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Comment by IgorPartola | Hacker News Reader

Have you ever loaded drywall into a van? It is not fun. A truck bed is sized to load it perfectly. Strapping down lumber is also simpler. Lastly with nothing above the truck bed you can carry much taller things than in a van.

It isn’t the only way but yes a truck is very practical. That’s why they are used so much in the US. The difference between the US and the EU isn’t just arbitrary either. In the US gas (sorry, petrol) is a lot cheaper, roads are bigger, wider, longer, and sometimes you need to tow a large trailer. I tower a 3 ton excavator with my truck to build my home office.

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I find it crazy that people would buy ton of stupid stuff from amazon, aliexpress or Shein but would not check the delivery option for stuff that is actually annoying to carry around yourself.

People who need a pickup bed for work usually buy those that come with the chassis of a commercial VAN which have a much bigger bed than you'd ever dream of on a Ford F series.

The rest are simply getting delivered or using trailers, either rented when used sporadically or bought. A trailer is usually at a more decent height and you don't have to carry the weight and have to manage a huge vehicle when you actually don't need all the space.

I totally agree with the trailer concept. But you also need to pull it. And in case you have not done a lot of construction work, understand that while delivering materials is free, returning excess materials is not an option outside of carrying it back yourself.

Basically I can tell you that yes there are a lot of advantages. Another thing is carrying things like fill or gravel. Good luck with a van on that one. And while delivery is an option it depends on how accessible the area where you want it delivered is.

Around here you typically rent an ampliroll dumpster delivered by a hooklift truck that will get it back and take care of disposing the stuff back later.

And if a large truck can’t get to where you need the stuff delivered due to terrain? Or it won’t deliver on a schedule convenient to you?

Look you are trying to convince me that there are no upsides to using a picking where I live based on how things work where you live. I am telling you from personal experience that there is tangible utility to it and you are telling me from no experience that there cannot possibly be utility to it since where you live things are done differently, discounting any notion of specifics of either place. Do you see why this is absurd?

Loading drywall into my minivan is a lot easier than a truck. I can fit whole sheets and close the back gate so I don't need to strap them down and they are protected from the elements.

How about gravel? Fill? A yard of mulch? Manure? Construction debris?

Indeed. When is was remodeling my house, I bought an old van for €2000,- (the successor to the C15, actually) *

I had no compunction to fill it with debris, earth, sand etc. but that’s not something your European tradesman does. He uses a separate trailer.

* https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/2005_Cit...

OK but I do not live in Europe (though I am originally from there). You are trying to convince me that there is no possible utility that a pickup truck can have where I live, despite you having no experience with it. I am telling you from personal experience that it does have utility while also having had experience with using cars, vans, trailers, and delivery services. What makes you so convinced that your lack of experience makes you correct and my years of experience makes me incorrect?

No, I’m saying you’re right. A pickup is much more usefull for that.

Oh my bad, I misread that!

The Berlingo is amazing. Handles like a normal car, great storage space, convenient and nimble. I was very lucky to borrow one last time I moved to a new flat.

My minivan has more 50% weight capacity than a Toyota Tacoma. I can haul more construction debris and load/unload them easier because my tailgate is lower. I wouldn't want to try to haul mulch or manure though. That being said, most of my friends with trucks have caps on the back and can't haul mulch any easier than me.

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