practical in parts of Florida, California, and perhaps Texas.
Sure, but probably not in anywhere near enough quantity to meet U.S. demand, and, according to an article I recently read, most of the bananas grown in Hawaii are consumed there and their coffee is rather expensive already.
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among young (and especially white) men it was popularly believed that "woke" was just political double speak for sexism and racism against whites and men.
It's hard to make an argument that hillary isn't a man-hater. It married Bill for power, not out of love. Why do you think he cheats on it so much? It's a marriage of convenience.
I think I see your problem (Score:2)
At the bottom right of your computer screen there's a little clock and if you click on it you'll get the option to fix it. I think you can find guides how to do it online too
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I tried but I got an error when I set it to 1933.
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Why do you think he cheats on it so much? It's a marriage of convenience.
Who are we talking about again? The only competent person the current president hired was Stormy Daniels.
They did (Score:3, Insightful)
I will admit they wasted too much time on the abortion issue but not because that shouldn't be a good issue but because it's not. America selectively enforces laws and if we didn't then women
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It is a contentious subject, but notice that you did not at any point address GPs point. One of the things I've noticed in this is that people on our side (yes, I am very much on the left) are very, very quick to dismiss or ignore the things GP is talking about.
The notion that men might in some way be disadvantaged in modern Western society is often not even worth a millisecond of thought. "These young men must be indoctrinated by misogynists or otherwise just dumb assholes who don't see how they are the op
Re: They did (Score:2)
rsilvergun, let's make one thing abundantly clear:
You are a white male. You have all of the privilege a person could ever ask for. You do not need any assistance with anything because you are already privileged. We hold these truths self-evident. Check your privilege at the door and vote democrat.
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I love how the blame is suddenly shifted. So let me get this straight. It's the fault of democrats for what Trump is doing? Why on earth did you vote for him? He's doing exactly what he said and now it's a problem because it affects you.
Re: The food banks are completely overwhelmed (Score:2)
That may be interesting and insightful if you're a member of the democratic party. For everyone else, the blame for Trump winning the election rests on the shoulders of the people who voted for him. And on the shoulders of people who propagated disinformation, since democracy relies on the ability to make informed choices.
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Or just apply for SNAP, that's precisely why it exists.
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Like funding for food banks, which has already been cut, SNAP is on the chopping block.
SNAP also stands for SUPPLEMENTAL nutrition ASSISTANCE program. It is not intended to nor for many, many people does it meet their food needs. And it is pathetic how many people cannot get it at all. Especially pathetic is how this includes many students. It's harder for students (half-time or more) to qualify for SNAP, they have to meet an exemption from student restrictions like a disability, caring for a child, or work
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I 100% agree SNAP should be expanded and simplified. We are positively obsessed with means testing. I just don't like this idea of relying on food banks aka charity, good as their intentions are it masks systemic problems as described our system is insufficient yet overcomplicated.
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Have you ever considered that people who can afford to buy up front, still buy on credit if the terms are agreeable (eg interest free for 6 months)?
You pay the same amount, but you pay it later so that money can earn interest for you until then.
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I don't know about your food banks, but here in Canada, they're not run by the government. They're charities. I'm ALREADY paying taxes to try to make sure our government takes care of less fortunate people, and they've failed by foisting that off onto food banks, which are run on shoestring budgets, charity, and luck. What happens when people can't afford to give to the food bank, like when there's a recession?
If it were a government agency that was guaranteed to have affordable/free food so that anyone cou
both the links are paywalled (Score:3, Interesting)
What is included in BNPL?
Does that include traditional credit cards? I would expect simple demographic trends to explain a lot of the shift. The little old ladies writing checks at the grocery store because that is how they always bought their groceries are aging out.
Hardly anyone carries cash any more so even small "pocket change" purchases done at grocery stores (stopped in for another half gallon of milk) probably are car purchases now, further skewing the numbers.
Maybe consumers are finally getting educated and learning debit cards are mostly just stupid? Use your credit card get better consumer protections and rewards of some kind however small in value..
I am not exactly shopping and the expensive upscale posh grocery operations. I certainly have not seen a 'lay away' counter at any of the local Food Lion stores. How does one even do BNPL other than a credit card at a grocery?
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It is also typically more expensive than credit card transaction fees for merchants. The more it is used, the more it raises prices for everyone.
Guess he forgot (Score:4, Informative)
About this promise. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/0... [cnn.com]
Credit Cards? (Score:2, Interesting)
"buy-now-pay-later loans"
Wait-- that just means credit cards. Buy now, pay when the bill comes (or, actually, 20 days after the bill comes).
