---
title: "Dystopia Intensifies as Startup Lets You Take Out a Micro-Loan to Get Fast Food"
description: "A new partnership between two startups will soon offer Americans the choice to pay for their delivered food in four easy payments."
date: "2025-03-22"
modified: "2025-03-22"
authors:
  - name: "Joe Wilkins"
    job_title: "Correspondent"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins"
url: "https://futurism.com/doordash-klarna-loan-partnership"
categories:
  - "Food"
  - "Future Society"
tags:
  - "fintech"
  - "food delivery"
  - "klarna"
---

# Dystopia Intensifies as Startup Lets You Take Out a Micro-Loan to Get Fast Food

![A new partnership between two startups will soon offer Americans the choice to pay for their delivered food in four easy payments.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/doordash-klarna-loan-partnership.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Getty / Futurism\</em\>*

It's never been a better time to be an American consumer. Incredible new technological advancements in fast food technology have given us [burritos delivered by drones](<https://dronelife.com/2024/08/13/flytrex-reaches-new-heights-100000-drone-deliveries-and-counting-in-the-u-s/>), [Taco Bell powered by AI](<https://futurism.com/taco-bell-ai-labor>), and [surge pricing on Wendy's burgers](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/wendys-surge-pricing>).

But all those treats cost money — something many Americans seem to be [running low on](<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saving-money-emergency-expenses-2025/>). Not to worry, because a new partnership between two beloved startups is making sure you never have to go without.

This week, [DoorDash announced](<https://about.doordash.com/en-us/news/doordash-partners-with-klarna>) that it's partnering with AI-powered payment platform Klarna to allow empty-walleted consumers to take out micro-loans to pay for food and grocery delivery.

On checkout, DoorDash users will soon see Klarna as a payment option along the usual options like debit cards and Apple Pay. If your bank account is empty and payday is a ways off, Klarna will offer three options: pay in full, pay in four interest-free installments, or pay later, presumably with interest.

DoorDash's press release is full of words like "empowers," "freedom," and "flexibility" — a welcome reminder that in this country, liberty and commerce are [synonyms](<https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22662889/september-11-anniversary-bush-spend-economy>). While there's no word yet how burger loans will effect DoorDash's army of [migrant gig workers](<https://documentedny.com/2024/11/13/doordash-immigrant-delivery-workers-stolen-wages/>), we can probably rest easy knowing that freedom and empowerment are [top of mind](<https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/human-rights-are-answer/insecure-world-gig-economy-and-improving-workers-rights-riz-hussain>).

And when it comes to commerce, no financial vehicle typifies deep-fried freedom like [micro-loans](<https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/1/15/18182167/microcredit-microfinance-poverty-grameen-bank-yunus>). Though versions of microlending have always been present in the US, the commercial micro-loan fad really took hold in the early 90s, as international firms lending to the global poor set their sights on America's down-and-out.

After [Ronald Reagan's](<https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/04/business/reagan-s-hidden-industrial-policy.html>) destruction of New Deal social spending and organized labor, America's poor became cash cows for global micro-lenders like [ACCION](<https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-microfinance-banks-profit-off-developing-world/?sref=YfHlo0rL>) — and their numbers have been growing ever since. In the following decades, micro-loan companies would pop up in strip malls across the country, offering [temporary relief](<https://jacobin.com/2014/10/the-new-loan-sharks/>) for struggling wage earners, and [guaranteed returns](<https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/09/us-payday-loans-crisis-borrow-100-to-make-ends-meet-owe-36-times-that-sum>) for lenders. Heck, even our democratic leaders [love micro-loans](<https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2022/02/members-of-congress-overseeing-payday-lending-have-taken-over-3-4-million-from-the-industry/>).

Today, micro-loans are everywhere, empowering Americans of [all ages](<https://www.dw.com/en/will-buy-now-pay-later-put-a-generation-of-young-americans-in-a-debt-trap/a-62812002>) with the flexibility to "buy now, pay later." When it comes to paying for treats, today's consumers are spoiled for choice as startups like Afterpay guarantee you'll never have to go without [jeans](<https://www.afterpay.com/en-US/stores/gap>), [groceries](<https://www.afterpay.com/en-US/stores/target-39380>), or [makeup](<https://www.afterpay.com/en-US/stores/ulta-beauty>).

Indeed, DoorDash is only the latest of a [huge list](<https://councils.forbes.com/blog/the-surge-of-buy-now-pay-later>) of American companies to add the freedom and flexibility of micro-loans to its lineup. In the words of [President George Bush](<https://washingtonspectator.org/never-forget-september-11-mattress/>): "go shopping!"

**More on food delivery:** [*This New Paper About Eating Out of Plastic Containers Is a Bit Terrifying*](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/study-food-plastic-containers>)

## Author
At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/joeonhere.bsky.social>)