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April 29

pickup trucks

Is there a reasonable explanation for the US popularity of pickups including as a "lifestyle" vehicle? I had to move a sofa recently and rented a pickup (cheaper and more convenient than getting hold of a moving van) and found the thing impractical. The rental place had lots of different models but they all seemed basically like 4-door semi-luxury sedans with a box on the back. In particular, none of the truck beds were big enough to hold the sofa without bodgeing it down partly-diagonally with rope.

The pickup truck article mentions "As of 2016, the IRS offers tax breaks for business use of "any vehicle equipped with a cargo area ... of at least six feet in interior length that is not readily accessible from the passenger compartment".[26]" but I know from running around the rental place measuring the beds with a tape measure (because of the sofa) that all but one of them were a little bit short of 6 feet inside. The one I rented was just over 6 feet though still too small. I had thought the basic work-oriented pickup truck design was supposed to hold a 4x8 foot sheet of plywood but I guess not.

As a work vehicle the pickup seems silly too. Stuff you haul around in it is exposed to the weather and is unprotected from theft. Some models now have lockable compartments in the truck bed but those eat even more into the cargo space. I'm finding this a little annoying because some pickup models are starting to appear with cool features (e.g. powerful electric generators) that aren't available in other vehicles, but the pickup format itself still confuses me, especially the 4-door ("crew cab") style. The rear seating area uses maybe 3 feet(?) of the total length, so it would be much better to get rid of the seats and use the length for more cargo space, but 2-door pickups are available only in the most basic models, without the nice features.

Thanks for any wisdom. 2602:24A:DE47:BB20:50DE:F402:42A6:A17D (talk) 00:29, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

In general, trends in how people express themselves are inherently a social phenomenon, whether in the clothes they wear or the car models they drive. In the US, baseball caps and jeans are everywhere, much more so than in most of the rest of the Western world. If you wanted to come across as a savvy software engineer in a start-up on the West Coast during the dot-com bubble, you went to your job interview in a polo shirt and khaki trousers, not in a jacket and tie. If you aspired to be hired as a cool designer, you dressed up in black, with a sweater – but a slick black jacket was OK. Functionality is not the only, and likely not even the primary consideration. The pickup truck signals to your neighbours something like, hey, I too am a regular guy, not a city slicker. If you cross in the Midwest from the US into Canada, you see the same dress code and car code in effect there. In urban environments, the fashion, also for cars, is strikingly different. --Lambiam 07:53, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A similar cultural connection between an outdoor image and the pickup also exists in Australia (where it is called a "ute" for "utility vehicle"), see You beaut! Australia’s love affair with the ute. Not so popular in the UK because your stuff gets wet when it rains and in British towns the only parking available is often at the roadside, so anything left in the back is vulnerable; you can buy fibreglass tops but you might as well have a van. Alansplodge (talk) 10:49, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The U.S. has some massive pickup trucks, and some very small ones, so you get everything from a Chevrolet S-10 compact pickup to very large Ford Super Duty pick ups, where you could probably drive a Chevy S-10 into the bed of it. The compact pickups are generally used for things like hauling lawn equipment and the like, small items. It's the massive ones that are often "lifestyle vehicles", a way of saying "I have enough money to afford this". See conspicuous consumption. Of course, some people own large pickups because they use them as a functional work vehicle, but I suspect that a non trivial amount of ones sold are merely because the person owning it wants to project a certain image. --Jayron 32 11:52, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I've owned several pick ups in the past and will probably buy another in the future. As someone else mentioned, pick ups are available with many different bed lengths. I've seen many that would have accomodated your couch. Even if the truck did have a tool box mounted behind the cab. Also, the criticism "Stuff you haul around in it is exposed to the weather and is unprotected from theft" doesn't really make sense to me. Generally pick ups are used for short term hauling of items you want to have quick access to. You don't worry about the weather and theft because 1) you don't do the hauling when it is raining/snowing/etc and 2) you don't intend to leave the items on the truck for long, especially not while the truck is unattended. You put it on, you haul it over, you take it off. Unless you go for the higher priced models with a full two rows of seats, the second row is pretty useless. But, if you don't often have passengers, this isn't a problem.

For concerns about weather, there are bed caps that you can buy, there is for example the Camper shell design that gives additional vertical clearance for more storage; there are also caps that sit directly on the bed rails themselves, known as tonneau covers. --Jayron 32 15:57, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Which negates the "easy-on, easy-off" utility of the pick up. As Alanspllodge says, at that point just get a van. --Khajidha (talk) 16:20, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

(From OP) Thanks all. The pickups that really confused me the most were the full-sized 4-door ones at the rental place, that despite their size had a rather small pickup bed. They also had a lot of luxury features in the interior, i.e. they clearly targeted the market whose main purpose was to drive the kids to Chuck E. Cheese while still looking outdoorsy. I think it was Philip Greenspun who explained that the SUV was invented as a way to make a minivan look more masculine. So I guess something similar is going on. 173.228.123.166 (talk) 07:45, 30 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Abs

How do you get eight pack abs?— Preceding unsigned comment added by 2001:8003:7417:5A00:50EC:61A7:E34A:6678 (talk • contribs)

Healthy diet and exercise. --Jayron 32 15:55, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

For one thing, stay away from six packs. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 16:16, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Pick the right parents. According to this article, "that additional two-pack is just connective tissue that’s organized primarily due to genetics." Clarityfiend (talk) 21:41, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Photoshop :-) MarnetteD|Talk 03:34, 30 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]