4 ms·

> They’re very obvious status symbols. Vast majority of people with a truck or off-road vehicle have one for work - they’re working vehicles.

krallja 4y ago
Vast minority*
finfinfin 4y ago
This definitely does not mean what you think it means. Owning a large car for work doesn’t mean it’s utilized as such. I know people who own trucks and large SUVs for work - but it’s “just in case” not because they need additional space on a daily or even weekly basis.
btilly 4y ago
We're talking about Hummers here, right? https://www.motorbiscuit.com/why-hummers-arent-good-for-off-roading/ https://www.motorbiscuit.com/why-hummers-arent-good-for-off-... If their owners wanted to actually go off road, they'd have bought something else. They really have no purpose other than to mark you as a person with more money than sense.
RC_ITR 4y ago
Ok let's diligence this: There are about 60m trucks on the road in the US [0] There are 6m construction/mining workers, 6m installation workers, and 4m building maintenance workers. [1] Using that definition, at most, 25% of trucks are used for work. If you want to be extremely generous, there are also 13m transportation drivers (being very generous because that 60m does not include big rigs) and 8m factory workers (again, unlikely to use trucks for work). Using that frankly incorrect definition, you still get only 62% of trucks being used for work. So no, under NO circumstances are the "vast majority" of trucks in the US used for work. [0]https://www.bts.gov/content/number-us-aircraft-vehicles-vessels-and-other-conveyances https://www.bts.gov/content/number-us-aircraft-vehicles-vess... [1] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm
- chrisseaton 4y ago
  > There are 6m construction/mining workers, 6m installation workers, and 4m building maintenance workers. What’s this random collection of jobs and why do you think they’re the only people who use a truck for work? Have you ever met for example a farmer? Crazy concept for people in tech, I know.
  - RC_ITR 4y ago
    So you must not be familiar with NAICS codes. They are a mutually exclusive completely exhaustive categorization of jobs, as defined by the US government. Here's the other ones: 11-0000 Management Occupations 13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupations 15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations 17-0000 Architecture and Engineering Occupations 19-0000 Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations 21-0000 Community and Social Service Occupations 23-0000 Legal Occupations 25-0000 Educational Instruction and Library Occupations 27-0000 Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations 29-0000 Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations 31-0000 Healthcare Support Occupations 33-0000 Protective Service Occupations 35-0000 Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations 37-0000 Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations 39-0000 Personal Care and Service Occupations 41-0000 Sales and Related Occupations 43-0000 Office and Administrative Support Occupations 45-0000 Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations 47-0000 Construction and Extraction Occupations 49-0000 Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations 51-0000 Production Occupations 53-0000 Transportation and Material Moving Occupations Sure, maybe the 500k farming, fishing, and Forestry workers should be added to the list, but I'm curious as to what else you think should be. EDIT: HN is banning me so this doesn't turn into a flamewar, but I'll leave you with this: I am trying not to personally attack you, but I think you're kind of dipping into ad hominen attacks because you regret making statement that is not supported by data. If you want to know why I think they shouldn't be included (and why I think you're really over your skis here), it's because the reality of farm work in the US is as follows: 1) The majority of the <1m US farm workers do the following job [0] [1]: Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. It is not clear to me that this requires a truck (especially not one for each worker). 2) The average wage of farmworkers is $15/hour [1] and the average cost of a used F-150 in the US is $40k ($30k pre-pandemic) [2], so it's not immediately clear to me that this group of people own a large number of pick-ups. Ultimately though, for someone to work at a large tech company, make their identity publicly available and to be so aggressive on a forum like this seems like a weird risk to take. If you want to delete all of this stuff and just move on, I'm ok with that. [0]https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes452092.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes452092.htm [1]https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/#wages https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/#wag... [2] https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2021/07/used-pickup-truck-prices-are-insane-up-27-or-more/ https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2021/07/used-pickup-truck-prices...
corrral 4y ago
I live in a truck-loving part of the country. This cannot possibly be true.
freshpots 4y ago
https://goshare.co/pickup-truck-facts/ https://goshare.co/pickup-truck-facts/ They really don't. Ford did a similar study and found around the same number. Only 15% of pickup truck owners use them for work.
DonHopkins 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

krallja 4y ago

Vast minority*

finfinfin 4y ago

This definitely does not mean what you think it means. Owning a large car for work doesn’t mean it’s utilized as such. I know people who own trucks and large SUVs for work - but it’s “just in case” not because they need additional space on a daily or even weekly basis.

btilly 4y ago

We're talking about Hummers here, right? https://www.motorbiscuit.com/why-hummers-arent-good-for-off-roading/ https://www.motorbiscuit.com/why-hummers-arent-good-for-off-... If their owners wanted to actually go off road, they'd have bought something else. They really have no purpose other than to mark you as a person with more money than sense.

