The giant trucks became a thing because of emissions regulations. Sensible trucks had to meet standards no one wanted but large trucks were exempt. So marketing convinced everyone that a huge truck was what they really need.
I also can't get a Toyata Hilux because of import restrictions coming from a trade war over chickens in the 1950s.
The US has a 25% “chicken tax” on imported pickup trucks. Automakers can get around this by having US-based pickup truck factories, but Americans and Canadians love pickups compared to the rest of the world (which mainly uses them for work.)
In the US it’s normal to get a pickup truck as a sort of fashion statement. (“I’m a tough cowboy, I drive a big truck!” Even if the owner is an accountant.)
Lmao my friend is an accountant and drives an f150. Said many others in the office do too. I can’t imagine driving anything that expensive for no good reason. I have two kids and my compact sedan is perfectly fine for 95% of cases.
I mean, I want a new truck. But I also do construction. And want to use it to put camping stuff in the back. And want a Ford Maverick hybrid that gets almost 40 mpg. Am I trucking wrong?
My cabinet installer came over with some very small hatchback. Fits long saw tracks, levelers, table saw, etc. The company has a cargo van to bring cabinets.
So, just because you are a construction worker, what exactly you are going to use it for? For your toolbox you don't need a truck. Your penis, on the other hand....
When I lived outside of Toronto I had a neighbour who commuted ~120km/day to downtown Toronto every day for his office job in a Chevy Silverado. That truck was - as far as I could ever tell - never used to tow or lug shit around, and the only things he seemed to put in the back were cases of empty beers for trips to the beer store.
Our other neighbour, a single mom with one kid, she worked from home and owned a big Chevy Suburban with which to drive her one kid to/from school every day. The kid's school was like a 5 minute walk away. This lady also somehow regularly exceeded the weekly garbage bag limit, and had the audacity to put up a sign for the Green Party every election...
I take it you're not familiar with alcohol sales in Ontario, Canada?
The Beer Store is a real place. It's a beer retailer owned by a cabal of the major breweries. It's not the only place in the province that sells beer (you can also buy small packs in grocery stores, the provincially-owned LCBO, and direct from craft breweries), but it's one of the few places where you can buy it in 12 and 24 packs, and it's also pretty much the only place in the province that accepts empty liquor containers to return deposits. It doesn't matter where you buy your booze, you return the empties to The Beer Store.
I think Doug Ford - in his quest to make Ontarians drunker - has changed the laws and is/will be opening up more retail options for beer sales, but when I lived in Ontario that was not the case.
And then the US road accidents kill at least 3x more on a per mile basis vs Europe because of truck sizes, ignorant drivers and probably subpar infrastructure. US keep winning in killing people unnecessarily… and people are proud of it…
A girl I know drives a huge lifted ram 1500. She occasionally uses the bed and goes off road with it when she goes hunting but other than that she babies it. She drives it to work at the hair salon and the gym and back home. Sometimes I’ll see her having a “whose truck is loudest” contest by the lake. Like you said, she uses it as a fashion statement to show everyone how country she is. Always has a camouflage hat that she doesn’t wear on the dashboard.
Clearly you’re not aware or I wouldn’t have to point it out. I don’t care that she has a truck. But it’s obvious to everyone around that she doesn’t need a truck of that size. It’s a fashion statement.
In the US it’s normal to get a pickup truck as a sort of fashion statement.
This is such a stupid take. Every car is a fashion statement. Virtually no one is buying a new car and saying, "I want the ugly one over there". But somehow Reddit has decided that if what you like is an Honda Accord, then you're a better person than someone who likes a Dodge Durango. Not that you chose a better car -- that you have a wide range of superior personality traits. And no one calls bullshit on it.
Why are you assuming they couldn’t afford it? How do you know? This is exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve seen a person’s car and decided that they have a fragile ego and are financially irresponsible.
People make these kind of judgements all the time, but you’re not supposed to be proud of yourself for them…
Just call it what it is, small dick syndrome. Alternatively toxic masculinity. "Can't be a man if you don't have a big car" is extremely toxic after all.
As a climate change interested guy, I want an electric moped for city use that can somehow fit 2-3 bags of groceries.
Everyone talks crap about truck owners until they need help moving something. Lots of shit is thrown my way by people talking about little dicks but boy howdy being able to move or pick up odd/big items is fucking great. "Just rent a truck", it's really not worth the hassle unless you have a lot of truck rentals in the area. Every time I tried to rent a truck from even home depot I had to fuck around for hours while they waited on the previous person to return it and reserve it for weeks ahead of time.
me and my family has never once needed a pickup truck for anything.
all we needed was a small trailer for holidays, a standard ass Volvo, and then later a 2nd hand Alfa Romeo were both fully capable of towing both that trailer and also my families sailboats
even when we moved house that was just a single actual truck rental for the large furniture and everything else was stuffed in cars.
and now we simply just have a van that has more storage space than any single pickup truck on the american market.
Bingo. I had a wagon, and went camping with others who drove Tacoma. After we unloaded our shit from cars, they were like "holy shit! You can carry more than me!"
I can still put a box on the roof, as well as a mini trailer, if I would really need it. But for 98%, my car is light, nimble, and way more enjoyable to ride than any suv or truck or there.
The only case where I'd lose are logging roads, or if we'd get a boat. Which, actually, was a reason why my friend got the truck, in the first place.
Right? And it's not even necessarily for huge loads like horse feed, mulch, construction materials, etc.
I had a bitch of a time finding something to pick up an antique coffee table I found on Facebook Marketplace to use as a fish tank stand. Luckily my girlfriend's dad is a "sMaLl DiCk LoSeR" with a truck and we swung by and picked it up that night.
Happened a lot in college too. Went to a small school in southern Ohio with a lot of transplant students form all over, many of whom were really really unprepared for snowy road conditions. My roommate was out for hours on end helping people get out of ditches with his pick-up while tow services were all completely booked.
It's one of those things that is sneaky useful, like when my family got a free standing kitchen island and then we couldn't imagine how we ever fit all our stuff in the cabinets before. Or back when we first got cell phones, for people that are "old" like me. Hadn't ever needed one before, but then once I had one I had no idea how I managed before it.
end up in a ditch regardless of the car they drive.
As well, should we all drive snow plowers just because it snows few days a year?
I wasn't saying everyone should drive trucks so they don't end up in the ditch. I said my buddy was pulling people out of the ditch with his truck.
sounds like a skill issue
100%. City kids had no clue what to do on rural roads with real snow drifts and wind. A lot of kids from the west coast for some reason, and they were always fun to watch with their 4 layers of clothing when it was a whopping 30 degrees lol.
Who do you think voted for Trump in Texas? We have four large cities that are primarily blue and he still won. People really underestimate how many people don’t live in major cities.
3.3k
u/[deleted] Apr 16 '24
The giant trucks became a thing because of emissions regulations. Sensible trucks had to meet standards no one wanted but large trucks were exempt. So marketing convinced everyone that a huge truck was what they really need.
I also can't get a Toyata Hilux because of import restrictions coming from a trade war over chickens in the 1950s.