Transcription

A picture of a hand holding remote car keys pointed at a white pickup truck. Below that is the text:

In the US, 75% of truck owners tow only once a year or less. Nearly 70% of them go off-road once a year or less. Additionally, 35% of truck owners haul something in their truck beds once a year or less

Find Sources @ unbelievablefactsblog.com

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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    3 months ago

    A guy at work has a massive truck, and once had a bunch of bags of wood pellets delivered to the office.

    As he wrangled a bunch of low level employees to help him load it all up, he exclaimed “I can fit two tons in the back of this!”

    “I can have things delivered to my house” I replied.

    • I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      It’s $100 minimum to get anything delivered from the hardware store a mile from my house. It’s $20 rent a pickup from U-haul for their 4 hour minimum. I do that maybe 4X per year. I drive a little electric car now, but when I had a Prius V (station wagon one) with the seats folded down I could fit as much in there as a light duty pickup.

      • dustyData@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        That sounds dumb. Lets instead expend $60k+maintenance and insurance in order to not have to pay $100 once every othe year or so.

        • laranis@lemmy.zip
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          3 months ago

          I think there’s a significant part of American culture and mythology constructed around self-reliance. It is at the heart of the rage over socialism (that and anti-communist sentiment left-over from the Cold War), the hardcore prepper mindset, and pickup trucks.

          When that is your identity logic doesn’t play into it, unfortunately.

          Also, the prevalence of $100k+ vehicles is getting goddamn ridiculous.

      • JustARegularNerd@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        That’s exactly what I do with my Forester. I live in a regional area of Australia so for me it’s a daily driver and great for long trips, and if I need to pick shit up, fold the seats down and I effectively have my ute.

  • buzz86us@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    And it is because of these people that I have to custom order a poverty spec work truck, because manufacturers will only send dealers 100k “family trucks” with fancy nonsense

  • ch00f@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I once sat behind a dude in line filling four propane tanks that he put in the back seat of his pickup truck.

  • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
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    3 months ago

    Meanwhile europe where you see people with renault twingos do more with their cars.

    • jol
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      3 months ago

      Heck people carry more on their bicycles that many ever carry on their trucks.

      • AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
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        3 months ago

        Actually true lol. I see people here with trailer thingies for their bicycles and they carry stuff with it. It probably has the same bed size as the newest “ford f-550 ultra extreme plus carbon dioxide poisoning engine from cruise ship edition”

        • jol
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          3 months ago

          Imagine riding your bike every day with the trailer attached just for the odd day every other month when you need to carry something. That’s truck brain logic.

    • GreatAlbatross@feddit.uk
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      3 months ago

      I get timber/PIR/plasterboard from the builders merchant, and also take that plus garden waste to the tip, 10+ times per year, in a 4 seat car that weighs under 1 tonne.

      Anything truly massive, they just deliver it to me.

      The day I discovered that a 2.4m 6*2 would fit inside was a very good day.
      As was the one I bought roof bars.

  • TehBamski@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Yeah, your source is just a website and not the article/page related. Also, the website’s search bar is broken. I couldn’t find anything related, nor simple with it. Such as “car.”

        • Cock_Inspecting_Asexual@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Its weird cus I dunno what the point of this place is at all or why people hate cars so much? Is it like a “Don’t drive cars! Bike instead!” kinda thing or what?

          • TehBamski@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            I believe it’s a collective of ideas and feelings.

            The connecting bit is that people here are tired of how our nations have shaped and modeled modern life to be reliant on personal vehicles. Depending on who you would ask here, they might have varying perspectives.

            I live in the US, and logically think that there should be at least a third less personal vehicles. As for trucks, I strongly believe that the trucks that have been coming out the last couple of years are just monstrosities that have no place on the public road systems. Unless you’re using your truck work or its utility features 3/5ths of the time in a year, you probably shouldn’t own a truck.

            As for bikes, public buses, trams, and trains. Those are a lot better all around compared to the car/truck-centric transportation system we have now. Besides there being more deaths by conventional transportation, more injuries, parking issues, traffic jam issues, road system congestion, air quality issues, respiratory prone area issues, and the sure cost of maintaining such a car and truck-centric system in decent or better condition… just the space it takes to transport the same number of people down a road is far less with bikes or buses.

            Does that answer your question?

    • flying_sheep@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      I was about to say: if a trunk would fulfill the same purpose, the bed is not useful: then it’s just a less protected trunk.

      So I assume correcting for that, this stat would also be >70%

      • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Everytime someone tells me they need a pick up truck for work purposes, I always think no, 95% of the time you are far better of getting a van. Who wants their tools and materials getting rained on the back of a bed? Vans are also usually lower and easier to load. The fact you can’t see into the back of the van can also prevent theives.

        • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          3 months ago

          In the rurals, we had need of a truck. Of course, it was an old beat up GM, and as a boy I got in trouble when I tossed a log of firewood into the bed of a shiny new ES truck (bigger than the GM) and missed, damaging its otherwise pristine body finish, which I’d later learn was costly to repair.

          It informed how I would eventually compute I, a suburban kid, was too unfamiliar with strange rural conventions for heavy labor.

          • TopRamenBinLaden@sh.itjust.works
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            3 months ago

            “No, not the nice pick 'em up truck! That’s the one I use to go line dancing and pick up cousin dates, dammit!”