Yeah, I buy groceries with my credit card.
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Yes, that's a normal way to buy groceries and that's "buy now pay later".
I buy groceries with my credit card. (Score:1)
Yep, pretty much done that for a few decades.
Of course I pay off the credit card before the (end-of-the-month).
Re:Credit Cards? (Score:5, Informative)
No not credit cards. You can be forgiven for not reading the article since it's behind a pay wall. But even the summary makes it clear we're not talking about credit cards. These are loan services that offer short-term loans with zero percent interest for a very small window.
From the article:
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With zero interest loans it's fishing in the same pond as credit cards, but by not calling it a virtual credit card they probably avoid a lot of regulation. They do cash back too.
I used to think it was a shit idea, but when I just think of it as a credit card without the need for physical cards and a payment network it makes lot more sense.
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I felt the same way at first. Traditional BNPL schemes were very predatory. However, Klarna (and others) appear to be playing approximately the same game as the traditional credit card processors. They charge transaction fees that are roughly the same as credit card processors, and like credit cards their customers don't pay extra if they pay their bill on time. Klarna, in particular actually appears to give customers interest free time.
The difference, for consumers, is primarily that a Klarna account
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Mrs. Hodge's family can't afford to pay for groceries for their existing family of four, and they decide to make the family BIGGER?! That is terribly decision making. They need to be cutting expenses; not creating more.
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i mean, that's what a credit card is. you pay with the card and if you pay the balance before finance charges kick in, you don't pay any interest. if not, you get charged.
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Are you trying to be cute? Because you are not.
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We have been collapsing the economy for 40 years maybe 50. It's coming to a head finally. Bad things are going to happen and we're not going to escape it.
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Wait-- that just means credit cards.
Next time before you say that ask yourself this: "Why would we use different terms for something?" Have a think, do a bit of research, and then maybe you'll realise that no- these are very different from credit cards with very different implications which is why we call it something else.
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They have no interest rate at all, just very limited late fees. If they use debt collection, the customer will be out a lot more money but Klarna presumably gets none of that (hiding a kickback from the debt collecting agency fees would be tantamount to fraud). Presumably Klarna is not generally in a hurry to involve debt collection.
How do they even make money? They don't.
hot dog debt? (Score:3)
After mortgages, student debt, here comes hot-dog debt.
That is not a good sign (Score:2)
When people need to buy groceries on credit, things are going downhill fast.
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BNPL is an unfortunate name since, technically, credit cards are also buy-now-pay-later. But BNPL is a different kind of credit, i.e., the terms, repayment schedule, and inte
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So what do you get from using a credit card if you always pay it off? Are you magically always one month behind being able to afford anything?
I'm guessing it's not that. Do you get points? Services? Goodies? I wonder how credit card companies pay for those? Oh yeah, you pay for them - and that's even if you use the stuff that comes "with" credit cards. Truly the ultimate middleman/redistribution scheme.
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The points come from the transaction processing fees...
There is a transaction processing cost with every form of payment - taking cash is not free, taking checks is not free. Cards are generally more efficient because they're fully electronic, so some of the fees can be passed back to the customer.
The alternative would be giving everyone a discount % for card payments relative to other payment methods. If they just lowered the fees to merchants, then merchants would make more margin on card payments.
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Also cards are convenient from a customer perspective.
Quicker to make payments, provides a log of transactions, no messing with change or having to visit the ATM etc.
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I hate people that are intentionally dense. Do you need to use that card because of the credit? No? It is just convenient? Then SHUT THE HELL UP, asshole!
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This isn't necessarily bad (Score:3)
The buy-now-pay-later services being used are zero interest as long as payments are made on time, so it could just be a case of people who are living paycheck to paycheck (which indicates bad financial management more than poverty) using this to smooth out their expenses so they don't have to wait for their paycheck to be able to buy groceries. It could be a significant improvement for those who used to occasionally use payday loans (which are not zero interest). These people would be better off adjusting their spending habits to maintain a buffer of their own cash instead, but if they aren't going to do that BNPL is a better option than waiting for payday before buying food or using a payday loan service.
But obviously the only reason these by-now-pay-later services are in business is because some of their customers fail to make the zero-interest payments and end up having to pay interest, and this number is high enough to make them profitable. It would be very interesting to find out what that percentage is. People who are paying interest on regular purchases like groceries are throwing money away, which is clearly bad.
