The Millennial Urban Lifestyle Is About to Get More Expensive

The Atlantic ^ | October 15, 2019 | Derek Thompson

[C19fan]

Several weeks ago, I met up with a friend in New York who suggested we grab a bite at a Scottish bar in the West Village. He had booked the table through something called Seated, a restaurant app that pays users who make reservations on the platform. We ordered two cocktails each, along with some food. And in exchange for the hard labor of drinking whiskey, the app awarded us $30 in credits redeemable at a variety of retailers.

[C19fan]

So called Unicorn wanna be, for example, WeWorks, lose money on each customer effectively subsidizing Millenial urban lifestyles. The horror of Millenials actually having to go to a supermarket to but food instead of having it delivered at a money losing price by Blue Apron.

[coon2000]

S “she mentions the hard labor of drinking whiskey, but does not discuss the cost of the labor or the cost of the food.

[goldstategop]

What? No full service retirement home for the 40 and under set? Taking care of oneself is so exhausting!

[1Old Pro]

The horror of Millenials actually having to go to a supermarket to but food instead of having it delivered at a money losing price by Blue Apron.

The real horror is that they are not investing in 401k's, real estate (HOME), and are spending $50-$100/day to eat? That's fuzzy math and poor planning.

[FXRP]

Very good article illustrating that sales and profit aren’t the same thing. If you lose money on every sale, more sales simply means more losses.

I’ll assume that the author understood that he left out the cost of food in the Blue Apron example and was just using it to make a point. The actual margin on $100 sales of Blue Apron food is probably under $20.

[a fool in paradise]

Like loss leader Twitter they’ll make it up in inflated stock value

[ClearCase_guy]

Seems reminiscent of the first Internet Bubble circa 1999 — a lot of companies didn’t have products, but they had ideas. Billions of dollars flowed in but eventually a lot of it came crashing down.

Lesson from that bubble: You need to actually have a product.

Lesson from the current bubble: You need to actually have profits.

[Dilbert San Diego]

I’ve heard some people, especially younger people, are having lunch delivered to their offices every day. That sort of thing gets expensive. That sort of habit, along with habits such as going to Starbucks every day, adds up.

People really need to review their budgets, and it should be easy to cut back on certain fluff expenses such as lunch delivery and Starbucks.

[1Old Pro]

I’ve heard some people, especially younger people, are having lunch delivered to their offices every day

I see it too, and days before payday they go around the office begging for gas money.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Lesson from the current bubble: You need to actually have profits.

---

This made me think of Uber, which I’ve heard has never made a profit.

And for Uber stockholders, whoever bought at the IPO price of $45 per share, is well underwater. It’s trading about $32 per share now.

I’m no stock analyst, but the price of any stock reflects the collective judgement of investors, as to the future outlook for that business.

[CondorFlight]

Meanwhile Japanese office workers bring a cup of noodles with them for lunch — cheap...and not so many calories.

[1Old Pro]

Meanwhile Japanese office workers bring a cup of noodles with them for lunch — cheap...and not so many calories.

And our millennials are getting fat on delivered lunch then they go out and spend $8 for a craft beer and complain they can't pay off their student loans.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[bigbob]

It’s not about building a sustainable profitable business, it’s about doing something that will be seen as so cool and edgy that you’ll be able to do it with other people’s money, and then cash out via IPO or sale before it all falls apart.

Then you can call yourself a serial entrepreneur and do it all over again!

[Buckeye McFrog]

Very good article illustrating that sales and profit aren’t the same thing. If you lose money on every sale, more sales simply means more losses.

But you make it up on volume. {cymbal crash}

[Buckeye McFrog]

Well, Millenials believe that profit is EEEEEEEEVIL.

So you see, it works for them.

[aquila48]

Echos of the “new economy” all over again. The idea that you don’t need to make profits was stupid then and it’s stupid now.

[FamiliarFace]

For millennials, life is all about the experience. It doesn’t matter how much it costs, or whether or not it’s affordable or sustainable (money wise). Budgets are for other people, like their parents.

[Dilbert San Diego]

LOL. Yep $8 craft beers and $10+ delivering lunch every day, and $5 or more to go to Starbucks or similar places — these discretionary expenses add up. How sad they spend so much on this other stuff, and claim they can’t pay back their loans.

[Dilbert San Diego]

How crazy, that these people are very big on “sustainability” when it comes to the environment, but not going for sustainability in their personal finances.