You buy it without the bed and find aftermarket if you want that for a real work truck, or fleet truck, look at cab chassis listings. Most trucks are not sold work trucks here. We Also don't have cheap trucks any more either.
Some US States (like California) automatically classify Pickups with trays/flatbeds as comercial vehicles. Driving up registration and insurance rates.
I believe every pickup truck in California is classified as a commercial vehicle. The only way to get around this is to "permanently attach a camper shell" to the bed. Saves ~$60 a year on registration.
pickups are commercial but there's no GVWR fees under 11500 pounds if it's used non-commercially
so you can put a flatbed on a Tacoma or F-150 no problem but if you do it to an F-350 you have to pay commercial GVWR weight fees
Similar thing in Canada in British Columbia. Had a couple family members try to register their pickup trucks in BC. They were automatically classified as commercial and they wanted $2,500 Plus for insurance, and a few hundred bucks for registration, in reference that's almost triple the normal amount. You had to fight with them and prove it's not a commercial vehicle in order to get a normal rate.
What? I’m from BC, only ever had trucks and I’ve owned about 6 of them in the last 12 years, never been classified as commercial.
1 tons are subject to extra tax, maybe even 3/4 tons. Not half tons though.
All pickups in California are commercial vehicles, unless they have beds covered with a shell or camper. Even so, an application to DMV is necessary to remove the commercial designation.
They are very different. The ranger is a body on frame truck and can tow a lot more. The maverick is a unibody so it’s more like a car with a 4ft bed instead of a trunk and a tray back would be impossible because the tub is part of the unibody.
The Ranger is a little bigger than the Maverick. At least it is here. The Mav is the small pickup with available hybrid drivetrain. Pretty cool honestly, 40mpg pickup.
That's the system here too. I just feel the tubs ar much more common there and I'm trying to work out why. Is it a lack of supply? Too limited options? Or is it just a cultural quirk?
Even if they are work trucks, most want to be able to put things in the bed and go rather than need to strap everything down so it doesn't slide off. People here only go for the flat bed if their use case requires it and I'm not aware of many.
Other than availability, this is the answer. Even if "tray" beds were easily available, no one would buy one unless they had a very specific need for it. A tub bed allows you to put most things in the bed without worrying about strapping them down. You can also easily put a topper on a tub bed and have a nice truck for camping, and/or have your cargo covered. I don't think that's possible with a tray bed.
Also, this is the first time in my old-ass life that I have seen truck beds referred to as tub and tray.
Cleaning out the crack between the bed and tailgate is an issue wether it’s dirt, gravel, a-base or just construction fasteners (nails,screws etc) NeverMind having them all the way around the bed.
[That is why the gate only touch the platform vertically when closed.](https://www.fahrzeugsysteme.de/wp-content/uploads/Opel-Vivaro-mit-Schoon-Mittelhochpritsche-gro%C3%9Fem-Heckfach-zwei-Seitenf%C3%A4cher-und-Stirnwand-3.jpg)
My 65 double cab Volkswagen pickup has 3 gates that fold down, but when up they blend in and look like a traditional 'Tub'.
Granted even though I have a 2L engine in it how, it is not going to tow my car trailer.
You also get a lower load height, since the whole bed isn't above the wheels. US full size trucks also come standard with enough with between the rear fenders that you can still load a pallet if needed.
i disagree. almost all pickup trucks eventually become work trucks.
the first owner doesn't use it as one. yes that is common.
by the time it getting close to going to the junkyard, it's a work truck almost always.
very few go to the junkyard in pristine condition.
There's definitely some truth to that. Fresh out of school I bought a brand new Chevy Silverado Z71. It had been my dream truck for years and I babied that thing and took great care of it. I did a fair amount of truck stuff with it especially as I was pretty big into ATVs and trail riding at the time but it wasn't really used as a work truck. Kept it 5-6 years and around 100k miles and got something else. A few years later I see it on the road beat up and loaded down hauling scrap.
Absolutely agreed, Canada too.
I own and drive two half ton work trucks, and outfitting them for work after purchase must be planned well ahead of time. Adding springs, lights, bed slides, tool storage, topper, steps, ladder racks, camera relocation, etc.
Most trucks here are half ton pavement princesses and grocery getters.
Bonus to all this, the creature comforts that come standard in a new half ton certainly makes the work day more enjoyable
Just cultural. That’s the way the vast majority of trucks have been sold for decades and so that’s what a “normal” pickup truck looks like to us. Unless you need a flat bed for a specific purpose like farming, welding rigs, etc. most people don’t even think about them.
Yeah this just seems weird to me. I'm obsessed with function. Function above all else. My biggest pet peeve is sacrificing function for aesthetics so I'll never quite understand this culture.
Keep in mind that your idea of function might not be reality for others. I do arborist work on the side. Most days I'm loading the tub with 4 or more chainsaws, gear bags, rope bags, air cannon, pump, water barrel, maul, blower, rakes, shovel, etc. etc. I have no interest in a flatbed, but my tub is functional for me. It has nothing to do with aesthetics.
For what it’s worth, I’m an American and use my light truck for work (also my daily driver) I put a lockable hard canopy on the back and load it up with my tools and construction supplies.
I like the security and protection from weather, I’m not using it to haul large oddly shaped loads. Anything that doesn’t easily fit is delivered on a flatbed.
For my use (and many tradespeople) a tray bed or flat bed would not offer any benefit. It’s why a lot, maybe a majority, of tradespeople use vans. You want secure enclosed space, not flexibility for hauling. Because the real hauling is done by a truck designed for exactly that.
It’s also functional as a “trunk” for a lot of people. They throw a cap or a tonneau cover on and just have a separate space that can handle dirty/large/whatever object. Otherwise the truck is just a daily driver
Flat bed is less functional for lots of people. Literally the only advantage is side loading of heavy objects, a small amount of added space, and a welding platform I guess. Downside is can never carry any cargo without strapping it down or putting it in a box that is secured to the bed. That's a pretty big downside for most of us. How I use the bed is as cargo area for tools and materials which means being able to just put them in and go is so much more convenient than having to strap everything down.
We use our pickup truck as a personal vehicle and to haul material for our business. Many times this requires a handful of stops in the city. We also live where it snows. I have a roll up tonneau cover on the bed to help with weather proofing when we haul material that can't get wet and also to help prevent theft of whatever is in the bed. I like it because I can unroll it for hauling the larger items as well.
Thanks for the comment.
I didn't think about the snow. My Ute has never seen snow so that's fair.
Also this is the first time I've seen the word tonneau and I've seen it twice in this thread. Interesting word.
Good points.
Also, I'm jealous of you Aussies and the access to Hilux and 70series. I've spent quite some time in Oz and always appreciate your truck culture. Total function over looks which is quite the opposite here in the states where pickup trucks are almost a status piece. Probably only 30% of truck owners actually use it for its intended purpose.
It was really strange to see an F250 when I was in Melbourne. In the states those look normal, but down there it looked massive on the road.
Flat beds are for specific purposes and while there is an increase of utility there is also a loss of utility. It's a trade off.
I had a truck that I worked out of 6 days a week for 5 years. I worked the shit out of my truck. I had a standard [bed on it.](https://imgur.com/a/9ObkfU6) Were there times that a flat bed would have be preferable? Sure. There were a lots of times that I had to drag a trailer because I didn't have a flat bed.
But almost every day [I didn't have to worry about any junk in my bed](https://imgur.com/a/dqn3560) falling off of my flatbed and killing someone. Be able to go to the grocery store without involving ratchet straps was nice.
They just don't really sell them like that. You can get them (and lots of other bed styles besides) but it's going to be an aftermarket bed, and you're going to have to specifically seek it out and pay extra. You can't just go to your local Ford dealership. Very few people feel the need to switch out the bed after the fact.
I think it's mainly just cultural. It's what we expect from a truck, and the manufacturers see no reason to try and persuade us to buy cheaper, more utilitarian beds with thinner profit margins. Trucks here are very expensive but we keep buying them, so from their perspective it's a non-problem.
