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It’s a vehicle, not a mental disorder. Some people just want to be able to occasionally tow a boat or haul some furniture without needing to rent a truck. I th

It’s a vehicle, not a mental disorder. Some people just want to be able to occasionally tow a boat or haul some furniture without needing to rent a truck. I think the attitude of “you don’t need a truck unless you’re a blue collar worker” is pretty elitist and ignorant, honestly. As if the decision to buy a truck is somehow invalid because white collar workers don’t see the need for one.

jrsj 5y ago
It’s honestly a lot more practical than people seem to think. And if electric trucks hold their value anything like ICE trucks, getting one with a tax credit at about $40k for the base model is probably the best deal in a new vehicle you can find.
pmarreck 5y ago
> I think the attitude of “you don’t need a truck unless you’re a blue collar worker” is pretty elitist and ignorant, honestly. A sedan with the rear seats folded down will likely hold as much as you can get in a Costco run. Or two bikes you throw in there. I know because mine does both of these things. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of current truck owners 1) don't own boats 2) rarely, if ever, haul furniture 3) use the space in the rear on a regular basis. Against this we have the known statistics of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities due to the obstructions to visibility provided by the very high front grille and very high ride height (plus wide A-pillars, etc.) So it's therefore not only a waste of gas but a public health hazard, and making that claim is not "elitist", it's merely "rational" and "empirical" (and allow me to add, "humane") https://smartgrowthamerica.org/bigger-vehicles-are-directly-resulting-in-more-deaths-of-people-walking/ https://smartgrowthamerica.org/bigger-vehicles-are-directly-... "Recent research from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee found the share of pedestrian deaths involving trucks, vans, and SUVs has increased from 22 to 44 percent since the mid-1980s. More SUVs and trucks in the fleet = more pedestrian injuries becoming deaths instead." https://www.outsideonline.com/2411345/suvs-trucks-deadly-cyclist-crashes https://www.outsideonline.com/2411345/suvs-trucks-deadly-cyc...
- ben7799 5y ago
  Hot nonsense. Most sedans have a max payload < 1000lbs including all passengers. An F-150 has a payload over 3000lbs and can tow up to 14,000lbs. Do you need that for your groceries? No, but if you don't live in the heart of the city the F-150 enables you do many many things that a sedan can't do around yard work, home ownership, agriculture, hauling gear, etc.. A sedan is about the worst car design anyway.. you'd have more of a leg to stand on if you had argued for a hatch or a minivan. I've never owned a truck, but they have their uses.
- leetcrew 5y ago
  I'm a big fan of small cars, but I'm also a big fan of having friends that own trucks. just off the top of my head, I've needed to borrow a friend's truck to move a couch (twice), buy a new bedframe, and buy a TV. this is all in the past year. none of those things fit in my hatchback with any combination of seats folded down, and they certainly wouldn't fit in a sedan. if I had to rent one from uhaul or home depot, that would have cost me hundreds of dollars in total. instead, it cost me a couple meals at chipotle. it's also hard to find anything smaller than a truck with 4WD. if you live outside the city/suburbs, this can be a pretty important feature by itself.
nyokodo 5y ago
> want to be able to occasionally tow a boat or haul some furniture without needing to rent a truck. The mystery to me is how very occasionally that seems to be, at least anecdotally. Perhaps >95% of pickup trucks I see are not hauling anything bigger than groceries. Yet, they’re hauling around their own ridiculously giant metal frame and emitting huge amounts of fossil fuels in the process. Those occasional boat trips are very net expensive in atmospheric carbon! Thankfully electric pickups will partially mitigate that problem although pickups will be hogging space in commuter parking garages for many decades hence I’m sure.
- brokencode 5y ago
  I’m pretty sure this is the kind of attitude that causes rural folks to be so skeptical of climate change. Some (I’m assuming) city-dweller talking down to them about how they don’t need what they feel to be a useful tool in their daily lives. I mean, it sounds like your real reservation about trucks is not that they emit carbon, but that they are hogging up space and inconveniencing you, which is not a very persuasive argument.
  - nyokodo 5y ago
    > I’m pretty sure this is the kind of attitude that causes rural folks to be so skeptical of climate change I didn't mention rural truck drivers and made no comment that could reasonably be interpreted as such. If you have to deal with corrugated dirt roads and hauling materials etc on a daily basis then it's perfectly understandable you won't exactly be driving a hatchback. > I mean, it sounds like your real reservation about trucks is not that they emit carbon, but that they are hogging up space and inconveniencing you, which is not a very persuasive argument. Or, numerous city and urban commuting giant truck drivers is an effective image of the ridiculous excess they represent in the vast majority of their uses whereas carbon is a less visible but extremely negative externality from that excess. /s But yes, those that point out this are the real problem.

