DoorDash Wants Me to Finance My Fries. That's a Hard No

I am no doubt the target audience for DoorDash's new controversial partnership with Klarna. The Buy Now, Pay Later option allows customers to pay for groceries or food delivery on the platform in four installments. There was a time when taking out a microloan for pad thai would have tempted me. It would have also gotten me into trouble. Ordering food online has always been my go-to guilty pleasure, and cutting takeout from my budget was one of my first personal #recessionindicators. Klarna and other BNPL services might seem like a convenient way to finance things we can't afford, especially because most of these plans don't charge interest. But that appeal is precisely why they can be insidious. Being able to pay a small amount now and the rest later makes it easier to hit that "order" button. Humans are excellent at focusing on the here and now and discounting the consequences down the line. When announced, the DoorDash-Klarna deal got a fair dose of criticism, with online memes de ... Read full article.