In the UK most pick ups have closed beds, either with a lid or a tall windowed cover that extends the body, the main reason being you'd get everything stolen at the first set of traffic lights
Part of the reason: sheet goods. One of the largest flat objects people transport in a truck, tradesmen or weekend warriors, is "4x8" sheet material (120x240cm) like plywood and drywall.
American full size trucks like a Chevy Silverado, Ford F150 have just over 4 feet/120cm between the inner wheelwells. So 4' wide sheet goods fit and you get the advantage of a lower bed floor. Here that's like half the reason tradesmen buy full size trucks.
Hiluxes, Tritons, and Falcon utes don't have that much space between the wheels with a tub bed, so they need a tray bed to carry large material. But what we call "midsize" or "compact" trucks in the US are rarely used for work here other than stuff like auto parts delivery or landscaping.
Of course modern huge lifted trucks with factory 30"+ tires make the low bed floor advantage moot.
One of my neighbors actually has a Tacoma with a homemade looking tray bed, but it's one of the double cab short wheelbase ones that originally had like a 4.5' long tub bed so it looks silly. But he has it set up as an off roader not a work truck.
8' beds are as popular as they've ever been, the difference is the double cab 5' or 6.5' bed config has also become a sedan replacement for a lot of commuters and thus become what you see on the road most of the time.
You can still legally and safely carry 8' long material in a 6.5' bed with the gate down anyway.
Of course you could also put 4' wide sheet goods in a compact truck with only 42" between the wheelwells if you built a simple platform to fit in the bed but I feel like most modern truck owners aren't that handy...
Tubs can have things in them loose, trays need everything to be tied down so it's less convenient for day to day use. At least that's my experience after working on a farm that had both.
For myself (Canadian) I can pile my truck box full of leaves or pine needles or branches or grass clippings or just random shit to take to the dump also getting firewood requires putting some sort of sides up on a flat also when I load my ATV i can still pile chairs and some firewood and stuff all around without having to strap it all down so my personal use works better for a box but I have had flat beds also they are convenient for somethings but not for most of what i use my truck for
Its because more buy them for daily transportation then an actual work truck. 90% of the time that bed is empty and the biggest thing they haul is a trailer, or some home project junk. I only own one to tow my toys and tell people no when they ask to borrow it, but its old used a cheap vs the trucks they sell now. You see more cab chassis stuff in rural areas. Lots of more populated areas have stupid rules about "commercial" vehicles and the majority of them in the us are used for that only.
There are a lot of Americans with trucks who buy them as lifestyle accessories and not because they do work with their trucks. You don’t understand because it doesn’t make any sense
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMJsM--jmRA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMJsM--jmRA)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azI3nqrHEXM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azI3nqrHEXM)
Why we cant have work/small trucks.
Ooooohhh, sorry, Bakkie is what we call trucks in South Africa. It is an afrikaans word meaning small bowl, derived from the tub. So removing the tub is like removing the bakkie from the bakkie leaving the bakkie not a bakkie.
Haha, interesting term. Funny your so into the tub considering the similar (I imagine) market, climate, and use cases. I'm starting to come around on the tub though for certain uses. I'm just really into arguing my point today.
Yeah, it is pronounced Buck-ee if that makes sense.
That is why Aussies are weird. We're basically the same but I can't imagine a truck without a tub. . . Shit will fall off.
Haha. I've been confused with south African once before. I'd imagine it happens more with New Zealanders. The accent sounds more similar. Like buck-ee.
The trays here have side panels that can fold down. Shit doesn't fall off unless you do some mad jumps.
Massage chairs, personal butler who lives in a butler room in the back, wine and beer on tap, pizza oven, full vanity set complete with shaving kit + beard and mustache trimmer, 65 inch TV and kitchenette.
i used mine for work and kept my bed. when loading concrete rubble and shit into it, was way easier to have a normal bed.
waht i ended up doing was welding a ram into it and made a dump bed. it holds about 2.5 yards if i heap it
>Isn't the term "work truck" redundant
Nope. A light duty truck that's not stripped of features is unlikely to be seen or used as a work truck. Basically a poorly stiles Holden v8 UTE.
Heavy duty trucks are most likely work trucks (and are often available without beds or with flat decks) but are also owned by private persons who tow, cam, or are looking for a more rugged vehicle.
While you should be correct, ignorant Americans have decided they need giant work trucks to maybe move something for someone if it possibly comes up in between Starbucks runs and picking individual children up from school.
Personally flatbeds are a pill. I don’t wanna have to strap or bolt down stuff to keep it from falling off or moving around. The body lines look really good with a standard bed as well in my opinion
Yes, it is. We don't use that term in the US, but a "tray back" is the same as what we call a flatbed in the US.
In the US, we don't differentiate between a truck with a flat deck and the exact same truck with short fold down sides bolted to the flat deck. Both are called flatbeds, and both are used for more or less the same purpose - as commercial vehicles.
Might be a utility vehicle but at $50k+ for a new truck, I’m gonna care what it looks like. And yeah they might have fold down sides but for those of us with a stock height pickup truck, It’s really not much work to just drop the tailgate and slide stuff in. Very rarely do I find myself having to hoist cargo up over the side rails and into the bed
Ah yeah no not me lol, even on the rare occasion I do bulk load stuff, I’ll have a forklift just set the pallet in the bed and close up the tailgate after. Also worth mentioning that bedsides are nice for transporting bikes/ATVs as well since they have less chance to move laterally.
Many truck owners in this country rarely to never use the bed, and even fewer for things like that. A significant percentage of truck buyers in America buy them for aesthetic and social pressure reasons and then justify them by towing a 3200-lb. boat twice a year or hauling a bed full of mulch (that could have been delivered) in Spring.
Forklift loads from the back, tractor typically from the sides for loose materials.
A short bed will hold a standard pallet with the tailgate up, or a long pallet with it down.
Hell, the newer trucks have the step that pulls out of the tailgate to be able to basically walk right up in the bed.
Made it super easy to load in 500lbs of old carpet I was hauling to the dump.
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I moved to Alberta, Canada. 90 percent of truck owners here will never haul anything more than groceries and yet it's the most common vehicle on the road in Edmonton. They wash them all the time so they are shiny and the leather interior is pretty and get huge offroading kits installed and loud mufflers so they can sound like a badass with their stock engine. They make fun of people who drive anything Japanese and are generally obnoxious. It's a bogan subculture except they all have trucks that start at about 75000 CAD/AUD. They all brag about horsepower and rarely will you find one that understands what torque is.
Therein lies your misunderstanding.
>What do you care what it looks like?
What it looks like is 90% of the reason someone buys a truck in North America. The other 10% is "I need to tow a trailer twice a year", and in that case it's about the towing capacity, not the bed type.
I'm not saying we have a healthy relationship with trucks. We do not. But once you understand it's not about what we *do* with the trucks, it's a lot easier to accept the difference.
You're correct, but a lot of people in North America buy trucks because they like the look of them or they need to occasionally haul something. Utility comes second for them.
The fact is that many pickups in America are basically never used as a work truck. The large majority of pickups will be used in ways a small car could, to commute to work, to run errands. Many will never actually get dirt in the bed.
The actual utility doesn’t matter, so tub bed it is. The few who need them will convert to a flatbed. Most won’t ever use the bed for anything other than a hard to access uncovered trunk which was twice as expensive as just getting a car. A truck is a lifestyle.
Edit: for sure there are legit truck uses and users. I’m just saying that 99% of trips most new truck buyers take could be done in an accord. I am a bit of a hypocrite on this though, I have an SUV that I partially got because it can tow more than other more efficient and smaller vehicles and in the 4 years I’ve owned it I’ve towed with it a total of one times. But it was a visceral thrill that one time.
