Posted on 02/06/2026 8:15:25 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
(NewsNation) — It’s never been easier to tap a button and have dinner show up at your door, but the line between convenience and cost is drawing new attention.
A recent New York Times story explored the rise of America’s food-delivery culture, prompting fresh scrutiny of how much people are spending on apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub.
The Times spoke to a 34-year-old woman in San Diego with a $50,000 annual salary who said she spends at least $200 to $300 a week on food delivery — a pattern she said has eaten away at her savings.
Another man told the Times he and his husband spend about $700 a week ordering in because of the time it saves. One man said he drives for Uber Eats, in part, to pay off his debt from ordering too much food delivery.
‘Buy now, pay later’ is everywhere: Is it a ticking time bomb? Screenshots of the story quickly circulated on social media, where many reacted with disbelief at the examples.
“Few things alienate me from my fellow Americans more than reading about their spending habits in general and food delivery in particular,” one X user wrote.
Journalist Matthew Yglesias, co-founder of Vox, went a step further: “Part of the affordability crisis is pretty clearly people just refusing to be thrifty — you should not be spending a quarter of your salary on DoorDash.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
One-hundred years ago those people would have hired a maid to do that. The cost would be about the same or less.
Have we been lied to?
This is how I know I’m officially old. It boggles my mind how prevalent food delivery has become. When I was young, you ordered a pizza for delivery although most times, my father or mother went to pick it up. I can’t get over the idea that food delivery is simply a sign of laziness. The one guy says it saves time. OK. What is he doing with the time? Sitting on his ass scrolling through Tik Tok? Probably. Unless he’s a surgeon in the operating room, he has time to do his own food shopping.
The notion of having an unknown, low IQ, untrained, possibly unhygienic, corporate-tech temp drone schlep cold food across the city for me - and having to pay for it, just boggles my mind.
Food delivery is overspending.
“I’ll pay for you to bring it to me and make sure it is cold”
No idea why people do this. Locally, the most delivered items come from McDonalds. Oddly, I don’t know anyone my age or older who uses it.
I watched a neighbor order Ubereats, then stare at his smart phone for an hour and a half.
Yes, this is what is on everyone's mind. Because we all need to know what everybody is spending their money on.
Where is the question about how much our government is ripping us off daily and where is all of OUR money going?
FU NYT!
“Part of the affordability crisis is pretty clearly people just refusing to be thrifty ...”
It’s as if he’s met my daughter and son-in-law.
Hell yes they are! Food delivery is idiotic unless you are crippled and home bound. Get your ass in your car and go get your pizza, or your burger or your chicken. Then eat it in the restaurant while the fries are still hot and fresh. When you get your food delivered, you pay a fee and have to tip some bozo who might be tampering with your food which has been cooling off for 20 minutes while it is traveling across town.
And then they wonder where all the money went.
My son (GenZ/Millennial cusp) tells me the majority of his friends order food delivery several times a week.
I tried it once on Uber eats - two meals, one drink and one dessert from a take-out place came to $90 after tax, tips and tacked-on fees. Didn’t place the order when I saw that.
Never. Again.
He spends his time on Free Republic.
I don’t think any of the food delivery outfits come out this far. Don’t know for sure, though, since I’ve never tried to order from one.
They are.
They were never taught how to budget, how to shop, how to cook or how to clean up after.
Or they just don't want to.
They are spending twice what it would take to call in a order and stop by on the way home for work to pick it up.
Yep.
It astonishes me how many people make a lot more money then we do and yet manage to have so much less to show for it.
Yes, this is another example of mostly young people being influenced by advertising that through various means has completely altered their view of the world. This causes them to waste money they do not have on products and services that they do not need.
Not that those of us who are older do not have our own irrational behaviors that have been influenced by advertising. One example that I can think of are older people especially, choosing diets that are dominated by eating protein.
Habitually eating a diet with too much protein can cause major problems in the long run especially for the organs in older people. This contributes to multiple severe health issues, particularly for those with preexisting conditions which older people tend to have. Eating too much protein is very bad for the kidneys, bones, and liver while raising the risk for heart disease and causing other health issues.
But the profit margin for high protein foods especially those supplemented with inexpensive plant and dairy byproducts is high and we are inundated with advertising that causes even older people to purchase food that contributes to a diet that is completely out of balance. It is stupid yet we have adherents here who parrot the nonsense day after day even while they themselves are experiencing the symptoms caused by their unwise nutritional choices.
This is especially prevalent among old firefighters. Many of my buddies and former coworkers have put themselves in an early grave because of their stubborn adherence to nonsense that was advocated by the advertising that they uncritically swallowed.
So yes, this food delivery idiocy is just one more signal that our society is heavily influenced by advertising that causes people to make irrational choices.
Journalist Matthew Yglesias: “Part of the affordability crisis is pretty clearly people just refusing to be thrifty — you should not be spending a quarter of your salary on DoorDash.”
—Yet, these lazy idiots will still blame Trump.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.