Socialism with American Characteristics
Always bothered me that suburban homes each have a lawn mower.
You could have 1 truck for 50 houses and it would sit unused most of the time. Most people need their trucks to move and maybe a few times a year to haul stuff from home depot.
You could have 1 truck for 50 houses and it would sit unused most of the time.
My local Uhaul does a pretty brisk business in a neighborhood of 150 houses, and they’ve got way more than three trucks.
Most people need their trucks to move and maybe a few times a year to haul stuff from home depot.
There’s definitely peaks and troughs. Everyone likes having a truck when its time to pick up a Christmas Tree or re-sod the yard. So you run into a problem of people having one week where nobody needs the truck and one week where everyone needs it.
But also, having a “community truck” opens the opportunity for other community projects. Would be nice if the truck came paired with a few professional construction workers who could direct a community effort to update the local playground or fill potholes or do more advanced home repairs (roofing / re-siding, etc). Then we start talking more broadly about a Citizen Conservation Corps or similar public works department that exists to create/upgrade/maintain amenities across town without getting price-gouged by for-profit contractors for the privilege.
Also gotta say this ignores estate sales which allow people to get urniture and household items for 1/10th or less o the price that would otherwise end up in a landill. i go to estate sales like once a month and alot more people could use that option i they had access to more storage in their car.
when I had a little chevy s10, I loved letting friends use it, or go on little truck missions for them
I knew this would be Jason Torchinsky before I even clicked through. I didn’t know he’d founded a new car website post-Jalopnik buyout. He’s definitely still an American lib, but he has some genuine affection for stuff from the USSR and small people’s cars in general and is much less chauvanist and much more interested in affordable, interesting transport solutions from the global south for example than most automotive journalists.
I wonder how much he’s pulling his punches to avoid angering the owner of the website (Beau Boeckmann, who also owns car dealerships)
I’d guess at least a little bit in terms of politics and satirical stuff. Glancing through his articles on that site they definitely have his love of weird and wonderful cars, but it’s all a bit more DeMuro ‘quirks and features’ than I remember his Jalopnik output being.
(Also, I’m way behind but your podcast is cool)
Thanks! I’m also way behind with editing, so we’re even. If you (or anyone else) ever want to be a guest on the show, send us an email: [email protected]
