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by pwinnski 1420 days ago
Maybe 5-10% of the big trucks I see in and around Dallas, Texas, are doing anything that requires a truck. The rest are smooth and shiny, with empty beds, sometimes lifted, sometimes not, sometimes with garish aftermarket lighting, sometimes not, but empty beds and with usually one person in them.

I've got no problem with the landscapers and plumbers and electricians and farmers and so on getting a truck to support their work. They're paying the price, and they're relying on what the trucks can do for them.

I've got a problem with the 90% use case in my area, which is unsafe drivers driving unsafe vehicles unsafely, apparently for the image.
1 comments
Glawen 1420 days ago
As European, I always failed to see what is the use of a pickup truck. In Europe noone use them, we are using van like the Sprinter / Iveco daily. If your trade needs a flatbed you buy a sprinter with flatbed. They can also pull a trailer if you need. But mostly they are used by all trades in their normal design (box). Also, they don't consume a lot (7l/100km).

So what are pickup truck used that cannot be done by a sprinter?

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leereeves 1419 days ago
About half of the pictures of Sprinters with flatbeds that I saw on [1] have added side walls. I guess their owners found some use for a pickup so they made their own.

Between the two designs, I'd rather have a pickup. With a flatbed, I'd worry about things rolling/blowing off.

The fuel consumption is a separate issue; there are pickups that get good mileage. But that was (until recently) less of a concern in America because we had lower gas prices (and for the most part, the people who buy pickups don't worry about climate change).

1: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=sprinter+with+flatbed&iax=i...

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Glawen 1419 days ago
The sidewall are there to hold the load, you need also to secure the load by attaching it. Moreover they come with tilting mechanism to unload (sidewise or back wise). This I think is not possible with a pickup truck.

It is very useful when you destroy a wall, you can haul the brick to the junkyard, or if you bring sand in bulk for building a wall.

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