6 ms·

About 2/3rds of truck owners don't use the bed much at all. https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-size-pickup-truck-you-need-a-cowboy-costum

About 2/3rds of truck owners don't use the bed much at all. https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-size-pickup-truck-you-need-a-cowboy-costume https://www.thedrive.com/news/26907/you-dont-need-a-full-siz...

mulmen 4y ago
> And a full 35 percent of truck owners use their truck for hauling—putting something in the bed, its ostensible raison d’être—once a year or less. Reads to me like 2/3 of truck owners use their bed at least twice a year. From the same paragraph: > 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less (meaning, never). Over 25% of trucks are used for towing. > Nearly 70 percent of truck owners go off-road one time a year or less. A third of truck owners go offroad. Add all that up and it sounds like pickups are getting a lot of use. There are no stats on what percentage of people do at least one of those things so we are left to guess but by the claims in the article it is at least "most".
- bluGill 4y ago
  > 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less (meaning, never). Even once is not never, because nothing else will do that job. Note too that there people who use their bed but never tow, the fact that a truck could serve either purpose but for some only does one doesn't mean that those people don't use a truck.
  - mulmen 4y ago
    Yes. I would have liked if they bucketed the responses. Something like 0, 1-10, 20-50, etc. But they just asked (or The Drive only reported) the 0-1 numbers. What is conspicuously absent from these numbers is a response to the question "do you never use the bed or go offroad or tow with your truck". Which is the case that the article seems to be trying to make but can't.
  - yread 4y ago
    Or you could just drive a much smaller cheaper and easier to park car most of the year and rent a truck once a year when you need it
    - SoftTalker 4y ago
      As mentioned in another subthread, rental contracts for pickup trucks often prohibit towing, and the trucks aren't even fitted with a tow hitch. If you want to tow with a rented truck, you'll need to rent from a "commercial" rental company and you'll be paying a lot more.
      - bluGill 4y ago
        Even then, the rental trucks i've found that let me tow have the wrong hitch (bolted on ball of the wrong size) and don't have a brake controller meaning they can't tow my trailer.
        yread 4y ago
        Sounds like a hole in the market!
    - jerlam 4y ago
      In the suburbs, there is no penalty for owning a large vehicle. Even if it doesn't fit in your garage (because it's full of cars/stuff), you can park in your driveway. No one will complain if you block the sidewalk, because no one walks anywhere. Shopping areas have large parking areas and structures. It is not unusual to see pickup trucks taking up more than two spaces. Parallel parking is uncommon and usually can be avoided.
ozarker 4y ago
Probably all the trucks I see driving in cities. Come out to the country and see how much trucks get used.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- mulmen 4y ago
  I live in the city and I see pickup trucks every day. Most of them are "work trucks" but that just means city trucks are getting a lot of use too.
  - wink 4y ago
    Still seems to be an American phenomenon (saw it first hand in Mexico, not US/Canada) - in Europe everyone has a van for (construction) work, not a pickup truck. And by everyone I mean easily 90% (unless you're talking real truck of 7.5t+) with maybe an exception for garden workers.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]

mulmen 4y ago

> And a full 35 percent of truck owners use their truck for hauling—putting something in the bed, its ostensible raison d’être—once a year or less. Reads to me like 2/3 of truck owners use their bed at least twice a year. From the same paragraph: > 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less (meaning, never). Over 25% of trucks are used for towing. > Nearly 70 percent of truck owners go off-road one time a year or less. A third of truck owners go offroad. Add all that up and it sounds like pickups are getting a lot of use. There are no stats on what percentage of people do at least one of those things so we are left to guess but by the claims in the article it is at least "most".

bluGill 4y ago
> 75 percent of truck owners use their truck for towing one time a year or less (meaning, never). Even once is not never, because nothing else will do that job. Note too that there people who use their bed but never tow, the fact that a truck could serve either purpose but for some only does one doesn't mean that those people don't use a truck.
- mulmen 4y ago
  Yes. I would have liked if they bucketed the responses. Something like 0, 1-10, 20-50, etc. But they just asked (or The Drive only reported) the 0-1 numbers. What is conspicuously absent from these numbers is a response to the question "do you never use the bed or go offroad or tow with your truck". Which is the case that the article seems to be trying to make but can't.
- yread 4y ago
  Or you could just drive a much smaller cheaper and easier to park car most of the year and rent a truck once a year when you need it
  - SoftTalker 4y ago
    As mentioned in another subthread, rental contracts for pickup trucks often prohibit towing, and the trucks aren't even fitted with a tow hitch. If you want to tow with a rented truck, you'll need to rent from a "commercial" rental company and you'll be paying a lot more.
    - bluGill 4y ago
      Even then, the rental trucks i've found that let me tow have the wrong hitch (bolted on ball of the wrong size) and don't have a brake controller meaning they can't tow my trailer.
      - yread 4y ago
        Sounds like a hole in the market!
  - jerlam 4y ago
    In the suburbs, there is no penalty for owning a large vehicle. Even if it doesn't fit in your garage (because it's full of cars/stuff), you can park in your driveway. No one will complain if you block the sidewalk, because no one walks anywhere. Shopping areas have large parking areas and structures. It is not unusual to see pickup trucks taking up more than two spaces. Parallel parking is uncommon and usually can be avoided.

ozarker 4y ago

Probably all the trucks I see driving in cities. Come out to the country and see how much trucks get used.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
mulmen 4y ago
I live in the city and I see pickup trucks every day. Most of them are "work trucks" but that just means city trucks are getting a lot of use too.
- wink 4y ago
  Still seems to be an American phenomenon (saw it first hand in Mexico, not US/Canada) - in Europe everyone has a van for (construction) work, not a pickup truck. And by everyone I mean easily 90% (unless you're talking real truck of 7.5t+) with maybe an exception for garden workers.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]