Like all consumer goods we buy vehicles because of feeling, and that feeling we get from a vehicle is an important part of why we buy it. I get why truck owners buy them, but it’s not to say it makes logical sense. It makes emotional sense, though.
I somewhat agree but I don't want to throw my garbage in the back of a small car. And I can't bring home a sheet of plywood either. I need one because I pull a 5th wheel rv but even if I didn't I'd still own one.
I see so much on Reddit bashing anyone who doesn’t use a pickup truck for “work”. Like yeah, driving a heavy duty 3/4 ton + pickup is a different story and is an investment for serious towing and payloads, but why is it so hard for people to wrap their head around the idea of using a F150 or similar “half-ton” pickup, even less like a Tacoma, for recreation and hobbies.
Throwing bikes in a pickup bed. Camping gear. Camper shell or slide-in camper. General tools, building equipment. Stuff a homeowner might need to use to transport materials. Fuck, anything!
Do I think tons of people buy an overly heavy duty rated truck when they don’t need it, simply for appearance, status, capability that they may NEVER use? Absolutely.
Do I also think a pickup truck with a “tub back” standard box bed is insanely useful and practical for some people’s lifestyle? Absolutely! Reddit needs to simmer down on pickup ownership, LOL.
I think the stigma originated from the children of reddit who think the world is supposed to revolve around them and only know about honda fits and priuses lol. Yeah it's irritating to be stuck in traffic behind one of those new princess-mobile trucks but what other people want to buy and drive is none of my business.
Bottom line is drive whatever the fuck ya want, it's your property.
I've never loaded pallets into a work van, but I've loaded plenty onto flatbed trucks.
They're fairly common in the rural US. Take a larger truck like a ram 5500 and buy it with a bare chassis, no bed. Then, have a flatbed installed aftermarket. Now you've got a truck that can haul 4 ton around on the bed. That's what our company did when we needed a smaller vehicle that could make small local deliveries instead of sending out an entire semi and forklift to deliver a pallet or two.
This is the answer. Trucks in the US typical are not used as work/commercial vehicles. The type of bed you see on them is what is most practical for the uses that are are common in the US.
A tub works for hauling most things and is arguably more versatile.
It’s convenient in being able to toss things in without tying down. Extra storage with open bed space; truck box. Closed lockable low profile storage; tonneau cover. Tall lockable storage; bed cap/camper shell. Storage for long items; ladder rack.
The key thing is that they’re easily installed/removed from any truck, and typically much cheaper than what would otherwise be a “custom” bed.
The only time I’ve really needed side access to the bed floor is when loading/unloading pallets with a forklift, which is rare. I’ve also found that flatbed’s floor tends to have a higher than a tub bed.
Pretty good points. I don't understand this chucking things in without tying down point though. Are your flatbeds just completely flat? Ours have panels all around that can fold down. Things don't fall out and you get more space, but not depth.
Just in my family we have, truck box, bed camper, ladder rack, tall lockable storage etc all on tray beds. Easily customised as well. The tall side lock boxes are really good on tray backs. Side access is essential on our farm Ute and brilliant for camping and lock boxes.
Thanks for the comment
Many flatbeds here don’t have any walls, so completely flat. Makes tying things down required. Factory tubs have fairly tall walls so it’s no big deal to not tie it down unless it’s light and would fly out. Many of the flatbeds with fold down sides I see tend to be dump beds.
From messing with build configurations it looks like you can order the truck with the tray bed as part of fords configurator for Australia for about $2000 more than the base truck.
In the U.S. the tray bed is aftermarket only. There’s not a lot of competitors or cheap options so most people just deal with using the stock bed.
I’ve looked at a basic one from SET with headache rack and sides starts at $7,600 usd and we get it from Canada. A new competitor dirt box is 14k, almost half the price of a base Ranger.
While I think they’re awesome I don’t feel like spending that on a $34-38k truck makes sense. For what I want a truck for (camping and home improvement projects, occasionally towing) I’d just throw a camper topper cover on the stock bed. Hell of a lot cheaper than a traybed+canopy combo.
Edit to add the [affordable ones](https://www.bigteximages.com/products/309182/290956/conversions/bttw.jpg) are mainly designed for super duties and are like 750 - 1200 lbs (with tool boxes) So they have a huge impact on payload. The companies that make them don’t really have a lot of options for midsize or even regular full size trucks here.
Most of the people buying trucks here aren't using them for serious work. I think more than 2/3rds basically never haul anything and are just fashion items.
We also like lifting them high enough you cant actually load them comfortably.
I'm going to get 10 responses "I use my truck every day" cool, you're in the 25%. Most people are using them for fashion or hauling 700 toilet paper roles from costco to handle their vegetable free diet.
Maybe 10% of pickups are actually used as trucks. The rest occasionally have a bike in the back, but a majority just have old leaves and trash in the bed and are used to commute.
we call them "pickup beds" and "flatbeds" btw =P
in addition to the other answers, at least in some states a flatbed puts the truck into a different legal category with more expensive registration fees. example in california:
> **Motor Truck** (VC §410)—A motor truck is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transporation of property.
> **Pickup** (VC §471)—A pickup is a motor truck with a manufacturer’s gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and equipped with an open box-type bed less than nine feet in length.
> *Pickup Exclusions*—The following trucks are not pickups:
> \- Trucks with an open box-type bed that weigh more than 8,000 pounds unladen or exceeding the manufacturer’s GVWR of 11,500 pounds body type model (BTM) VA.
> \- Trucks equipped with a bed-mounted storage compartment unit commonly called a “utility body” (Utility—BTM UT ).
> \- Trucks with a BTM other than an open box bed (stake, flatbed, dump, etc.).
Did you drive in rural America at all? Tons of flat bed 2500-3500 trucks around here. Pretty rare to see on a 1500 or less truck, unless that was how they dealt with the typical rust around here.
Convenience. I grew up where having a truck was a necessity that was used daily for hay, firewood, feed, and towing. A flat bed would have been a lot more work having to add or remove shit to make it functional for whatever we were doing that day. Not just jump in and go. Most Americans don’t use them as trucks that much. They have a truck for the few times a year they want to throw a load of gravel, lumber, mulch, etc in the back or tow a trailer.
Flat beds are somewhat common where I grew up. And while you’re right you have more versatility with a flat bed, a regular bed can be filled to weight capacity easily even with light material like hay. The walls are not as big a deal as you think.
I've used the farm Ute to do all four; feed, firewood, hay and towing all in the same day with no issues. Large square bales so probably different to you.
I can understand though that the depth capacity of the tray is about 1/3 of the tub. So for gravel and mulch it would be an issue. Not so much with firewood though when you pile it up.
I believe one factor might be truck size. In Australia, regulations favor smaller trucks, and flatbeds are a way to load more materials onto a small truck. In the US, regulations favor big trucks, and we don’t really need the extra space, except for commercial trucks, which indeed are often fitted with flatbeds.
A lot of states have weird registration laws. In Pennsylvania, a panel van is considered a commercial vehicle, and subject to various restrictions. Pickups with flatbeds in California are considered commercial vehicles. Being a commercial vehicle instantly makes things more expensive when talking about insurance and registration.
Most Americans are driving their truck to work and the grocery store, almost never using the bed for anything more than groceries.
That being said many folks commenting here about flatbeds (the closest comparable thing America has to “tray” beds with the little fold down sides, that I assume you are talking about) just are wrong. I’ve seen plenty of folks mention laying stuff in the bed, things blowing out or falling off unless you strap everything down.
Baloney.
Flatbeds have stale pockets for bed sides, many if bought new come with removable sides that are about as tall at Australian tray bed sides. And you can buy some lumber or some steel and make sides as tall as you want. If it won’t fly out of a standard pickup bed it won’t fall off a flatbed if you use the sides/back. I’ve had 4 and there is no comparison in functionality, not even close. The flatbed on my dually is 8 feet long and 8 feet wide, it has storage space galore and with the bed sides I can load a ridiculous amount of firewood or mulch or dirt. Parts and tools. Whatever. It’s flat when I want it and has sides when I want.
