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I live in a rural area. It's 95% insecurity and 5% usefulness. Other countries workers can erect skyscrapers, build houses, and fix the heater just fine without

I live in a rural area. It's 95% insecurity and 5% usefulness. Other countries workers can erect skyscrapers, build houses, and fix the heater just fine without these behemoths. Are American workers so much worse that they need all that extra space? The answer is no. It's about being a REAL man. Are you driving a reasonable car that gets good gas mileage? What are you, a pussy? These things aren't often said, but they are heavily implied. And I live in a relatively liberal rural area.

deleted 2y ago
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evantbyrne 2y ago
Sounds like confirmation bias. I see people pulling heavy trailers all the time. In fact, I don't think I actually know anyone with a large truck that doesn't haul at least sometimes.
- vel0city 2y ago
  I see people pulling trailers all time as well. It is still far less than 10% of the trucks I see on the road.
  - evantbyrne 2y ago
    Well yeah they aren't pulling trailers to the grocery store. I'm not saying that nobody drives a truck just for vanity, but if you want to see people use trucks for their intended purpose, then you have to put yourself in a context where you'll actually be able to see that. Casual observation around town won't tell you whether someone periodically hauls a cargo trailer, boat, camper, farm equipment, or any number of other things.
    - vel0city 2y ago
      The majority of people I know who daily drive trucks have never once pulled a trailer in their life. I get more usage from my tow hitch on a midsize SUV than most of those truck owners do. Hell I used the hitch on my Focus more than most truck owners I know. Are you suggesting a high percentage of truck owners actually do tow? I'd be surprised if it was even as high as 50% of US truck owners have towed anything in the last 10 years.
      - evantbyrne 2y ago
        Individual experiences may vary. I live in Northern Michigan where people are frequently towing things related to summer activities. If you live in a city or a rural community where people can't even afford to have things to tow, then you might not see it as much. People who work on farms or do construction may also use their trucks a lot but not necessarily a lot of heavy towing.
        vel0city 2y ago
        You seriously do think that most truck owners own boats or campers or bought them because they do construction or farm work or are just too poor to buy a boat at the moment huh? Go walk around in Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, St Lous, Denver, Kansas City, or loads of other cities like that. Prepare to have your eyes opened to excessive truck culture. Go see all the pavement princesses modified to excessive levels that make them impractical for towing or doing farm or construction work. Compare the trucks actually used for work compared to their pristine fancy paint jobs and spotless beds and geometry that would cause the suspension to snap if you tried pulling even a couple thousand pounds behind it. According to some surveys something like 63% of truck drivers tow rarely to never. https://www.axios.com/ford-pickup-trucks-history https://www.axios.com/ford-pickup-trucks-history Easily half of the trucks on the road today will never have towed anything in their lives. And chances are a lot will see payloads in their beds that would have comfortably fit in a minivan or hatchback. I don't mind someone driving a big truck if its actually something they use as a truck. I'm contemplating getting a truck and camper trailer eventually myself. I get annoyed seeing all the wastefulness of all these trucks that aren't used as trucks. That wastefulness does affect me. It makes the air I breathe worse, it makes the streets my children play around less safe, it makes the parking situation worse, it makes traffic worse, it makes everything worse for zero damn reason other than "truck culture".
        evantbyrne 2y ago
        I grew up shoveling manure out of the back of a truck. It's called washing your car. Maybe someday we'll get a proper survey that doesn't mix infrequent use with never and learn something closer to the truth. I suspect usage is contextual in predictable ways.
    - josefresco 2y ago
      Agreed. Just visit your local truck stop, 24H diner, material/building supply store or cheap lunch spot at noon and you'll see plenty of big trucks, and guys who will probably be making a delivery later that day to your home.
      - vel0city 2y ago
        What percentage of pickup truck drivers do you think actually frequent truck stops and 24hr diners? 90%? 50%? 10%? How about all the spotless lifted pickup trucks in the parking garage in my suburban office parking garage owned by insurance salesmen and software developers? Think they go to truck stops and 24hr diners often? None of them are delivering anything to anyone's homes other than groceries from Whole Foods to their own suburban home. Incredible to me so many people think the majority of truck owners work on a farm or a trade. Just look around. Take a peek in an office parking garage in Kansas City. Think all those people working in some healthcare insurance office are farmers or something? Go someplace other than that 24hr diner or farmer supply store and notice all the trucks that obviously aren't work trucks.
josefresco 2y ago
> I live in a rural area. It's 95% insecurity and 5% usefulness. Are you sure? Maybe you live in the south, which from my last visit was "lifted truck land"? I'm from a rural area that gets snow and I'd say the breakdown of insecurity vs usefulness is the exact opposite. No serious person lives in this area without a truck, or SUV capable of getting them around in the winter time and shlepping stuff to their home/farm/ranch (there's also a culture of self reliance). We also don't see lifted "shiny" trucks. Lifted? Sure. Shiny? That's for people "from away".
- vel0city 2y ago
  > I'm from a rural area that gets snow Ah yes, because that's where 99% of truck owners in the US live. Are you suggesting there's more truck owners in your rural area of Michigan than Dallas?
- thinkingtoilet 2y ago
  I live in Massachusetts. I literally live on a mountain. My 2007 Honda Fit with snow tires handles any blizzard just fine. No truck needed.

