4 ms·

A lot of people need trucks for their work. Hispanics in gardening and construction in particular.

lostlogin 1y ago
Why Hispanics?
alpaca128 1y ago
Europe has plenty of gardeners and construction projects too, but I see at most one pickup truck per decade and it is always someone who definitely doesn’t need one and drives like they’re in a mad max movie. If you think all truck owners actually need one, count how many of the ones you see are carrying some load and do the math.
- llampx 1y ago
  Europe has plenty of massive white vans.
  - alpaca128 1y ago
    And how many of those are used by people who don’t need a massive white van?
    - llampx 1y ago
      Why does it matter whether you think someone "needs" a pickup or not? Align their crash ratings and NCAP values with every other car and the problem will take care of itself. Personally I have the huge white vans because they reduce visibility when driving as well as while parked. I live in a big city and its difficult to drive when there's a wall parked at every other intersection.
      - deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
- pjc50 1y ago
  The average UK gardening truck is something like this: https://www.ford.co.uk/vans-and-pickups/transit-chassis-cab https://www.ford.co.uk/vans-and-pickups/transit-chassis-cab or the ubiquitous Hilux. The "I need an unreasonably large vehicle to take my kids to school" niche is filled by Land Rover, which are still slightly smaller than the F150. US-style pickups exist mostly because of weird tax and emissions rules which should be harmonized with cars.
  - llampx 1y ago
    > US-style pickups exist mostly because of weird tax and emissions rules which should be harmonized with cars. This is the truth and is basically protectionism for the Big 3 American automakers. Don't look for this to be fixed anytime soon. The system is working as intended.
- AnthonyMouse 1y ago
  > If you think all truck owners actually need one, count how many of the ones you see are carrying some load and do the math. Okay, let's do the math. Suppose you need a truck once a week and it costs $100 to rent one. To rent one would then be $400/mo, which you haven't got. You could buy both a truck and a car and only use the truck once a week, but between payment and insurance then that's again several hundred a month over the cost of having only one vehicle. Or you could buy a truck as your only vehicle. Then you commute in it two ways five times a week, and it hasn't got anything in it on the way back from the once a week you actually needed it, so it's not carrying any load 95% of the time. But you still need a truck because the alternatives are prohibitively expensive.
  - chneu 1y ago
    You forgot cost of fuel(this alone likely offsets your imaginary rental cost), higher insurance rates for trucks(they kill people in routine accidents), cost of extra tires(trucks eat through tires), and higher cost of ownership in general. If you're using a truck as a work truck it'll also need to be replaced much quicker, adding to the overall cost. Trucks are expensive for the owner and society. Also, the majority of trucks in the US never do truck things. Like 75% are urban grocery getters. Americans have a serious consumption/ego/entitlement problem. Trucks are a great example of that problem. Instead of just saying, "I like truck. I want truck. I don't care it bad", people make up imaginary math that doesn't make sense instead of just admitting it's an ego thing. The sad part of all this is the world laughs at the US over this stuff. We're a laughing stock and the people embarrassing us are proud of it. It's so shameful. "I'm not that kind of American" has become a routine thing to say while traveling abroad.
    - natmaka 1y ago
      Tall grille, heavy... they are more and more dangerous. "only a quarter of truck owners use their trucks’ towing capacity more than once a year. Only about 30 percent of truck owners go off-road more than once a year. And 35 percent of truck owners basically never even put anything in their truck beds" https://slate.com/business/2022/02/suvs-pickups-heavy-huge-deadly-dont-buy-em.html https://slate.com/business/2022/02/suvs-pickups-heavy-huge-d...
chneu 1y ago
Something like 75% of trucks in the US will never be used for truck things. The reality is Americans don't need giant vehicles (SUVs included). But we convince ourselves we're sssppeeecciiiaall. Other countries do it no problem. Go travel then pay attention to how many giant American vehicles you see. I'll spoil it for ya: you'll hardly see them. The reality is Americans have an insane ego problem that the rest of the world pays for. The vast majority of Americans do not need anything more than a small sized car. But again, Americans think we're ssspppeeccciiiaaal when we're really just selfish and loaded with excuses. Also, nice racism? Jeez.

