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Comment by mdszy | Hacker News Reader

Suburbanites who want to have a truck because they think it makes them look cool.

I don't know exactly who or why, but the answer is certainly A LOT of people are buying them.

"Cox Automotive data shows Middle America, with household incomes of $50,000 to $99,000, was the segment of buyers who stayed in-market mostly for new pickup trucks and SUVs, while upper- and lower-income buyers shied away,"

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32380257/first-month-ever...

For the First Month Ever, More People Bought Pickups Than Cars (That was May of this month)

Well, when the truly bad weather hits, its very nice to have an actual 4x4 truck. They are very useful vehicles. I would have killed in high school (well, in college too) for a truck with a generator. So many times helping a buddy would have gone a whole lot easier. Never mind pulling people out of the ditch. Going to rent one is not a realistic option in many parts of the country.

Many people buy trucks. I imagine for some it’s the ground clearance, others the actual utility, others the looks, etc. There’s the fleet buyers too. They do make sense, too, if you live anywhere rural or with roads that aren’t paved or get weather and aren’t well maintained. Near me, trucks possibly outnumber cars for as far as the eye can see.

They fit a niche. I saw plenty of trucks and other big vehicles driving around a city of greater than 2 million people.

It's probably because if you're low income, you likely can't afford the lower MPG or expensive things like tire replacements, and if you're upper income, you just hire people to do work that requires a pickup. I think middle-income people are in the sweet spot for trucks and SUVs where they can afford the extra costs, but can't afford someone to do manual labor for them, so they actually use the truck to haul things so they can do the work themselves.

I don't know why the downvotes. Maybe a snarky reply but I live in suburbia and I am quite sure they are not using them to haul gravel to a job site.

Perhaps a couple bags of grass fertilizer.

Perhaps hauling the kids stuff to/from college.

That's about it. The rest of the time they struggle to park them in strip mall parking lots.

Right? People arguing about home ownership is hilarious.

I have hauled multiple loads of mulch, other landscaping stuff and animal feed when helping my parents at their home/small farm in the summer.

I have moved in and out of college dorms/houses with all of my belongings (including my TV, kitchen equipment, lots of electronics lab equipment that I purchased to resell as a side-gig in college...)

All using a 2005 Buick LeSabre.

Not everyone wants to shit up their sedan hauling dirt and animal feed.

Ah right, I forgot that there's no animal feed or landscaping supplies that come in bags conveniently packaged for light usage relevant to homeowners.

If you need literal truckloads of bulk supplies often enough to justify owning a truck then congratulations you're probably running a landscaping company or something so you might need a truck.

And that's clearly not what I'm talking about at all in this thread.

I used to own a Chevy Prizm and packed it with all sorts of stuff – including carrying a huge whiteboard on the roof – so I agree that strategy works.

But what's nice about having a truck now is that I don't really have to try. I can just plop most things in the bed and go. You're right that it's not 100% necessary, but it's a great tool when you need it. That's one of the reasons they're so popular where I'm from (Georgia).

Or you know, to do the regular and never ending series of tasks result from owning a home, and which can only be completed (or far more conveniently so) by use of a truck.

In 2019 I spent 1400$ on deliveries and truck rentals. If you own a property, not having to set a 60$ delivery on a 30$ load of bark becomes a major convenience.

Good for you. I personally know plenty of people who buy trucks who have never put anything in the bed that couldn't have been put in the trunk of a hatchback.

I'm not sure why you're being downvoted. If you've lived anywhere in the states where pick-ups are very common, it's pretty obvious that few people actually need a pick-up truck very often. It's definitely a status/lifestyle thing for many.

I would agree with this for 'new' trucks but going into my 4th year of home ownership, I bought a 3k light duty pickup. If I own it for ~2 years, it will have paid for its self in dump runs and material deliveries alone (not to mention the convenience of being able to do so on my own time).

There are definitely some homeowners who actually need a pickup. But there are tons who have a pickup, but would be better served by a van/SUV, or don't need a large vehicle at all.

I used to live in Alabama, a common enough thing was that a guy who recently graduated high school, if they got a halfway decent paying job somehow (e.g. a local factory), they'd rush out and buy an F-150 or similar. They had no real use for it yet, but it made them look and feel more adult.

I vaguely thought about pickups when I bought my current SUV about 10 years ago. A pickup would be handy now and then but I've never actually needed to rent one and, for weekend getaways, I prefer having the interior space.

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