deleted 2y ago

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evantbyrne 2y ago

Sounds like confirmation bias. I see people pulling heavy trailers all the time. In fact, I don't think I actually know anyone with a large truck that doesn't haul at least sometimes.

vel0city 2y ago
I see people pulling trailers all time as well. It is still far less than 10% of the trucks I see on the road.
- evantbyrne 2y ago
  Well yeah they aren't pulling trailers to the grocery store. I'm not saying that nobody drives a truck just for vanity, but if you want to see people use trucks for their intended purpose, then you have to put yourself in a context where you'll actually be able to see that. Casual observation around town won't tell you whether someone periodically hauls a cargo trailer, boat, camper, farm equipment, or any number of other things.
  - vel0city 2y ago
    The majority of people I know who daily drive trucks have never once pulled a trailer in their life. I get more usage from my tow hitch on a midsize SUV than most of those truck owners do. Hell I used the hitch on my Focus more than most truck owners I know. Are you suggesting a high percentage of truck owners actually do tow? I'd be surprised if it was even as high as 50% of US truck owners have towed anything in the last 10 years.
    - evantbyrne 2y ago
      Individual experiences may vary. I live in Northern Michigan where people are frequently towing things related to summer activities. If you live in a city or a rural community where people can't even afford to have things to tow, then you might not see it as much. People who work on farms or do construction may also use their trucks a lot but not necessarily a lot of heavy towing.
      - vel0city 2y ago
        You seriously do think that most truck owners own boats or campers or bought them because they do construction or farm work or are just too poor to buy a boat at the moment huh? Go walk around in Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, St Lous, Denver, Kansas City, or loads of other cities like that. Prepare to have your eyes opened to excessive truck culture. Go see all the pavement princesses modified to excessive levels that make them impractical for towing or doing farm or construction work. Compare the trucks actually used for work compared to their pristine fancy paint jobs and spotless beds and geometry that would cause the suspension to snap if you tried pulling even a couple thousand pounds behind it. According to some surveys something like 63% of truck drivers tow rarely to never. https://www.axios.com/ford-pickup-trucks-history https://www.axios.com/ford-pickup-trucks-history Easily half of the trucks on the road today will never have towed anything in their lives. And chances are a lot will see payloads in their beds that would have comfortably fit in a minivan or hatchback. I don't mind someone driving a big truck if its actually something they use as a truck. I'm contemplating getting a truck and camper trailer eventually myself. I get annoyed seeing all the wastefulness of all these trucks that aren't used as trucks. That wastefulness does affect me. It makes the air I breathe worse, it makes the streets my children play around less safe, it makes the parking situation worse, it makes traffic worse, it makes everything worse for zero damn reason other than "truck culture".
        evantbyrne 2y ago
        I grew up shoveling manure out of the back of a truck. It's called washing your car. Maybe someday we'll get a proper survey that doesn't mix infrequent use with never and learn something closer to the truth. I suspect usage is contextual in predictable ways.
  - josefresco 2y ago
    Agreed. Just visit your local truck stop, 24H diner, material/building supply store or cheap lunch spot at noon and you'll see plenty of big trucks, and guys who will probably be making a delivery later that day to your home.
    - vel0city 2y ago
      What percentage of pickup truck drivers do you think actually frequent truck stops and 24hr diners? 90%? 50%? 10%? How about all the spotless lifted pickup trucks in the parking garage in my suburban office parking garage owned by insurance salesmen and software developers? Think they go to truck stops and 24hr diners often? None of them are delivering anything to anyone's homes other than groceries from Whole Foods to their own suburban home. Incredible to me so many people think the majority of truck owners work on a farm or a trade. Just look around. Take a peek in an office parking garage in Kansas City. Think all those people working in some healthcare insurance office are farmers or something? Go someplace other than that 24hr diner or farmer supply store and notice all the trucks that obviously aren't work trucks.

josefresco 2y ago

> I live in a rural area. It's 95% insecurity and 5% usefulness. Are you sure? Maybe you live in the south, which from my last visit was "lifted truck land"? I'm from a rural area that gets snow and I'd say the breakdown of insecurity vs usefulness is the exact opposite. No serious person lives in this area without a truck, or SUV capable of getting them around in the winter time and shlepping stuff to their home/farm/ranch (there's also a culture of self reliance). We also don't see lifted "shiny" trucks. Lifted? Sure. Shiny? That's for people "from away".

vel0city 2y ago
> I'm from a rural area that gets snow Ah yes, because that's where 99% of truck owners in the US live. Are you suggesting there's more truck owners in your rural area of Michigan than Dallas?
thinkingtoilet 2y ago
I live in Massachusetts. I literally live on a mountain. My 2007 Honda Fit with snow tires handles any blizzard just fine. No truck needed.