Another way to interpret that chart is that 69% of F-150 owners do at least occasional hauling, and 36% use it for towing. I think that gets overlooked sometimes, because people would rather rant...
Another way to interpret that chart is that 69% of F-150 owners do at least occasional hauling, and 36% use it for towing. I think that gets overlooked sometimes, because people would rather rant against the other people who they consider to not have a good use for a truck.
To counter that argument I present the UK (and likely most of Europe). Where pickup trucks are largely non-existent and man-with-a-van or van rental services are a dime a dozen to handle the...
To counter that argument I present the UK (and likely most of Europe). Where pickup trucks are largely non-existent and man-with-a-van or van rental services are a dime a dozen to handle the occasional hauling that the surveyed responded with. A service/rental that is both more fiscally responsible and doesn't involve the waste of materials building a giant pickup truck for the masses or resources to run it as a commuter vehicle.
I am one of those ranters, screaming into the void as I watch salespeople drive their oversized pickup trucks to little more than their cubicle at work and back to their apartment, zero hauling/towing or need/desire to do so. I'm more than willing to bet that the vast majority of the "occasional hauling" that is done, doesn't go above/beyond the sides of the bed (let alone taller than the cab) which indicates that they likely need little more than a hatchback, wagon, or dare-I-say-the-emasculating-word-that-makes-penises-shrink-across-the-US minivan. Worth noting that pickup beds also get taller each year, to the point that even a well above average height person cannot reach into them and necessitating that every full size truck comes with steps in the bumper or even as much as a goddamn ladder built in to actually use the truck's bed. Because when the sides of the pickup truck bed are at the shoulder of a tall man, the bed is no longer useful for actual day to day activities, which is what the vast majority of the drivers use them for.
Add on top that the rise of trucks (and SUVs of which the above points also apply) is largely thanks to their higher profit margins and the loophole that lets them get around the gas guzzler tax that was meant for commercial vehicles and allows the auto-makers to design vehicles that are less safe, pollute more, and burn more fuel without penalty.
Lastly (mostly for those not in the US) if you want to see some size comparisons there is this site that'll give you views of various vehicles over the years to compare side by side. The linked example is a modern F150 vs a car about the size of the Tercel wagon I speak about at length (the Tercel's roof continues into a wagon shape instead of sloping into a liftback), the latter having hauled things like a 150lb dog that's 36" tall at the shoulder and 600lb engines while the former would likely never see anything in the bed other than leaves fallen from trees and beer bottles from the higher than average DUI rate of pickup truck owners overtheyears.
On the opinion side, I'm firmly in the camp that we need tiered licensing requirements in the US, because a person that can barely pass a driving exam in a subcompact can just be handed the keys to a 9,640lb/4372kg sled that's capable of hitting 60mph/100kmh in 3 seconds without a second thought given as to if they can drive it safely.
I'm not sure if your comment is expecting someone to step up and defend whoever you're accusing of ranting? I'll just say that this article doesn't look like a rant to me. It's an interesting...
I'm not sure if your comment is expecting someone to step up and defend whoever you're accusing of ranting? I'll just say that this article doesn't look like a rant to me. It's an interesting analysis of a cultural trend in the US and, of narrower interest to me, about the relationship between marketing and self image and identity among consumers.
Sorry for the confusion. I made this a top-level comment because I didn't want to reply to anyone in particular. The article is not a rant. Ranting about truck owners seems like a pretty common...
Sorry for the confusion. I made this a top-level comment because I didn't want to reply to anyone in particular. The article is not a rant.
Ranting about truck owners seems like a pretty common thing to do, though? I'm sure you've seen it, sometimes.
Few better examples of american bourgeois largesse and feelings of inferiority masked by egomania. The article was well written and brilliantly presented. Too bad it won’t do any good. I drive an...
Few better examples of american bourgeois largesse and feelings of inferiority masked by egomania. The article was well written and brilliantly presented. Too bad it won’t do any good.
I drive an oversized vehicle, but it gets jam packed with two kids and our gear, gets dirty and scratched on rough roads in the woods. Also it’s a diesel, and, as much as possible I commute by foot and bicycle. But even my large suv is dwarfed by these pointless behemoths. Wtf, America?
