Kristen Schwab

How are these Rent Now, Pay Later services different?

How popular are these programs and who uses them?

You talked to some people for the story who use these tools.

How are they using these services to pay rent?

I could see how this could be a useful tool to get you from the first of the month to next first of the month.

But do you think there are risks here at all for renters?

You know, I think buy now, pay later used to be seen as a tool to manage big ticket purchases, but there are all these reports showing that people are increasingly using it for non-discretionary spending, like groceries, now rent, as you're reporting.

What do you think that says about people's perhaps growing comfort with using these tools?

Cora, thanks so much for chatting.

So rent is up, and we just talked about ways people are navigating that.

Also up, and also outpacing inflation, the cost of food, both at home and out.

But now, after increasing prices over the last several years, restaurants are trying to lure diners in more often by leaning into meal deals.

McDonald's doing it.

Taco Bell is doing it.

So are fast casual spots like Panera Bread.

The industry calls it the value wars.

Marketplace's Kaylee Wells has more.

This final note on the way out today, as we continue to parse out whether AI is coming for our jobs, what we do know is that it is, at the very least, policing us at work.

Read this in The Verge, Burger King is launching an AI chatbot that will live in the headsets of its restaurant employees.

Patty, that's its name.