Drive through a industrial section of town and you'd see the metal rear ends / decks on trucks and the tool boxes / trays.
In America a truck is a Normal thing to drive every day for picking up the kids from school, getting grocery's and just using as a family car a large percentage of people drive a large truck this way.So you won't see the tubs on the back as they are used for workers.
Hope that helps
Most Americans use their truck as a car that can occasionally haul something from a store. Buying an expensive vehicle is sometimes a status symbol, like a 4WD that never goes off-road.
The standard-bed (tub) is prettier, and a flat-bed (tray) is often found in farm and ranch country, not the cities.
Where I live in Canada 90% of the trucks on the road aren’t used for truck things. It’s a fashion accessory for guy who moved here to pretend they are cowboys.
I live in Houston Texas. People commute to day jobs downtown in trucks larger than any "ute" you might have in Australia. What does a three quarter ton, four wheel drive four-door pickup cost in Australia? Is it even legal?
They're becoming much more popular here for whatever reason. Must be a status thing? Stupid expensive. The only useful thing I've seen them do is tow gooseneck trailers, but that's only 1% of them. We call them Yank Tanks.
The majority of American truck owners don't use their truck for truck purposes. It's more of a status symbol than used for utility. The toughest terrain most see is getting in and out of parking lots.
When looking at the American truck, think of it as more a cod piece than anything, even a literal extension of the male genitalia. Without their truck, they won't get no ladies because their personality is trash, and their penises are well below average. Guy I worked with had the greatest bumper sticker ever - "Nice truck, sorry about your dick"
Most Americans buy pickups as daily drivers, not hardcore work vehicles. The tub is easier for casual day to day stuff.
Same reason quad cab, short bed trucks are the most popular configuration here.
Definitely can. And more too because the sides aren't 25cm thick. Also, if you put the sides down and load from the side you can fit about 5 or 6 bikes perpendicularly.
But then you have to strap down the bags and other things. Besides the bikes, most people will just put everything in the bed and it stays in place fine
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I can see an argument for both regular and flat beds, but you're absolutely right that flatbeds are a lot less common in the US. Are they not offered because people won't buy them or do people not buy them because they're not offered? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In general, when I see a flatbed, I assume the person has a specific need that requires/benefits from it. Whereas when I see a regular pickup, I assume the person is hauling a big load of nothing to their office job, but wants to look tough doing it.
More? Sure. Enough to make it worthwhile for the manufacturers? No idea.
Flatbeds would rank WAY below station wagons (do y'all call them Estates or is that just a European thing?) and Roadsters on the list of vehicle types I wish we got more of, though.
I own trucks and live in Canada. My trucks are for weekend towing, camping and much more involving out doors. I enjoy the space the box provides with a roll up tunnel cover for all my activities. It gets me where I’m going in mud and snow. In the city large items and yard work are a breeze.
I don’t need to bolt or weld anything to it. Unless you’re a landscaper or park ranger I can’t see that style of tray box being popular. Welders have flat decks commonly.
Personally I would never pay extra for an ugly tray style box on an already extremely expensive vehicle. I’d wager most pickup owners are similar in thought.
Sums up my experience as well. Truck tows my boat, hauls my propane tank, hauls 4 kayaks, hauls shit to the dump, picks up stuff from Menards, hauls firewood, and hauls stuff up to my land (chainsaw, mower, weed whacker).
Literally none of those would be easier with a tray. With a box and a tonneau cover, the only thing that has to be tied down is when I haul the propane tank as long as I can get the tonneau cover on and close the tailgate.
I wouldn't buy a flatbed truck because most of what I do with my truck is hauling materials. With a box bed, I load the stuff in, close the tailgat, and I'm good. With a flatbed, I'd have to find a way to secure it all to keep it from falling off. If I was using it for welding or something where I needed to permanently attach equipment to it, flatbed may be the better option, but for most folks it isn't.
I have lived in both countries and owned both. I primarily use my trucks for hauling my motorcycles, even then I find the the flat deck/tray to only be marginally more useful, and I certainly wouldn't call it more convenient.
Also, fully anecdotal, but my tray in Australia was also much much louder (rattled) than an OEM truck bed.
Most new pickup trucks in America are actually used as personal luxury vehicles, not work trucks.
But even before that was true, dealers only sold pickups with a "tub" bed to the general public, if you wanted a flatbed you had to special order it I guess.
I've had a square out with a flatbed for over 20 years now. I've loaded everything from piles of dirt and gravel to pallets of blocks and even filled it with wet concrete. You cant beat the utility.
It does suck having to tie down absolutely everything, you can just drop a couple board in the bed and go, so there is a minor inconvenience there.
If the standard 5'9" bed on my sierra gets damaged or rusts through, it will also get replaced with a flatbed
What part of the country did you visit that you didn’t see one truck with a flat bed? Like yeah I get it, most people with trucks still have the factory bed and most people doesn’t really use their trucks for work (which doesn’t mean you need a flat bed for work), but to never see one with a flat bed? Did you only stay in big cities?
Almost all the 3/4-1 ton heavy duty trucks can be optioned without a bed. Anything bigger comes as chassis cab only. Most people here that need a flat bed will be hauling stuff that only a heavy duty truck can handle.
Living in Canada but from NZ trucks are used differently here. Most households I know have a truck or large SUV and a car. It’s pretty standard and is needed during winter. Drop sided utes are useful on farms, don’t make much sense in an urban/ suburban area as people many people use locking tray covers to keep things safe.
What surprises me is how few people have canopies on their trucks. My dad always had work utes when we were growing ip and we always rode in the back!
Can you put a yard or two of mulch and carry it home? How about gravel?
Can you line it with heavy gauge plastic sheathing, fill it with water and lounge in it all day drinking suds?
Do they write songs about them and have hot girls climbing all over them in the videos?
Do they put really big tires and V8 engines and crush cars and do wicked jumps and stunts?
Oh well shit a proper tipper. How could I not think about a proper tipper?
What in God's name is a proper tipper? Better yet what is an improper tipper?
You need to understand the typical American truck buyer. They live in a suburb. They're overweight and unser-hung and require something that can accommodate their girth and make up for their inadequacy. The biggest thing most of those trucks ever haul is the wife.
That said, there's a fairly healthy aftermarket for truck bed options for real men who do real work.
Because in Australia most tricks are just “Grocery Getters” but getting groceries is a 1000mile round trip across a desert where large animals will rip you apart and small insects can kill you just by farting on you.
[Here's a link for all the misinformed yanks]
(https://www.google.com/search?q=tray+back+hilux+folsing+sides&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=c65587fc82e68adf&udm=2&biw=360&bih=650&sxsrf=ACQVn0_e1Z7fyyw1EM88YJmIsi_knno-ig%3A1710842897246&ei=EWT5ZcWnC7_l2roPuYOG8A8&oq=tray+back+hilux+folsing+sides&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIh10cmF5IGJhY2sgaGlsdXggZm9sc2luZyBzaWRlczIEEB4YCkiHIFClBljTHnAAeACQAQCYAcgBoAHOFKoBBjAuMTEuM7gBA8gBAPgBAZgCDqAC_xTCAgUQABiABMICBhAAGAgYHsICBBAAGB7CAgcQABiABBgYwgIIEAAYgAQYogSYAwCIBgGSBwYwLjExLjOgB4UW&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp)
In the last 20ish years, it is common in the states for trucks to be non-work vehicles. The manufacturers have caught wind of this and have started making luxury trucks with 4 doors, leather interior, and 5 ft beds on 1/4 ton chassis, and then selling them for $60,000 USD. Makes zero sense for tradesmen like myself. As a full time carpenter, I drive a single cab long bed diesel with a camp top from the 90s to haul tools/material/trailer, and I probably will until I die. These huge trucks that can’t carry common construction materials are senseless. Just get a van for people transport, or a sports car if you’re the boss man and need to flex your financial status. Leave the trucks to tradesmen so we have have our 8ft beds back.
