[foobarian]

Ironically most pickup truck beds are shorter than 8' and most likely a 8' piece of lumber would have to lay diagonally sticking out over one of the edges.

Still good for occasional piece of furniture, lots of lumber, or plywood.

[jakewins]

The shortest bed f150 you can buy is 5.5ft, with a 2ft tailgate, trivially hauling 8ft with just a few inches overhang with the tailgate down, and easily doing 10ft lumber.

Again, I think pickup trucks are idiotically oversized and dangerous to pedestrians, but arguing against them by repeating things that anyone that uses a pickup knows is nonsense is not helping win over any detractors.

[foobarian]

To be clear, I am not arguing against pickup trucks. The reason I bring up the bed length is a personal pet peeve thing. I have some amount of OCD going on, and I will be damned if I will ever approve of a truck that can't fit a piece of lumber in its bed without leaving the tailgate open that can fit into a Ford Fiesta with the trunk closed.

I am fully aware of why and how people use pickup trucks and I have no beef with that on cultural grounds. But if I were to get one it would be a long bed truck and I would sacrifice the cab space if needed.