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Comment by groundzeros2015 | Hacker News Reader

groundzeros2015

> pickup truck should just be max utility

Except the main demographic buying F150s is suburban dads driving to their office job.

I think the reason this take gets push-back in discussions (including here) is that it's highly regional.

I've lived in parts of the US where I doubt more than 10% of pickup trucks on the road (and there were a lot of them) were really justifiable purchases as trucks. They were aspirational purchases, and/or were selected for status/class/politics signaling.

I've lived other places in the US where the whole region had far fewer trucks (but a hell of a lot more Volvos... like, easily 10x as many as the other place) where I bet at least 50% of pickup trucks saw enough truck-use to really be justifiable.

This. Where I live the suburban dads wouldn't be caught dead projecting the "fullsize truck owner" image. They buy a Tacoma. Or they did until the Maverick came out.

And using the truck on weekends to tow the boat, or do other work with it. Not every weekend, but once a month in summer.

Usually the imagined uses are very aspirational at best. The imagination doesn't fit reality. I've seen it firsthand, many years ago my dad got the fancy pickup because he "needs the utility." Whenever an opportunity presented itself for him to use his truck as a truck though, he'd pay the extra fee for delivery because he didn't wanna bother.

It did make his reckless driving more dangerous for the innocents, though.

I'll go further, Most Americans who buy stuff like boats don't use them anywhere near enough to justify the purchase. I'm pretty sure well less than 30% of boats are being used at least once a year.

America is so full of hoarding and objects that go years without anyone touching them. It's profoundly sad.

There are 5x more households with trucks than households with boats, so this hardly explains it.

There are a lot more uses of a truck than towing a boat.

Gas doesn't cost enough.

I think the problem is Trucks are a visible lifestyle preferences that does not align with yours.

You can have all the weird lifestyle preferences you want that don't involve conspicuous waste of natural resources and accelerating anthropogenic climate change.

It’s very hard to not see how any resource using activity falls in that bucket including: boating, shopping, having kids, going on vacation, having a home, ordering exotic things, eating at restaurants, using AI, etc.

The primary limiter is on how many resources we give people.

Tax carbon and we can ration it out using market prices. But yes, many of those things are also carbon-intensive lifestyle choices, but some are more valuable than others.

> You can have all the weird lifestyle preferences you want that don't involve conspicuous waste of natural resources and accelerating anthropogenic climate change.

you’re right.

but I’m still not changing my habits. fuck the environment

I find most people with critical looks at trucks have not looked at their own habits the most. Some have but I bet there are a lot of meat eaters here talking about how wasteful trucks are.

Are we not talking about electric vehicles here?

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