So many issues in society can be quickly, intuitively, and uncontroversially identified as a “tragedy of the commons” situation. But it’s a hard sell to give up a personal advantage for a collective betterment.
I don't blame the government for not seeing a need to regulate this decades ago. Really, who in their right mind would want such a difficult to park, more expensive, less economic vehicle if they didn't need it, right?
This is actually the struggle I'm going through right now. I rarely need to cart around something large, but when I do it's something large. Like a few full sheets of plywood over 40 miles. I really don't want a pickup for the other 98% of the time, but there isn't really a viable option for renting a pickup for a few hours.
I've used renorun and paid for delivery, but they aren't available in all markets, that would be the #1 choice.
#2 would be a roof rack. renorun stopped serving my area (boston) so I use my tiny hr-v (the old one based on the fit frame.) and I throw plywood and drywall sheets on the roof rack all the time. Only 6 sheets at a time, and you need to have a 3/8 plywood sheet on the bottom so the drywall doesn't snap, but it's been pretty adequate.
I never used the home depot truck rental because you have to drive it back -- not a great option I think.
> By the time you turn 35, you're in a blood feud with either Lowes or Home Depot, and have sworn vengeance against a minimum of two major airlines. [1]
My blood feud is with Home Depot, and Lowe's near me doesn't have a rental program.
[1] https://twitter.com/KBSpangler/status/1551715401033302016
Really? I did exactly that this weekend and it was easy and didn't cost that much. I figure with how rarely I need one, renting a truck when needed is much cheaper than owning one. Added benefit is that I'm not constantly being asked to have my truck borrowed by friends and family.
It is a shame that registration and insurance doesn't operate on miles driven, and disincentives this.
> especially when driven only in city, on short distances
In the city and for short distances, cars could/should be banned outright, and force the US to transition to multi-mode and increased adoption of public transit.
On a more serious note, I wonder how much of this is related to regulatory capture in the automotive industry. I could be wrong but I would think the profit margin on something like a Land Cruiser is quite a bit more than something like a Corolla. There are a lot of sunk costs in just getting any one vehicle of any size to the sales lot, so is there an incentive to be able to make bigger cars and therefore a larger profit (either percentage or absolute) per vehicle?
That is a HUGE difference. In one everyone is playing equally and if recognized can be de-escalated. In the other, there is a major monied player with power attempting to enshrine the tragedy into society.
It would fare worse in a collision, but maybe I'm also less likely to get caught in one because my car isn't so enormous.