RC_ITR 4y ago

Ok let's diligence this: There are about 60m trucks on the road in the US [0] There are 6m construction/mining workers, 6m installation workers, and 4m building maintenance workers. [1] Using that definition, at most, 25% of trucks are used for work. If you want to be extremely generous, there are also 13m transportation drivers (being very generous because that 60m does not include big rigs) and 8m factory workers (again, unlikely to use trucks for work). Using that frankly incorrect definition, you still get only 62% of trucks being used for work. So no, under NO circumstances are the "vast majority" of trucks in the US used for work. [0]https://www.bts.gov/content/number-us-aircraft-vehicles-vessels-and-other-conveyances https://www.bts.gov/content/number-us-aircraft-vehicles-vess... [1] https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm

chrisseaton 4y ago
> There are 6m construction/mining workers, 6m installation workers, and 4m building maintenance workers. What’s this random collection of jobs and why do you think they’re the only people who use a truck for work? Have you ever met for example a farmer? Crazy concept for people in tech, I know.
- RC_ITR 4y ago
  So you must not be familiar with NAICS codes. They are a mutually exclusive completely exhaustive categorization of jobs, as defined by the US government. Here's the other ones: 11-0000 Management Occupations 13-0000 Business and Financial Operations Occupations 15-0000 Computer and Mathematical Occupations 17-0000 Architecture and Engineering Occupations 19-0000 Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations 21-0000 Community and Social Service Occupations 23-0000 Legal Occupations 25-0000 Educational Instruction and Library Occupations 27-0000 Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations 29-0000 Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations 31-0000 Healthcare Support Occupations 33-0000 Protective Service Occupations 35-0000 Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations 37-0000 Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance Occupations 39-0000 Personal Care and Service Occupations 41-0000 Sales and Related Occupations 43-0000 Office and Administrative Support Occupations 45-0000 Farming, Fishing, and Forestry Occupations 47-0000 Construction and Extraction Occupations 49-0000 Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations 51-0000 Production Occupations 53-0000 Transportation and Material Moving Occupations Sure, maybe the 500k farming, fishing, and Forestry workers should be added to the list, but I'm curious as to what else you think should be. EDIT: HN is banning me so this doesn't turn into a flamewar, but I'll leave you with this: I am trying not to personally attack you, but I think you're kind of dipping into ad hominen attacks because you regret making statement that is not supported by data. If you want to know why I think they shouldn't be included (and why I think you're really over your skis here), it's because the reality of farm work in the US is as follows: 1) The majority of the <1m US farm workers do the following job [0] [1]: Manually plant, cultivate, and harvest vegetables, fruits, nuts, horticultural specialties, and field crops. Use hand tools, such as shovels, trowels, hoes, tampers, pruning hooks, shears, and knives. It is not clear to me that this requires a truck (especially not one for each worker). 2) The average wage of farmworkers is $15/hour [1] and the average cost of a used F-150 in the US is $40k ($30k pre-pandemic) [2], so it's not immediately clear to me that this group of people own a large number of pick-ups. Ultimately though, for someone to work at a large tech company, make their identity publicly available and to be so aggressive on a forum like this seems like a weird risk to take. If you want to delete all of this stuff and just move on, I'm ok with that. [0]https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes452092.htm https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes452092.htm [1]https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/#wages https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-labor/#wag... [2] https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2021/07/used-pickup-truck-prices-are-insane-up-27-or-more/ https://pickuptrucktalk.com/2021/07/used-pickup-truck-prices...

corrral 4y ago

I live in a truck-loving part of the country. This cannot possibly be true.

freshpots 4y ago

https://goshare.co/pickup-truck-facts/ https://goshare.co/pickup-truck-facts/ They really don't. Ford did a similar study and found around the same number. Only 15% of pickup truck owners use them for work.

DonHopkins 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]