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That's what I assumed as well. Buy Now Pay Later loans like this have a long history of being predatory. So I took a look at what it would cost to accept Klarna (as an example) as a merchant. The reality is that they have transaction fees that are very similar to credit cards. In other words, these companies do not need to rely on missed payments to make a profit.
These companies are apparently setting themselves up to replace traditional credit card payment systems, which suits me right down to the gr
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The buy-now-pay-later services being used are zero interest as long as payments are made on time, so it could just be a case of people who are living paycheck to paycheck (which indicates bad financial management more than poverty) using this to smooth out their expenses so they don't have to wait for their paycheck to be able to buy groceries.
Explain how buy now pay later works for a recurring cost?
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so it could just be a case of people who are living paycheck to paycheck
People in this position are already served by credit cards. No people who are using BNPL services for basic groceries are already deeper in the shit than just paycheck to paycheck.
bananas (Score:2)
I was planning to buy bananas on the lay away plan.
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Over ripe bananas lead to banana bread.
It's a plan, but now I'm hungry.
No hay credito, no hay problema! (Score:2)
But if nobody tiene credito, hay un gran problema para todos!
So I technically buy now and pay later for groceries. I buy them now on my credit card and I pay for them later at the end of the billing period when I pay off my balance in full.
There's a 4 week grace period on my card, so technically if I buy something at the start of the billing period and pay it off at the end of the grace period, it's up to 8 weeks after the fact.
I get paid twice a month and I usually balance the split for my household spendi
This Used to Be Typical (Score:5, Interesting)
My grandfather ran a grocery/general store (and I'm pretty old) for years, and buying on credit was the norm.
When Piggly Wiggly, the first chain supermarket, started, people thought that one reason it would fail is that customers had to pay cash, with no way to buy on credit.
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Your grandfather also worked at the same employer for 30 years and was able to raise a family on a single income.
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This used to be typical *FOR A VERY DIFFERENT REASON*.
We are not living in your grandfather's world. The motivations are not the same.
The global rise in prices is pure greed. (Score:4, Interesting)
The solution to this problem is regulation, and caps because there's no reason groceries giants are generating record profits, while people are going broke just to live. The NDP party leader tried to fake care about this problem, and "grilled" the grocery CEOs, which of course did nothing, and was never going to, but on record the prices are high because they can be high. Obviously, you need to make a profit, but a reasonable profit. When a grocery CEO can brag about the record, "Scrooge McDuck" level of profit, while people are taking out loans to buy staples, that's a major, flashing, alarm ringing issue.
I overheard a mother at Walmart a few weeks back say (paraphrased): "We can only spend $100 on the groceries for the week.", what are you buying that will last a week for $100? Nothing, forget about eating meat, a pack of Pork Chops, the cheapest meat in the meat section (also my favourite), was $17. The chicken, drumsticks, were $19, so let's assume you wanted to have meat twice that week, that's $40 or 40% of that food budget. Factor in $20 TP, $9 milk, $10 eggs, and some bread $5. That's $80, that leaves $20, for everything else, and she had kids who needed lunch food. This is not a magic, unknown, we need regulation, and we needed it years ago.
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Investors are screwing everybody worldwide. They have to be blocked from food and housing.
You can save money being sanitary and civilized, using a bidet. Also most that toilet paper comes from new trees, not recycled and their favorite trees are from the rainforest... Plus some has a % of plastic in it. Just imagine that... you wipe your ass (smearing it around not really cleaning any more than you clean your hands wiping them with a dry napkin) with something that will out live many generations of your des
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I'm in my late 30s, but when I was in my teens, 20-years-ago, I remember getting weekly groceries with my father for under $150! We had a famil
Astonishing! (Score:2)
It's astonishing, to me, that BNPL grocery usage was 14% last year.
And, now it's pushing 25%? Unbelievable. This probably won't end well.
Interest free? (Score:2)
A lot of these services are interest free, or provide an initial interest-free period.
I could afford to pay up front, but then someone offers me 6 months interest free? Why wouldn't i take that?
Then the money can sit in a savings account for 6 months earning interest for me.
I end up paying the exact same amount, only 6-12 months later by which time i've earned some free interest on my savings and inflation has made the repayment amount marginally lower.
I've bought a number of things in this way for this rea
So what happens next week? (Score:2)
What that's called (Score:2)
"Consumers Are Increasingly Turning To Buy-Now-Pay-Later Services For Groceries"
Yeah that's called "being fucking poor", for all you geniuses at the New York Times.
Corrected headline:
"Consumers Are Increasingly Too Fucking Poor To Buy Groceries"