Quote:
Originally Posted by Arragonis
As an outsider to the US - yeah there is a great big world out there  - could I ask a question ?
I've asked this before in (probably) a sarcastic way and this time I mean it seriously.
I've seen a lot of threads where people who have a lot of kudos here post about "having a truck" which they use only "for hauling stuff".
I've been on the planet for something over 40 years, been driving for over 20 of those, owned 4 houses, refurbished a couple, done DIY, reshelled an MG Midget, started restoring my MGB GT with new panels and welding, and just recently refitted a kitchen sawed down trees, fitted a new fence and laid a new lawn.
Not once did I feel the need to "own a truck" just to "haul stuff", including that full MG Midget bodyshell.
So where does this "entitlement" (my name for it) come from ?
Just why do you need one ?
And do you really really need one ?
Seriously ?  |
I'll give it a shot. Think of it as tied to homeownership, but not all are homeowners. Some are those who specialize in building/maintenance/repairs.
The US economy started exporting jobs in the early 1960's. The closest we ever came to full employment (the real thing, not US Gov apparitional numbers) was the period 1940-1960. The least among us lost their jobs first.
A pickup is a moneymaker for a poor man. Look to
Jacob Aziza's thread. Ragpicker, bone picker, construction scavenger, curb hunter. Nothing touches a pickup for this kind of work. A straight-six motor and bolt-action tranny, no power whatsoever . . it'll run about forever. On peanuts. It pays for itself daily. After "work". On weekends.
This cannot be said for a car or a van.
To that point in time, pickups were rare. I don't just mean in cities. The early 1960's saw real growth in pickups, vans, station wagons, etc. This point in time was also where public transportation had been destroyed by conspiracy (in some prominent cities) and was allowed to collapse elsewhere. Passenger rail -- intercity -- pretty much disappeared in the 1960's.
So, also, to this point it wasn't much of a handicap to have been a tradesman driving a used car. The cities had not exploded in growth and the wholesalers with whom one dealt on the one hand, and the distance to the customer, on the other, was short. Easy to have same day or same week delivery. Stuff came by rail directly to city center, and went out by wholesaler truck. Worked well for everyone. The US population was around 180-million. The move to the South (due to central air conditioning) was just getting started.
And if one lived in an adjoining town, ones goods could be loaded on any of a number of local trains back to where one lived/worked. Same for the ladies who rolled into the city for shopping. And returned to that outlying town and then rolled the miles to their farm, ranch, smaller town.
As the cities spread out (unbelievably so, IMO), the need for a tradesman to be able to haul all his tools, supplies and equipment far distances became paramount. The wholesaler could in no way keep up with delivery destinations tens of miles out, and tens of miles apart. Rail was never an option as the suburbs exploded. Through the 1970's fewer men had decent blue collar factory jobs. Many eked out a living using a pickup contracting themselves out in repair or construction . . good while it lasted.
The 1960's also saw the last of upward mobility in this country. The Great Depression drove many into the cities via foreclosure (WALMART founder Sam Walton got his start helping Daddy drive people off their land: his customers of today -- no mistake, that), and the drought of the 1950's here in Texas finished Americans being driven off the land. Our Enclosure Laws, as it were. In this state in particular the desire to be a property owner (rancher) is strong. Farming/ranching was long ago captured by the banks, but the preference to be identified as one is greater than for those who would be seen as office drones. Cowboy advertising is not just for cigarets. Westerns on TV. Etc. (Read up on "cowboy church").
Quite a few men would rather work with their hands (at least up through their 40's). Even those who would hardly know one tool from another. So in this state -- where hunting leases are coveted -- a truck is a signifier. Remember, too, that few families live in close proximity to one another where the use of a truck can be shared. And what stopped in this country in 2008 was moving for opportunity. Folks are stuck, hoping their house price will rise again (it won't, it'll stay stuck at an adjusted 1992 for another 20-years). So a focus on the here & now.
Population is now over 300-million. Many new immigrants thrown off their land by NAFTA in Mexico. 35-million of them here when including their children since 1982. Many with rural longings also. Laborers, but quick to drive to make deals on most anything (same as in Mexico; and trips back & forth from there). Strains on services, the schools, the hospitals.
Cars got smaller after 1980. Trucks weren't so underpowered anymore and
equivalent cars really didn't offer much anymore (trucks were not the literal deathtraps on the highway they had been). 55-mph national speed limit masked some of the penalty of trucks just as EFI & OD did later. Cheaper airfares made distance traveling in that manner easier. The Interstate highway system saw trucks of all sizes take over what trains had once done. But, though easier portion-by-portion, the distances for all were greater.
Today, few can afford to hire out all the work on their homes. Both parents work, and both have high overhead. Incomes haven't risen in 45-years. The national chains have driven the small suppliers out of business. Everywhere. All the tradesman who remain buy from the chains. So do the rest of us. A truck is practical for any of a variety of reasons. Even if most of the time it may be empty, it is
seen as practical. Americans may be house-poor, but
for the majority it's all they have.
A BMW costs too much. Can't do anything else. A pickup costs nowhere near as much and has what is necessary (air conditioning and decent sound insulation are the commuting requirements). Anyone can fix it (is the mantra), and one doesn't stick out. It is seen as anti-pretentious. I'll bet you own blue jeans, do you not? Blue collar chic.
We may go about how impractical Americans are, rendered deaf & dumb by TV, perpetual 6th graders politically . . . but when push comes to shove you can bet the ones with pickups are glad of that. Hurricane evacuation or foreclosure. Better the fate of the Clampetts rather than the Joads, but both understood the fate of those less well-prepared.
A pickup in New England may not mean much. But once west of line drawn from Washington, D.C. to Cleveland, OH (a small area if you'll consult a map, but over 150-million Americans live east of it) the distances start to add up. Hospitals, supply centers, groceries . . all can be considerable distances.
No telling what you might need -- and when -- out here in flyover country.
One can be sarcastic about it, I know I can, and I know it far better. But I also know the limits around which it is workable. In that vein one starts to delve into the falsity of "lifestyle". Etc.
Okay, I've made the point elsewhere about small car + trailer, too. You'll see in my current sig pic my truck & trailer. Both were chosen for: longevity, reliability & low energy input given my budget. I no longer own a house and expect to move around quite a bit in the forthcoming years. No other method -- in a car dependency -- affords such low overhead. The truck is transportation, but it is also "the garage" from whence maintenance/repairs/upgrades happen for both vehicles.
The goal with the trailer is to be able, at notice, to go up to two weeks without other inputs, be they food, water or energy. And cover considerable distance all the while. In this I'm part of a growing segment: concerned about transitions. Not quite transitory, mind you, but being able to move at a moments notice. Cheaply. The right pickup truck is part of the equation. They have their place.
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