IMO, trucks in the US are in large part an expression of the unfortunate tendency of people (especially Americans) to try to buy the product that they believe will cover 100% of their needs while ignoring that 10-40% of those needs are extremely intermittent.
Yes, trucks can be absolutely the right thing for hauling or towing (or both), or for moving specific types of material that either due to size or consistency can't really be moved in a typical car. They can be great for the great family camping trip with all that gear in the back and everyone else up front. And so on and so forth.
The problem is that those things happen (for most people) in the low-single digit numbers of times per year. Nevertheless the culture provides many suggestions that you're better off owning a vehicle that can do all this, all year, despite the extra cost of fuel, extra threat to pedestrians and cyclists, extra up front cost and higher insurance.
You don't have to be anti-car to see that owning a vehicle designed to cover all possible needs when most of the time you just commute in it doesn't make much sense.
Renting a truck is a pain. A truck that meets your general driving needs and most of your hauling needs is an investment in being able to haul without planning. Flexibility has a price, but it also has benefits. Proper small trucks are good enough at hauling and get good enough gas mileage (especially if you get the 4-cylinder), and have great sight lines. It's way harder to see pedestrians and cyclists with a typical sedan with a raked windshield, huge pillars and not a big window right behind my head. Of course, nobody sells those anymore, so there's that.
I'd like to own a box truck with a liftgate too, because those are really tough to track down on short notice, but they aren't very practical for day to day driving, and a vehicle that sits waiting for the day its useful is likely to develop problems.
I live 25 miles from Santa Fe, a city of 80k people (county is around 120k). I've rented pickups and box trucks twice a year +/- for the last 4 years. Each time, I drive (or cycle) into Santa Fe to one of two UHaul dealers with whom I've already booked the vehicle online. I spent less than 10 mins with the dealer, drive off in the truck for the 1/2 day or day, come back and head home. The rentals typically cost me about $60-80, and in almost every case, the rental place is closer to my reason for needing the vehicle than my home.
Renting a truck might be a pain for you. It's not a pain for everyone.
[ EDIT: The rest of the time I drive a Honda Fit which is flexible enough to let me do 75% of our recycling and garbage hauling, as well as move many, many other things around, and still get 36-38 mpg ]
> Renting a truck might be a pain for you. It's not a pain for everyone.
What are you renting it for?
Renting a truck to tow car trailers or RV travel trailers tends to be a pain. In all cases where I've needed or know someone who has needed that, we/they end up going with a friend who can lend them one. Many rental places either don't allow towing or don't have the right equipment.
So for many use cases, if you're only going to own one thing, it's more practical to own the truck and rent small cars when needed since a small car is easy to rent unlike the truck.
Yes, trucks can be absolutely the right thing for hauling or towing (or both), or for moving specific types of material that either due to size or consistency can't really be moved in a typical car. They can be great for the great family camping trip with all that gear in the back and everyone else up front. And so on and so forth.
The problem is that those things happen (for most people) in the low-single digit numbers of times per year. Nevertheless the culture provides many suggestions that you're better off owning a vehicle that can do all this, all year, despite the extra cost of fuel, extra threat to pedestrians and cyclists, extra up front cost and higher insurance.
You don't have to be anti-car to see that owning a vehicle designed to cover all possible needs when most of the time you just commute in it doesn't make much sense.