jrsj 5y ago

It’s honestly a lot more practical than people seem to think. And if electric trucks hold their value anything like ICE trucks, getting one with a tax credit at about $40k for the base model is probably the best deal in a new vehicle you can find.

pmarreck 5y ago

> I think the attitude of “you don’t need a truck unless you’re a blue collar worker” is pretty elitist and ignorant, honestly. A sedan with the rear seats folded down will likely hold as much as you can get in a Costco run. Or two bikes you throw in there. I know because mine does both of these things. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of current truck owners 1) don't own boats 2) rarely, if ever, haul furniture 3) use the space in the rear on a regular basis. Against this we have the known statistics of pedestrian and cyclist fatalities due to the obstructions to visibility provided by the very high front grille and very high ride height (plus wide A-pillars, etc.) So it's therefore not only a waste of gas but a public health hazard, and making that claim is not "elitist", it's merely "rational" and "empirical" (and allow me to add, "humane") https://smartgrowthamerica.org/bigger-vehicles-are-directly-resulting-in-more-deaths-of-people-walking/ https://smartgrowthamerica.org/bigger-vehicles-are-directly-... "Recent research from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee found the share of pedestrian deaths involving trucks, vans, and SUVs has increased from 22 to 44 percent since the mid-1980s. More SUVs and trucks in the fleet = more pedestrian injuries becoming deaths instead." https://www.outsideonline.com/2411345/suvs-trucks-deadly-cyclist-crashes https://www.outsideonline.com/2411345/suvs-trucks-deadly-cyc...

ben7799 5y ago
Hot nonsense. Most sedans have a max payload < 1000lbs including all passengers. An F-150 has a payload over 3000lbs and can tow up to 14,000lbs. Do you need that for your groceries? No, but if you don't live in the heart of the city the F-150 enables you do many many things that a sedan can't do around yard work, home ownership, agriculture, hauling gear, etc.. A sedan is about the worst car design anyway.. you'd have more of a leg to stand on if you had argued for a hatch or a minivan. I've never owned a truck, but they have their uses.
leetcrew 5y ago
I'm a big fan of small cars, but I'm also a big fan of having friends that own trucks. just off the top of my head, I've needed to borrow a friend's truck to move a couch (twice), buy a new bedframe, and buy a TV. this is all in the past year. none of those things fit in my hatchback with any combination of seats folded down, and they certainly wouldn't fit in a sedan. if I had to rent one from uhaul or home depot, that would have cost me hundreds of dollars in total. instead, it cost me a couple meals at chipotle. it's also hard to find anything smaller than a truck with 4WD. if you live outside the city/suburbs, this can be a pretty important feature by itself.

nyokodo 5y ago

> want to be able to occasionally tow a boat or haul some furniture without needing to rent a truck. The mystery to me is how very occasionally that seems to be, at least anecdotally. Perhaps >95% of pickup trucks I see are not hauling anything bigger than groceries. Yet, they’re hauling around their own ridiculously giant metal frame and emitting huge amounts of fossil fuels in the process. Those occasional boat trips are very net expensive in atmospheric carbon! Thankfully electric pickups will partially mitigate that problem although pickups will be hogging space in commuter parking garages for many decades hence I’m sure.

brokencode 5y ago
I’m pretty sure this is the kind of attitude that causes rural folks to be so skeptical of climate change. Some (I’m assuming) city-dweller talking down to them about how they don’t need what they feel to be a useful tool in their daily lives. I mean, it sounds like your real reservation about trucks is not that they emit carbon, but that they are hogging up space and inconveniencing you, which is not a very persuasive argument.
- nyokodo 5y ago
  > I’m pretty sure this is the kind of attitude that causes rural folks to be so skeptical of climate change I didn't mention rural truck drivers and made no comment that could reasonably be interpreted as such. If you have to deal with corrugated dirt roads and hauling materials etc on a daily basis then it's perfectly understandable you won't exactly be driving a hatchback. > I mean, it sounds like your real reservation about trucks is not that they emit carbon, but that they are hogging up space and inconveniencing you, which is not a very persuasive argument. Or, numerous city and urban commuting giant truck drivers is an effective image of the ridiculous excess they represent in the vast majority of their uses whereas carbon is a less visible but extremely negative externality from that excess. /s But yes, those that point out this are the real problem.