Climbing to No. 1 on Free Apps: "No Weight Gain," Raving Reviews Pour In

[Anchor]

It is time for "Friendly Economy" with reporter Han Jiyeon on Thursday. Han, does this mean people are placing orders even though no food actually arrives?

[Reporter]

It is an app for people who want to save money and diet by placing virtual orders instead of real ones.

It has even climbed to the number one spot among free apps on the Apple App Store.

The name itself is quite interesting.

It is called "Delivery Won't Come," and literally, no delivery arrives.

However, that is the main point.

From jajangmyeon and mala tang to chicken, users can put whatever they want to eat from 39 restaurants and 166 menu items into their shopping carts.

If you order beef mala tang, you can even select options like spice levels and extra toppings, just like a real delivery app.

You can also choose payment methods and delivery modes.

Once you place the order, you even receive notifications saying it has been accepted, is being cooked, and is out for delivery.

When everything is complete, it calculates and shows the money and calories you saved.

After finishing the order, you can even write a virtual review.

Looking at actual user reviews, reactions include, "It is so great because I save money with fake dopamine and do not gain any weight."

[Anchor]

This must be another unusual app.

[Reporter]

It is a service that parodies "Mounjaro."

The screen operates as if you are injecting yourself by holding your smartphone against your belly.

The name is "Maeumjaro," which sounds similar to Mounjaro.

It was created by a non-face-to-face medical treatment app.

Users can choose dosages ranging from a minimum of 3 mg to a maximum of 15.5 mg.

When you press "Go to Inject" and hold the virtual syringe on the screen against your belly, you can see the medicine inside the syringe gradually decreasing right on the screen.

Of course, no actual medicine enters the body.

It targets the psychological burden of the high prices and side effects of obesity treatments, and this is indeed one of the consumption trends that has continuously evolved.

At one point, "flexing" expensive items was popular, followed by " zero-spending" where people avoided spending altogether, and now it has shifted to "fake consumption," where people just pretend to spend.

Experts view this as an alternative for a generation whose incomes remain stagnant while their expectations have already risen.

This is also visible in actual figures.

In the first quarter of this year, the average monthly income per household stood at 5.48 million won, a 2.4% increase from the previous year, but real income reflecting inflation increased by only 0.4%.

Meanwhile, spending amounted to 4.34 million won, surging by 4.2%.

Excluding inflation, income has remained virtually flat, while the burden of expenditure has grown heavier.

Amid this popularity, requests are even emerging among users asking for "a version of the app where they can go shopping" and "wanting to experience proxy shopping as well."

However, an expert pointed out that this goes beyond a mere fun trend and "could be a sign of accumulating economic hardship."

[Anchor]

The last topic is the hike in intercity and express bus fares, and these are actually going up, right?

[Reporter]

Starting October 1, the maximum rate limits will increase by 9 percent, marking the first hike in about three years.

The bus industry had originally requested increases of up to 17% for intercity buses and 20.1% for express buses.

The finalized rate was set lower than that.

Since it might be hard to picture, let us take an example.

The current fare for a regular express bus from Seoul to Busan is 26,700 won.

Applying a simple 9 percent calculation to this, it comes out to around 29,100 won, an increase of about 2,400 won.

However, actual fares will be determined by individual bus companies for each route.

As for the reasons behind raising these fares, labor and fuel costs continue to rise while passenger numbers keep dropping.

Daily intercity bus passengers halved from 540,000 in 2019 to 270,000 last year.

Express bus passengers also dropped from 83,000 to 58,000 over the same period.

Facing financial difficulties, bus companies began reducing their routes.

Intercity bus routes were cut by nearly 5 percent, amounting to 158 routes.

Express bus routes were slashed by more than a fifth, leaving 164 routes.

Fewer routes only make traveling more inconvenient for local residents.

Some point out that there is a deeper fundamental cause.

They argue that KTX fares have remained unchanged for 15 years since late 2011, while only bus fares have continued to rise, weakening their relative price competitiveness.

Consequently, forecasts suggest that even with this fare hike, the financial distress of the bus industry may not be easily resolved.
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.