A Special Investigation
Americans Buy Trucks Even Though They Have Nothing To Haul
Why would they do that?
It's a good question!
Across the United States, citizens are buying enormous trucks. These trucks are very large and cost a great deal of money. At the back of each one is a big open area, called a bed, which is specifically for putting cargo into.
Our reporters went outside to look at the trucks. They looked in the back of many of them. In nearly every case, there was nothing there. The bed was empty. It was clean. In several instances the protective plastic film was still attached.
“If you are not going to haul anything, why did you get the part that hauls things?”
This raised a question, which our reporters wrote down. The question was: why would someone buy a truck for hauling, and then not haul anything with it? We do not know the answer. But we agree that it is a good question.
The Beds Remain Empty
To investigate further, we followed several trucks for an entire day. None of them hauled anything. One reversed into a parking space so that everyone could see the front of it. Another idled outside a coffee establishment for forty-one minutes. Its bed, throughout, contained nothing.
We approached the owners and asked them, politely, what they intended to put in the back. Many seemed surprised that the back was for putting things in at all. One man told us his truck was “for getting around.” He was alone, and going to an office.
A Nation Of Empty Beds
It is estimated that there are millions of these trucks, and that collectively they have hauled almost nothing. This newspaper was founded to keep a careful record of them. We pass no judgement. We simply note, again and again, that there is nothing in there. Below are our most recent field dispatches.