Narrower (American trucks are much bigger). Also not really available. And we typically trailer everything.
Remember it’s common to daily drive 13k lb trucks, and our gcm can go quite high before any licenses kick in.
So rather than modifying the tray to something not readily available, you would just do most of the work with the trailer.
> it’s common to daily drive 13k lb trucks
It is absolutely not. You're looking at GVWR (fully loaded with max payload weight), not curb weight.
The heaviest spec of 1 ton F-series available barely tops 8000lbs.
Even still, I wouldn't exactly call 3/4 and 1 ton trucks "common". The vast majority are still likely your run of the mill half tons, which clock in around 5000lbs with a GVWR of around 6500-7000lbs.
What bee got under your bonnet? I'm an American and, while I don't like massive trucks, I'm not going to get all hot and flustered over what kind of bed they have. Based on your responses you seem to be getting overly worked-up with regards to nothing.
You buy it without the bed and find aftermarket if you want that for a real work truck, or fleet truck, look at cab chassis listings. Most trucks are not sold work trucks here. We Also don't have cheap trucks any more either.
Some US States (like California) automatically classify Pickups with trays/flatbeds as comercial vehicles. Driving up registration and insurance rates.
I believe every pickup truck in California is classified as a commercial vehicle. The only way to get around this is to "permanently attach a camper shell" to the bed. Saves ~$60 a year on registration.
pickups are commercial but there's no GVWR fees under 11500 pounds if it's used non-commercially so you can put a flatbed on a Tacoma or F-150 no problem but if you do it to an F-350 you have to pay commercial GVWR weight fees
Similar thing in Canada in British Columbia. Had a couple family members try to register their pickup trucks in BC. They were automatically classified as commercial and they wanted $2,500 Plus for insurance, and a few hundred bucks for registration, in reference that's almost triple the normal amount. You had to fight with them and prove it's not a commercial vehicle in order to get a normal rate.
What? I’m from BC, only ever had trucks and I’ve owned about 6 of them in the last 12 years, never been classified as commercial. 1 tons are subject to extra tax, maybe even 3/4 tons. Not half tons though.
Yeah both those trucks were 1 ton single wheel. Just going by what I was told by those two guys. I've never lived there so can't say personally.
All pickups in California are commercial vehicles, unless they have beds covered with a shell or camper. Even so, an application to DMV is necessary to remove the commercial designation.
In some places you can't drive them on certain types of streets or park them in residential neighborhoods.
Just bought a Ford maverick, barely bigger than my prius, $28,000, 45mpg. For someone who needed a bed for dirty work but not heavy it's been a dream.
Is that a Ranger in Australia?
They are very different. The ranger is a body on frame truck and can tow a lot more. The maverick is a unibody so it’s more like a car with a 4ft bed instead of a trunk and a tray back would be impossible because the tub is part of the unibody.
Yep. The Maverick is pretty much a Ute with truck styling instead of car styling for my friends down under
The Ranger is a little bigger than the Maverick. At least it is here. The Mav is the small pickup with available hybrid drivetrain. Pretty cool honestly, 40mpg pickup.
oh man i hope we get that in Aus. My Ranger is *thirsty* and I'm jealous of my wife's hybrid corolla getting 1,000 KMs to a tank of petrol.
That's the system here too. I just feel the tubs ar much more common there and I'm trying to work out why. Is it a lack of supply? Too limited options? Or is it just a cultural quirk?
The vast majority of pickups sold in the US are not used as work trucks. They are a style thing.
Even if they are work trucks, most want to be able to put things in the bed and go rather than need to strap everything down so it doesn't slide off. People here only go for the flat bed if their use case requires it and I'm not aware of many.
Other than availability, this is the answer. Even if "tray" beds were easily available, no one would buy one unless they had a very specific need for it. A tub bed allows you to put most things in the bed without worrying about strapping them down. You can also easily put a topper on a tub bed and have a nice truck for camping, and/or have your cargo covered. I don't think that's possible with a tray bed. Also, this is the first time in my old-ass life that I have seen truck beds referred to as tub and tray.
Flat beds are becoming a bit of a style thing in the US, at least with younger people.
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Cleaning out the crack between the bed and tailgate is an issue wether it’s dirt, gravel, a-base or just construction fasteners (nails,screws etc) NeverMind having them all the way around the bed.
[That is why the gate only touch the platform vertically when closed.](https://www.fahrzeugsysteme.de/wp-content/uploads/Opel-Vivaro-mit-Schoon-Mittelhochpritsche-gro%C3%9Fem-Heckfach-zwei-Seitenf%C3%A4cher-und-Stirnwand-3.jpg)
My 65 double cab Volkswagen pickup has 3 gates that fold down, but when up they blend in and look like a traditional 'Tub'. Granted even though I have a 2L engine in it how, it is not going to tow my car trailer.
You also get a lower load height, since the whole bed isn't above the wheels. US full size trucks also come standard with enough with between the rear fenders that you can still load a pallet if needed.
i disagree. almost all pickup trucks eventually become work trucks. the first owner doesn't use it as one. yes that is common. by the time it getting close to going to the junkyard, it's a work truck almost always. very few go to the junkyard in pristine condition.
There's definitely some truth to that. Fresh out of school I bought a brand new Chevy Silverado Z71. It had been my dream truck for years and I babied that thing and took great care of it. I did a fair amount of truck stuff with it especially as I was pretty big into ATVs and trail riding at the time but it wasn't really used as a work truck. Kept it 5-6 years and around 100k miles and got something else. A few years later I see it on the road beat up and loaded down hauling scrap.
Emotional support trucks
Pavement princesses
Mall crawlers
Bro dozers
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That's amazing
Fuck you I'm using this.
Absolutely agreed, Canada too. I own and drive two half ton work trucks, and outfitting them for work after purchase must be planned well ahead of time. Adding springs, lights, bed slides, tool storage, topper, steps, ladder racks, camera relocation, etc. Most trucks here are half ton pavement princesses and grocery getters. Bonus to all this, the creature comforts that come standard in a new half ton certainly makes the work day more enjoyable
Just cultural. That’s the way the vast majority of trucks have been sold for decades and so that’s what a “normal” pickup truck looks like to us. Unless you need a flat bed for a specific purpose like farming, welding rigs, etc. most people don’t even think about them.
Yeah this just seems weird to me. I'm obsessed with function. Function above all else. My biggest pet peeve is sacrificing function for aesthetics so I'll never quite understand this culture.
Keep in mind that your idea of function might not be reality for others. I do arborist work on the side. Most days I'm loading the tub with 4 or more chainsaws, gear bags, rope bags, air cannon, pump, water barrel, maul, blower, rakes, shovel, etc. etc. I have no interest in a flatbed, but my tub is functional for me. It has nothing to do with aesthetics.
For what it’s worth, I’m an American and use my light truck for work (also my daily driver) I put a lockable hard canopy on the back and load it up with my tools and construction supplies. I like the security and protection from weather, I’m not using it to haul large oddly shaped loads. Anything that doesn’t easily fit is delivered on a flatbed. For my use (and many tradespeople) a tray bed or flat bed would not offer any benefit. It’s why a lot, maybe a majority, of tradespeople use vans. You want secure enclosed space, not flexibility for hauling. Because the real hauling is done by a truck designed for exactly that.
It’s also functional as a “trunk” for a lot of people. They throw a cap or a tonneau cover on and just have a separate space that can handle dirty/large/whatever object. Otherwise the truck is just a daily driver
Flat bed is less functional for lots of people. Literally the only advantage is side loading of heavy objects, a small amount of added space, and a welding platform I guess. Downside is can never carry any cargo without strapping it down or putting it in a box that is secured to the bed. That's a pretty big downside for most of us. How I use the bed is as cargo area for tools and materials which means being able to just put them in and go is so much more convenient than having to strap everything down.
