• BorgDrone
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    9 months ago

    but you probably can put your tools in the bed

    But that’s still impractical, you can only put your tools in there temporarily, but you can’t leave them unattended in an open truck bed or they would get stolen. Over here carpenters, masons, electricians and people in similar occupations usually use vans. Often they have shelves and other storage solutions in their van for their tools. Here are some examples (text is in Dutch but the photos are self explanatory).

    You can still use a trailer with a van, and they often have roof-racks for things like long pieces of lumber, a ladder, etc. In comparison a truck just seems way less practical than a van.

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Yeah that makes a lot of sense. I know farmers use open bed trucks for stuff like dirt and manure. The bed is a plus there as you can use a tarp to keep it in in transport then wash it out after. So yeah we wind up with farmers having trucks, some trades like masons use either, and tradesfolks like plumbers and electricians where they have a lot of tools and equipment that needs to be kept organized go with vans. It’s just that we have a metric fuck ton of arable land and as such a lot of farmers (though often it’s a capital intensive hobby) anywhere remotely rural. This results in pickup trucks being the iconic vehicle of the rural American and part of their identity even if they’re an accountant.

    • John_McMurray@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      They don’t make many vans that can tow a 24,000 lb gvw gooseneck trailer filled to capacity with lumber (Centurion did, once upon a time) there’s bumper hitch lumber trailers that my half ton cannot tow empty, bottoms out the suspension just attempting to hook on. So you have a locking toolbox on front of bed or integated into a flatdeck. Trailer stays on site or is unloaded and leaves, truck brings the incidentals out as needed with the crew. Look, i don’t know why Europeans like to pretend theyve never heard of a toolbox. Scale of the roads and trailer here is just different, and masons, electricians and plumbers do use vans. Carpenters usually not.