From the Editors

The Investigation

This newspaper exists to investigate one question, which we believe to be a good one: why do Americans buy enormous trucks, built to haul things, and then haul nothing with them? We do not claim to have the answer. We are simply keeping a record.

What we are looking for

A sighting belongs in our pages if the truck meets at least three of these criteria:

1. The bed shows no evidence of ever having held cargo.
2. The bed liner still wears its original protective film.
3. It has been lifted higher than is required to get into it.
4. Its tires are rated for terrain it will never visit.
5. It occupies more than one parking space, in area or in spirit.
6. It has been washed more recently than it has been driven off pavement.

What does not belong here

• Trucks with mulch in them.
• Trucks with a dog up front and a job in the back.
• Trucks that have, even once, helped a friend move.
• Vans. (A separate investigation is under consideration.)

How to report responsibly

1. Photograph the truck, not the person. Faces, plates and house numbers get blurred. We document beds, not owners.
2. No confrontation. Observe from a respectful distance. This is journalism, not a feud.
3. Public spaces only. No private property without permission.
4. Be accurate. If you saw it haul something, it is not news, and it does not belong here.

A note on our methods

This is a Phase 1 prototype. The dispatches on our front page are illustrative, and reported sightings are not yet stored anywhere — the sighting form is a mock-up of the real thing to come. No databases were filled in the making of this newspaper. The beds, however, remain genuinely empty.