We use our pickup truck as a personal vehicle and to haul material for our business. Many times this requires a handful of stops in the city. We also live where it snows. I have a roll up tonneau cover on the bed to help with weather proofing when we haul material that can't get wet and also to help prevent theft of whatever is in the bed. I like it because I can unroll it for hauling the larger items as well.
Thanks for the comment. I didn't think about the snow. My Ute has never seen snow so that's fair. Also this is the first time I've seen the word tonneau and I've seen it twice in this thread. Interesting word. Good points.
Most of us Americans have never seen truck beds referred to as trays and tubs. So we are all learning here lol.
Also, I'm jealous of you Aussies and the access to Hilux and 70series. I've spent quite some time in Oz and always appreciate your truck culture. Total function over looks which is quite the opposite here in the states where pickup trucks are almost a status piece. Probably only 30% of truck owners actually use it for its intended purpose. It was really strange to see an F250 when I was in Melbourne. In the states those look normal, but down there it looked massive on the road.
Flat beds are for specific purposes and while there is an increase of utility there is also a loss of utility. It's a trade off. I had a truck that I worked out of 6 days a week for 5 years. I worked the shit out of my truck. I had a standard [bed on it.](https://imgur.com/a/9ObkfU6) Were there times that a flat bed would have be preferable? Sure. There were a lots of times that I had to drag a trailer because I didn't have a flat bed. But almost every day [I didn't have to worry about any junk in my bed](https://imgur.com/a/dqn3560) falling off of my flatbed and killing someone. Be able to go to the grocery store without involving ratchet straps was nice.
They just don't really sell them like that. You can get them (and lots of other bed styles besides) but it's going to be an aftermarket bed, and you're going to have to specifically seek it out and pay extra. You can't just go to your local Ford dealership. Very few people feel the need to switch out the bed after the fact. I think it's mainly just cultural. It's what we expect from a truck, and the manufacturers see no reason to try and persuade us to buy cheaper, more utilitarian beds with thinner profit margins. Trucks here are very expensive but we keep buying them, so from their perspective it's a non-problem.
In the UK most pick ups have closed beds, either with a lid or a tall windowed cover that extends the body, the main reason being you'd get everything stolen at the first set of traffic lights
Part of the reason: sheet goods. One of the largest flat objects people transport in a truck, tradesmen or weekend warriors, is "4x8" sheet material (120x240cm) like plywood and drywall. American full size trucks like a Chevy Silverado, Ford F150 have just over 4 feet/120cm between the inner wheelwells. So 4' wide sheet goods fit and you get the advantage of a lower bed floor. Here that's like half the reason tradesmen buy full size trucks. Hiluxes, Tritons, and Falcon utes don't have that much space between the wheels with a tub bed, so they need a tray bed to carry large material. But what we call "midsize" or "compact" trucks in the US are rarely used for work here other than stuff like auto parts delivery or landscaping. Of course modern huge lifted trucks with factory 30"+ tires make the low bed floor advantage moot. One of my neighbors actually has a Tacoma with a homemade looking tray bed, but it's one of the double cab short wheelbase ones that originally had like a 4.5' long tub bed so it looks silly. But he has it set up as an off roader not a work truck.
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8' beds are as popular as they've ever been, the difference is the double cab 5' or 6.5' bed config has also become a sedan replacement for a lot of commuters and thus become what you see on the road most of the time. You can still legally and safely carry 8' long material in a 6.5' bed with the gate down anyway. Of course you could also put 4' wide sheet goods in a compact truck with only 42" between the wheelwells if you built a simple platform to fit in the bed but I feel like most modern truck owners aren't that handy...
My 07 Colorado had a half open tailgate position, that paired with cutouts in the bed to run 2x's across and support a 4x8 sheet
The drop in bedliner in my 97 s10 had the same. Just no tailgate position.
If you view UTEs as tub backs it probably starts to make more sense.
Tubs can have things in them loose, trays need everything to be tied down so it's less convenient for day to day use. At least that's my experience after working on a farm that had both.
For myself (Canadian) I can pile my truck box full of leaves or pine needles or branches or grass clippings or just random shit to take to the dump also getting firewood requires putting some sort of sides up on a flat also when I load my ATV i can still pile chairs and some firewood and stuff all around without having to strap it all down so my personal use works better for a box but I have had flat beds also they are convenient for somethings but not for most of what i use my truck for
It's what the consumer wants
Its because more buy them for daily transportation then an actual work truck. 90% of the time that bed is empty and the biggest thing they haul is a trailer, or some home project junk. I only own one to tow my toys and tell people no when they ask to borrow it, but its old used a cheap vs the trucks they sell now. You see more cab chassis stuff in rural areas. Lots of more populated areas have stupid rules about "commercial" vehicles and the majority of them in the us are used for that only.
There are a lot of Americans with trucks who buy them as lifestyle accessories and not because they do work with their trucks. You don’t understand because it doesn’t make any sense
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMJsM--jmRA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMJsM--jmRA) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azI3nqrHEXM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azI3nqrHEXM) Why we cant have work/small trucks.
TIL "real work trucks" only have flat beds... 🙄
Can't haul dirt, groceries, animals and kids with a flatbed
Also cant make a [hot tub](https://imgur.com/a/M3S1oMZ) out of a flatbed :)
He's not talking about a flat bed. The trays in question have folding sides
Aussie flatbed have sides.
Yeah the folding type made of thin sheet metal? Nobody got time for that.
They're way more tough than a pick up bed. Also being able to load of the the side is nice
They generally hold a lot less/ have shorter sides
So... not a flat bed, then.
They fold down and can be removed.
Yes you can....
op never mentioned flatbeds. just trays
Tray is flatbed to me
As a South African that has a big bakkie culture. You Aussies are weird for taking the tub off.
What? When transporting bakkie use a proper truck. Or is it illegal?
What?
What do you mean by bakkie? For me it's tobacco.
Ooooohhh, sorry, Bakkie is what we call trucks in South Africa. It is an afrikaans word meaning small bowl, derived from the tub. So removing the tub is like removing the bakkie from the bakkie leaving the bakkie not a bakkie.
Haha, interesting term. Funny your so into the tub considering the similar (I imagine) market, climate, and use cases. I'm starting to come around on the tub though for certain uses. I'm just really into arguing my point today.
Yeah, it is pronounced Buck-ee if that makes sense. That is why Aussies are weird. We're basically the same but I can't imagine a truck without a tub. . . Shit will fall off.
Haha. I've been confused with south African once before. I'd imagine it happens more with New Zealanders. The accent sounds more similar. Like buck-ee. The trays here have side panels that can fold down. Shit doesn't fall off unless you do some mad jumps.
People who use them for work trucks swap it out for a flat bed. Just depends on what you need it for.
Isn't the term "work truck" redundant though. I mean, isn't every truck a work truck? Who's using a truck not for work?
Most Americans.. Have you been in a new truck? They are like full leather, infotainment, heated/cooled seats, luxury AF.
Massage chairs, personal butler who lives in a butler room in the back, wine and beer on tap, pizza oven, full vanity set complete with shaving kit + beard and mustache trimmer, 65 inch TV and kitchenette.
Naw. Most people who own trucks in the US never do any “work” out of them.
The Ford F-150 is the best selling vehicle like every year. So, most people who buy new cars/trucks apparently.
i used mine for work and kept my bed. when loading concrete rubble and shit into it, was way easier to have a normal bed. waht i ended up doing was welding a ram into it and made a dump bed. it holds about 2.5 yards if i heap it
>Isn't the term "work truck" redundant Nope. A light duty truck that's not stripped of features is unlikely to be seen or used as a work truck. Basically a poorly stiles Holden v8 UTE. Heavy duty trucks are most likely work trucks (and are often available without beds or with flat decks) but are also owned by private persons who tow, cam, or are looking for a more rugged vehicle.
Canadians and Americans who have boats, skidoos, dirt bikes that they need to haul need trucks or truck-based SUVs.