If i was emperor, suburbanites would pay a hefty tax, and be prohibited from owning both an oversized house and oversized car.
This article reviews the history of the pickup truck in the United States, including points about marketing toward consumer's self image (powerful and rugged!) despite the fact that trucks are...
This article reviews the history of the pickup truck in the United States, including points about marketing toward consumer's self image (powerful and rugged!) despite the fact that trucks are increasingly used increasingly for commuting and grocery-getting.
Another way to interpret that chart is that 69% of F-150 owners do at least occasional hauling, and 36% use it for towing. I think that gets overlooked sometimes, because people would rather rant against the other people who they consider to not have a good use for a truck.
To counter that argument I present the UK (and likely most of Europe). Where pickup trucks are largely non-existent and man-with-a-van or van rental services are a dime a dozen to handle the occasional hauling that the surveyed responded with. A service/rental that is both more fiscally responsible and doesn't involve the waste of materials building a giant pickup truck for the masses or resources to run it as a commuter vehicle.
I am one of those ranters, screaming into the void as I watch salespeople drive their oversized pickup trucks to little more than their cubicle at work and back to their apartment, zero hauling/towing or need/desire to do so. I'm more than willing to bet that the vast majority of the "occasional hauling" that is done, doesn't go above/beyond the sides of the bed (let alone taller than the cab) which indicates that they likely need little more than a hatchback, wagon, or dare-I-say-the-emasculating-word-that-makes-penises-shrink-across-the-US minivan. Worth noting that pickup beds also get taller each year, to the point that even a well above average height person cannot reach into them and necessitating that every full size truck comes with steps in the bumper or even as much as a goddamn ladder built in to actually use the truck's bed. Because when the sides of the pickup truck bed are at the shoulder of a tall man, the bed is no longer useful for actual day to day activities, which is what the vast majority of the drivers use them for.
Add on top that the rise of trucks (and SUVs of which the above points also apply) is largely thanks to their higher profit margins and the loophole that lets them get around the gas guzzler tax that was meant for commercial vehicles and allows the auto-makers to design vehicles that are less safe, pollute more, and burn more fuel without penalty.
Lastly (mostly for those not in the US) if you want to see some size comparisons there is this site that'll give you views of various vehicles over the years to compare side by side. The linked example is a modern F150 vs a car about the size of the Tercel wagon I speak about at length (the Tercel's roof continues into a wagon shape instead of sloping into a liftback), the latter having hauled things like a 150lb dog that's 36" tall at the shoulder and 600lb engines while the former would likely never see anything in the bed other than leaves fallen from trees and beer bottles from the higher than average DUI rate of pickup truck owners over the years.
On the opinion side, I'm firmly in the camp that we need tiered licensing requirements in the US, because a person that can barely pass a driving exam in a subcompact can just be handed the keys to a 9,640lb/4372kg sled that's capable of hitting 60mph/100kmh in 3 seconds without a second thought given as to if they can drive it safely.
I'm not sure if your comment is expecting someone to step up and defend whoever you're accusing of ranting? I'll just say that this article doesn't look like a rant to me. It's an interesting analysis of a cultural trend in the US and, of narrower interest to me, about the relationship between marketing and self image and identity among consumers.
Sorry for the confusion. I made this a top-level comment because I didn't want to reply to anyone in particular. The article is not a rant.
Ranting about truck owners seems like a pretty common thing to do, though? I'm sure you've seen it, sometimes.
Few better examples of american bourgeois largesse and feelings of inferiority masked by egomania. The article was well written and brilliantly presented. Too bad it won’t do any good.
I drive an oversized vehicle, but it gets jam packed with two kids and our gear, gets dirty and scratched on rough roads in the woods. Also it’s a diesel, and, as much as possible I commute by foot and bicycle. But even my large suv is dwarfed by these pointless behemoths. Wtf, America?
If i was emperor, suburbanites would pay a hefty tax, and be prohibited from owning both an oversized house and oversized car.
This article reviews the history of the pickup truck in the United States, including points about marketing toward consumer's self image (powerful and rugged!) despite the fact that trucks are increasingly used increasingly for commuting and grocery-getting.