Why Hispanics?

Europe has plenty of gardeners and construction projects too, but I see at most one pickup truck per decade and it is always someone who definitely doesn’t need one and drives like they’re in a mad max movie. If you think all truck owners actually need one, count how many of the ones you see are carrying some load and do the math.

llampx 1y ago
Europe has plenty of massive white vans.
- alpaca128 1y ago
  And how many of those are used by people who don’t need a massive white van?
  - llampx 1y ago
    Why does it matter whether you think someone "needs" a pickup or not? Align their crash ratings and NCAP values with every other car and the problem will take care of itself. Personally I have the huge white vans because they reduce visibility when driving as well as while parked. I live in a big city and its difficult to drive when there's a wall parked at every other intersection.
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
pjc50 1y ago
The average UK gardening truck is something like this: https://www.ford.co.uk/vans-and-pickups/transit-chassis-cab https://www.ford.co.uk/vans-and-pickups/transit-chassis-cab or the ubiquitous Hilux. The "I need an unreasonably large vehicle to take my kids to school" niche is filled by Land Rover, which are still slightly smaller than the F150. US-style pickups exist mostly because of weird tax and emissions rules which should be harmonized with cars.
- llampx 1y ago
  > US-style pickups exist mostly because of weird tax and emissions rules which should be harmonized with cars. This is the truth and is basically protectionism for the Big 3 American automakers. Don't look for this to be fixed anytime soon. The system is working as intended.
AnthonyMouse 1y ago
> If you think all truck owners actually need one, count how many of the ones you see are carrying some load and do the math. Okay, let's do the math. Suppose you need a truck once a week and it costs $100 to rent one. To rent one would then be $400/mo, which you haven't got. You could buy both a truck and a car and only use the truck once a week, but between payment and insurance then that's again several hundred a month over the cost of having only one vehicle. Or you could buy a truck as your only vehicle. Then you commute in it two ways five times a week, and it hasn't got anything in it on the way back from the once a week you actually needed it, so it's not carrying any load 95% of the time. But you still need a truck because the alternatives are prohibitively expensive.
- chneu 1y ago
  You forgot cost of fuel(this alone likely offsets your imaginary rental cost), higher insurance rates for trucks(they kill people in routine accidents), cost of extra tires(trucks eat through tires), and higher cost of ownership in general. If you're using a truck as a work truck it'll also need to be replaced much quicker, adding to the overall cost. Trucks are expensive for the owner and society. Also, the majority of trucks in the US never do truck things. Like 75% are urban grocery getters. Americans have a serious consumption/ego/entitlement problem. Trucks are a great example of that problem. Instead of just saying, "I like truck. I want truck. I don't care it bad", people make up imaginary math that doesn't make sense instead of just admitting it's an ego thing. The sad part of all this is the world laughs at the US over this stuff. We're a laughing stock and the people embarrassing us are proud of it. It's so shameful. "I'm not that kind of American" has become a routine thing to say while traveling abroad.
  - natmaka 1y ago
    Tall grille, heavy... they are more and more dangerous. "only a quarter of truck owners use their trucks’ towing capacity more than once a year. Only about 30 percent of truck owners go off-road more than once a year. And 35 percent of truck owners basically never even put anything in their truck beds" https://slate.com/business/2022/02/suvs-pickups-heavy-huge-deadly-dont-buy-em.html https://slate.com/business/2022/02/suvs-pickups-heavy-huge-d...

chneu 1y ago

Something like 75% of trucks in the US will never be used for truck things. The reality is Americans don't need giant vehicles (SUVs included). But we convince ourselves we're sssppeeecciiiaall. Other countries do it no problem. Go travel then pay attention to how many giant American vehicles you see. I'll spoil it for ya: you'll hardly see them. The reality is Americans have an insane ego problem that the rest of the world pays for. The vast majority of Americans do not need anything more than a small sized car. But again, Americans think we're ssspppeeccciiiaaal when we're really just selfish and loaded with excuses. Also, nice racism? Jeez.