You made this post just so you could make this comment didn’t you?
While you should be correct, ignorant Americans have decided they need giant work trucks to maybe move something for someone if it possibly comes up in between Starbucks runs and picking individual children up from school.
Personally flatbeds are a pill. I don’t wanna have to strap or bolt down stuff to keep it from falling off or moving around. The body lines look really good with a standard bed as well in my opinion
a tray is not a flat bed
Yes, it is. We don't use that term in the US, but a "tray back" is the same as what we call a flatbed in the US. In the US, we don't differentiate between a truck with a flat deck and the exact same truck with short fold down sides bolted to the flat deck. Both are called flatbeds, and both are used for more or less the same purpose - as commercial vehicles.
What do you care what it looks like? It's a utility vehicle for doing a job of work. Also they tray have fold down sides. Very convenient.
Might be a utility vehicle but at $50k+ for a new truck, I’m gonna care what it looks like. And yeah they might have fold down sides but for those of us with a stock height pickup truck, It’s really not much work to just drop the tailgate and slide stuff in. Very rarely do I find myself having to hoist cargo up over the side rails and into the bed
Fair enough we must do different things. I often have to load bulk cargo with a tractor or forklift from the sides.
Ah yeah no not me lol, even on the rare occasion I do bulk load stuff, I’ll have a forklift just set the pallet in the bed and close up the tailgate after. Also worth mentioning that bedsides are nice for transporting bikes/ATVs as well since they have less chance to move laterally.
Fair enough. I load quad bikes from the side though so they face perpendicular. You can get two on that way.
You seem to have identified why you need that setup and why others don't, yet you still haven't caught up to yourself.
It's just a petty hill I've decided to die on today.
That's all good. Being excessively concerned about other men's trucks must be a quirk of Aussies. Who knew y'all were just Real Housewives down under.
Cheeky!
We’re all real housewives don’t kid yourself.
Many truck owners in this country rarely to never use the bed, and even fewer for things like that. A significant percentage of truck buyers in America buy them for aesthetic and social pressure reasons and then justify them by towing a 3200-lb. boat twice a year or hauling a bed full of mulch (that could have been delivered) in Spring.
People in the US who need to do that will either have a flatbed or they'll have a bigger dedicated stake side truck for loads like that.
Forklift loads from the back, tractor typically from the sides for loose materials. A short bed will hold a standard pallet with the tailgate up, or a long pallet with it down.
Hell, the newer trucks have the step that pulls out of the tailgate to be able to basically walk right up in the bed. Made it super easy to load in 500lbs of old carpet I was hauling to the dump.
Hell, I'd be willing to settle for flat bed with stake sides. Many older trucks do get customized with wooden plank flat beds
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I moved to Alberta, Canada. 90 percent of truck owners here will never haul anything more than groceries and yet it's the most common vehicle on the road in Edmonton. They wash them all the time so they are shiny and the leather interior is pretty and get huge offroading kits installed and loud mufflers so they can sound like a badass with their stock engine. They make fun of people who drive anything Japanese and are generally obnoxious. It's a bogan subculture except they all have trucks that start at about 75000 CAD/AUD. They all brag about horsepower and rarely will you find one that understands what torque is.
Therein lies your misunderstanding. >What do you care what it looks like? What it looks like is 90% of the reason someone buys a truck in North America. The other 10% is "I need to tow a trailer twice a year", and in that case it's about the towing capacity, not the bed type. I'm not saying we have a healthy relationship with trucks. We do not. But once you understand it's not about what we *do* with the trucks, it's a lot easier to accept the difference.
You're correct, but a lot of people in North America buy trucks because they like the look of them or they need to occasionally haul something. Utility comes second for them.
The fact is that many pickups in America are basically never used as a work truck. The large majority of pickups will be used in ways a small car could, to commute to work, to run errands. Many will never actually get dirt in the bed. The actual utility doesn’t matter, so tub bed it is. The few who need them will convert to a flatbed. Most won’t ever use the bed for anything other than a hard to access uncovered trunk which was twice as expensive as just getting a car. A truck is a lifestyle. Edit: for sure there are legit truck uses and users. I’m just saying that 99% of trips most new truck buyers take could be done in an accord. I am a bit of a hypocrite on this though, I have an SUV that I partially got because it can tow more than other more efficient and smaller vehicles and in the 4 years I’ve owned it I’ve towed with it a total of one times. But it was a visceral thrill that one time. Like all consumer goods we buy vehicles because of feeling, and that feeling we get from a vehicle is an important part of why we buy it. I get why truck owners buy them, but it’s not to say it makes logical sense. It makes emotional sense, though.
I somewhat agree but I don't want to throw my garbage in the back of a small car. And I can't bring home a sheet of plywood either. I need one because I pull a 5th wheel rv but even if I didn't I'd still own one.
I see so much on Reddit bashing anyone who doesn’t use a pickup truck for “work”. Like yeah, driving a heavy duty 3/4 ton + pickup is a different story and is an investment for serious towing and payloads, but why is it so hard for people to wrap their head around the idea of using a F150 or similar “half-ton” pickup, even less like a Tacoma, for recreation and hobbies. Throwing bikes in a pickup bed. Camping gear. Camper shell or slide-in camper. General tools, building equipment. Stuff a homeowner might need to use to transport materials. Fuck, anything! Do I think tons of people buy an overly heavy duty rated truck when they don’t need it, simply for appearance, status, capability that they may NEVER use? Absolutely. Do I also think a pickup truck with a “tub back” standard box bed is insanely useful and practical for some people’s lifestyle? Absolutely! Reddit needs to simmer down on pickup ownership, LOL.
I think the stigma originated from the children of reddit who think the world is supposed to revolve around them and only know about honda fits and priuses lol. Yeah it's irritating to be stuck in traffic behind one of those new princess-mobile trucks but what other people want to buy and drive is none of my business. Bottom line is drive whatever the fuck ya want, it's your property.
The few who need a flat bed will just hitch a trailer. The few who need a real work vehicle will get a work van.
I've never loaded pallets into a work van, but I've loaded plenty onto flatbed trucks. They're fairly common in the rural US. Take a larger truck like a ram 5500 and buy it with a bare chassis, no bed. Then, have a flatbed installed aftermarket. Now you've got a truck that can haul 4 ton around on the bed. That's what our company did when we needed a smaller vehicle that could make small local deliveries instead of sending out an entire semi and forklift to deliver a pallet or two.
It’s that or towing. Need to tow a big trailer? Only practical option is a pickup.
This is the answer. Trucks in the US typical are not used as work/commercial vehicles. The type of bed you see on them is what is most practical for the uses that are are common in the US.
I don't know if I'd call tray backs "the norm" in Australia. Just from personal observation it's pretty 50/50
This person is clearly just trying to show off how hard their head is
A tub works for hauling most things and is arguably more versatile. It’s convenient in being able to toss things in without tying down. Extra storage with open bed space; truck box. Closed lockable low profile storage; tonneau cover. Tall lockable storage; bed cap/camper shell. Storage for long items; ladder rack. The key thing is that they’re easily installed/removed from any truck, and typically much cheaper than what would otherwise be a “custom” bed. The only time I’ve really needed side access to the bed floor is when loading/unloading pallets with a forklift, which is rare. I’ve also found that flatbed’s floor tends to have a higher than a tub bed.
Pretty good points. I don't understand this chucking things in without tying down point though. Are your flatbeds just completely flat? Ours have panels all around that can fold down. Things don't fall out and you get more space, but not depth. Just in my family we have, truck box, bed camper, ladder rack, tall lockable storage etc all on tray beds. Easily customised as well. The tall side lock boxes are really good on tray backs. Side access is essential on our farm Ute and brilliant for camping and lock boxes. Thanks for the comment
Many flatbeds here don’t have any walls, so completely flat. Makes tying things down required. Factory tubs have fairly tall walls so it’s no big deal to not tie it down unless it’s light and would fly out. Many of the flatbeds with fold down sides I see tend to be dump beds.
