What's Up With Memes About Adolf 'Treatler'? 'Treatlerite' Accusations Against Overreliant Doordash and Instacart Users Explained

Last year was a great one for Twitter bickering, with one of 2024's most heated arguments bleeding into 2025 in the form of "Treatler discourse."

Those in the know might remember rousing arguments between people who think that food-delivery services like Doordash, Uber Eats and Instacart should be more affordable and those who think that such services are a luxury and not some fundamental right.

Now, the latter crowd has created a questionable nickname for those overly reliant on poorly paid gig workers for delivering their groceries — "Treatlerite," a charming play on the words "treat" and "Hitlerite."

Here's where the new slang term originated, and why you might be seeing more of the word in the coming months.

Where Did The Term 'Treatler' Come From?

The cost of Doordashing food has risen drastically in recent years, leading to a fracture between those who wish they could still comfortably afford it and those who think that such industries are inherently exploitative of gig workers and should either not be supported or be considered a luxury service.

This sentiment led to jokes about people wanting a private taxi for their burrito instead of making the effort to go out and buy one in person. Such discussions eventually led to sprawling debates about disability rights and whether having food delivered for cheap right to one's doorstep should be considered a fundamental right for disabled people.

"Why don't they sell individual slices of cheese, lettuce, bacon and tomato?" pic.twitter.com/5WjDBpniFU

— Jeremiah Johnson 🌐 (@JeremiahDJohns) March 21, 2024

By June 2024, someone finally came up with a slang word that they felt encapsulated the sentiment of wanting one's treats more than wanting to alleviate someone else's suffering — being a "Treatler."

How Did The Terms 'Treatler' and 'Treatlerite' Spread?

Discussions about "Treatlers" and "Treatlerites" continued to gain traction into December 2024, as seen in the responses to a now-deleted December 2nd tweet by X user @carbdiem, who wrote, "Idc if this makes me a Karen, if your UberEats profile picture shows that you're a woman and my delivery person shows up and they're a cis man then I will report every time and so should you!!!"

The tweet received widespread backlash and support, with some people saying that being "deceived" by their driver trumps whatever economic disadvantage they might have.

One such X user tweeted about "expecting a polish blonde lady to be delivering your food to your house only for a MAN to turn up to your address," prompting people to call them a "Treatler."

By late December 2024 and early January 2025, the terms "Treatler" and "Treatlerite" had caught on, with X user @YourSilvrFriend posting an edit of Adolf Hitler wearing childlike accessories and X user @punishedgothgf posted a "Hitler Particles / We Agree" edit featuring a fatter "Adolf Treatler."

On January 5th, 2025, X user @dennismhogan then posted about the term "Treatlerite," calling it "one of the more useful recent internet coinages."

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For the full history of the terms Treatler and Treatlerite, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.