    • n3m37h@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      Smart car will do the same and it doubles as a golf cart, why don’t we have more smart cars? Oh wait, lots of micro dicks…

      • ShankShill@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        My Mazda 3 is better built with lower maintenance and repair cost (and frequency) with similar mpg on cheaper fuel (if we’re talking similar year models and not electric). The smart cars aren’t smart for anyone that’s considering anything other than size.

  • Cris@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    While this sounds very believable, an actual source would be nice. I can’t find any such image on the website to view the sources they may or may not provide

    Edit: the source doesn’t appear to include all of the statistics in the image, but the article lists it’s source is https://www.strategicvision.com/nves, which looks to be paywalled behind a subscription. It’s possible the data is from the survey data linked, but I can’t verify it

    • Razzazzika@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      Saw a truck the other day with Harris and Coexist stickers and was so confused.

      • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Just an example of when folks think they need a truck, most often what they really need/want is a fucking trailer hitch.

        Excluding childish hotwheel fantasies, of course.

            • morbidcactus@lemmy.ca
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              3 months ago

              Would have loved one of those sprinter vans when I did field work, used our utility trailer a lot, but something with a small workbench, lighting and conveniently located inverters would have been amazing.

              • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world
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                3 months ago

                That does sound like an incredible alternative to drying herbarium vouchers in a hotel with a hair drier (my field work)

          • pahlimur@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            I own a station wagon, a suburban, and previously a truck. When I owned the truck it was full of shit or hauling stuff constantly. I sold it the moment I didn’t need it. The suburban replaced it because I refuse to put my dogs in the bed while towing the boat to go camping. The wagon is a people hauler because it’s payload is too low most of the time.

            There are quite a few people in this world who actually use their trucks. I also completely hate seeing people who own trucks but don’t use them.

          • stoy@lemmy.zip
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            3 months ago

            The estate car is the ideal car for 80% of all drivers, a hatchback is ideal for 15% of all drivers.

        • The_v@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I have a work truck that I beat the hell out of. Go off road and hit 4 wheel drive 3-4 times per week. I haul 1000-1,500 lbs of gear everywhere for around 4 months of the year. I tow daily for 2-3 months of the year and up 1-2 times per month the rest of the time. My cab is full of gear (it’s basically my mobile office).

          Guess what I hop into and drive every chance I get? The small SUV I own. It is much easier to drive, park, go shopping in etc. It takes a lot more more effort to drive the larger vehicles.

          If I could swing it I would turn my 1/2 ton work truck in for one of those new small trucks. Unfortunately the weight that I am moving is too much for them. So I am stuck with the large truck.

    • n3m37h@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      I used to have a Chevy Sonic and I hauled so much stuff in that car, full size fridges, front load washing machines, lumber, 14" canoe. Summer and winter offroading at a solar farm jobsite for the province of Ontario, prolly 2-4km deep

  • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Or if you’re like my neighbor you live in a town house and never tow anything and never use the bed for anything.

    • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I have 4 acres of land and I tow my mower down to my land every weekend to clean up. So I use my truck all the time for towing and I also haul things at least once a month. Not all truck owners do it just for the truck. If I didn’t need a truck I wouldn’t own one.

      • irotsoma@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Which is why you aren’t the target of the meme. It’s the city dwellers who never leave the city but have a 2 ton pickup that barely fits in the narrower, low speed lanes in cities and take up 2-4 compact parking spots who are the target.

  • Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Gender affirming truck. But seriously, I will never ask someone to haul stuff for me. It’s like you didn’t buy a truck to haul my shit around. There are also seasons of life where a truck would be super useful. What I’m saying is I need a fucking truck you bitches.

  • Iheartcheese@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Getting this while I’m high off my ass felt like a ninja was jumping out at me. That is a beautiful alert.

  • Baggins@piefed.social
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    3 months ago

    I imagine it’s pretty much the same in UK - a lot of the people using them for work might be better off with a small van.

    But then, they don’t look ‘manly’ do they?

    • this_1_is_mine@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      What does a van offer that a small truck wouldn’t? Other than opportunity for passengers. Since its a work vehicle passengers isn’t generally a concern since basically anything you can buy can handle atleast 2 people. Covered space? Get a cap. Need more Clearance for a fridge you intend on plugging in right away? take the cap off. Over sized item in more ways than one like a couch or bed? you can drop and remove the tailgate. I have yet to see a small van that can be all that customizable?

      Edit:

      You can down vote but you should add to the discussion. Can we get the numbers on people that have vans and aren’t using them to capacity or carrying anything. How about the amount that drive passenger cars that are driving 2+ occupant but serves no more utility than a bicycle that’s faster.

      To add to the numbers my house hold has a 4 door sedan and a pickup. But we are dual income with no kids. What should I drive instead? so I live 30 miles from work because who is so lucky to work next door and wife is 20 miles fron work. I also do things like move fire wood and mow lawns and… Really do you want a list of all the things I would have to rent a truck for? I have a cap for my bed and have pulled it to move larger stuff. Just because you dont have to do a thing or have a thing or what ever… Doesn’t mean there is t a use case which doesn’t involve using someone else’s and just using your own.

      • Zagorath@aussie.zoneOP
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        3 months ago

        What does a van offer that a small truck wouldn’t?

        A much, much higher degree of safety. Because vans don’t typically have those absurdly high and long bonets that make it so you could run over multiple children without even seeing them there.