Reads like thinly veiled advertising for the services offered by the website this article comes from. I doubt it's anywhere close to a representative sample.
"Pay later plans"? Other than credit cards, WTF are you talking about?
Yeah, I have a credit card that pays me back 5% cash on grocery store purchases. It would be stupid NOT to use it, then I pay the card off every pay day.
I had to deal with food insecurity when I was a young adult. This was around the turn of century. More than once I wrote checks I could not cover, hoping to get cash in the bank before it cleared. And I had to eat overdraft fees I obviously couldn't afford as a result.
This isn't so different in that not having enough money ends up costing more. And with wage disparity and food costs being what they are now, it's easy to believe that percentage, unfortunately.
I see this so much from my coworkers. I could never. I'd rather do without or just steal if I really need something. Credit like that is a trap. I learned that from growing up poor. I'm 36 and debt free and I'm not going back. I'm not buying every day things on credit. I can wait a few paychecks if I need to.
Whenever possible, try to avoid shit like this. Credit cards and major loans too. I'm trying to avoid this until I need a loan for a house or some shit.