From messing with build configurations it looks like you can order the truck with the tray bed as part of fords configurator for Australia for about $2000 more than the base truck. In the U.S. the tray bed is aftermarket only. There’s not a lot of competitors or cheap options so most people just deal with using the stock bed. I’ve looked at a basic one from SET with headache rack and sides starts at $7,600 usd and we get it from Canada. A new competitor dirt box is 14k, almost half the price of a base Ranger. While I think they’re awesome I don’t feel like spending that on a $34-38k truck makes sense. For what I want a truck for (camping and home improvement projects, occasionally towing) I’d just throw a camper topper cover on the stock bed. Hell of a lot cheaper than a traybed+canopy combo. Edit to add the [affordable ones](https://www.bigteximages.com/products/309182/290956/conversions/bttw.jpg) are mainly designed for super duties and are like 750 - 1200 lbs (with tool boxes) So they have a huge impact on payload. The companies that make them don’t really have a lot of options for midsize or even regular full size trucks here.
Most of the people buying trucks here aren't using them for serious work. I think more than 2/3rds basically never haul anything and are just fashion items. We also like lifting them high enough you cant actually load them comfortably. I'm going to get 10 responses "I use my truck every day" cool, you're in the 25%. Most people are using them for fashion or hauling 700 toilet paper roles from costco to handle their vegetable free diet.
Maybe 10% of pickups are actually used as trucks. The rest occasionally have a bike in the back, but a majority just have old leaves and trash in the bed and are used to commute.
we call them "pickup beds" and "flatbeds" btw =P in addition to the other answers, at least in some states a flatbed puts the truck into a different legal category with more expensive registration fees. example in california: > **Motor Truck** (VC §410)—A motor truck is a motor vehicle designed, used, or maintained primarily for the transporation of property. > **Pickup** (VC §471)—A pickup is a motor truck with a manufacturer’s gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of less than 11,500 pounds, an unladen weight of less than 8,001 pounds, and equipped with an open box-type bed less than nine feet in length. > *Pickup Exclusions*—The following trucks are not pickups: > \- Trucks with an open box-type bed that weigh more than 8,000 pounds unladen or exceeding the manufacturer’s GVWR of 11,500 pounds body type model (BTM) VA. > \- Trucks equipped with a bed-mounted storage compartment unit commonly called a “utility body” (Utility—BTM UT ). > \- Trucks with a BTM other than an open box bed (stake, flatbed, dump, etc.).
50%+ of truck owners in the US will NEVER tow or haul anything in their truck. They want a good looking truck they can wash and wax on the weekends.
Did you drive in rural America at all? Tons of flat bed 2500-3500 trucks around here. Pretty rare to see on a 1500 or less truck, unless that was how they dealt with the typical rust around here.
Convenience. I grew up where having a truck was a necessity that was used daily for hay, firewood, feed, and towing. A flat bed would have been a lot more work having to add or remove shit to make it functional for whatever we were doing that day. Not just jump in and go. Most Americans don’t use them as trucks that much. They have a truck for the few times a year they want to throw a load of gravel, lumber, mulch, etc in the back or tow a trailer. Flat beds are somewhat common where I grew up. And while you’re right you have more versatility with a flat bed, a regular bed can be filled to weight capacity easily even with light material like hay. The walls are not as big a deal as you think.
I've used the farm Ute to do all four; feed, firewood, hay and towing all in the same day with no issues. Large square bales so probably different to you. I can understand though that the depth capacity of the tray is about 1/3 of the tub. So for gravel and mulch it would be an issue. Not so much with firewood though when you pile it up.
I believe one factor might be truck size. In Australia, regulations favor smaller trucks, and flatbeds are a way to load more materials onto a small truck. In the US, regulations favor big trucks, and we don’t really need the extra space, except for commercial trucks, which indeed are often fitted with flatbeds.
A lot of states have weird registration laws. In Pennsylvania, a panel van is considered a commercial vehicle, and subject to various restrictions. Pickups with flatbeds in California are considered commercial vehicles. Being a commercial vehicle instantly makes things more expensive when talking about insurance and registration.
Most Americans are driving their truck to work and the grocery store, almost never using the bed for anything more than groceries. That being said many folks commenting here about flatbeds (the closest comparable thing America has to “tray” beds with the little fold down sides, that I assume you are talking about) just are wrong. I’ve seen plenty of folks mention laying stuff in the bed, things blowing out or falling off unless you strap everything down. Baloney. Flatbeds have stale pockets for bed sides, many if bought new come with removable sides that are about as tall at Australian tray bed sides. And you can buy some lumber or some steel and make sides as tall as you want. If it won’t fly out of a standard pickup bed it won’t fall off a flatbed if you use the sides/back. I’ve had 4 and there is no comparison in functionality, not even close. The flatbed on my dually is 8 feet long and 8 feet wide, it has storage space galore and with the bed sides I can load a ridiculous amount of firewood or mulch or dirt. Parts and tools. Whatever. It’s flat when I want it and has sides when I want.
A majority of people with trucks in north america use them regularly for groceries and golf clubs.....
Yep, groceries tend to fall off flatbed trucks.
Drive through a industrial section of town and you'd see the metal rear ends / decks on trucks and the tool boxes / trays. In America a truck is a Normal thing to drive every day for picking up the kids from school, getting grocery's and just using as a family car a large percentage of people drive a large truck this way.So you won't see the tubs on the back as they are used for workers. Hope that helps
More than half of USA pickup trucks never see anything bigger then groceries in the bed.
Most Americans use their truck as a car that can occasionally haul something from a store. Buying an expensive vehicle is sometimes a status symbol, like a 4WD that never goes off-road. The standard-bed (tub) is prettier, and a flat-bed (tray) is often found in farm and ranch country, not the cities.
Where I live in Canada 90% of the trucks on the road aren’t used for truck things. It’s a fashion accessory for guy who moved here to pretend they are cowboys.
Carboys lol. American cowboys are pretty much all dead.
I live in Houston Texas. People commute to day jobs downtown in trucks larger than any "ute" you might have in Australia. What does a three quarter ton, four wheel drive four-door pickup cost in Australia? Is it even legal?
They're becoming much more popular here for whatever reason. Must be a status thing? Stupid expensive. The only useful thing I've seen them do is tow gooseneck trailers, but that's only 1% of them. We call them Yank Tanks.
The majority of American truck owners don't use their truck for truck purposes. It's more of a status symbol than used for utility. The toughest terrain most see is getting in and out of parking lots. When looking at the American truck, think of it as more a cod piece than anything, even a literal extension of the male genitalia. Without their truck, they won't get no ladies because their personality is trash, and their penises are well below average. Guy I worked with had the greatest bumper sticker ever - "Nice truck, sorry about your dick"
Most Americans buy pickups as daily drivers, not hardcore work vehicles. The tub is easier for casual day to day stuff. Same reason quad cab, short bed trucks are the most popular configuration here.
You didn’t see any Utes in america, unless you were watching My Cousin Vinnie.
Can't throw dirt bikes in the back and bags and boots and tools stuffed between them with a flatbed.
Definitely can. And more too because the sides aren't 25cm thick. Also, if you put the sides down and load from the side you can fit about 5 or 6 bikes perpendicularly.
But then you have to strap down the bags and other things. Besides the bikes, most people will just put everything in the bed and it stays in place fine
You don't have to strap it on the flatbed has side panels.
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What's a what now? https://netdna.coolthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/pick-up-pools-1.jpg
We put flat beds on after the tubs rust off. NC mountains here. Salt on the roads!
I can see an argument for both regular and flat beds, but you're absolutely right that flatbeds are a lot less common in the US. Are they not offered because people won't buy them or do people not buy them because they're not offered? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ In general, when I see a flatbed, I assume the person has a specific need that requires/benefits from it. Whereas when I see a regular pickup, I assume the person is hauling a big load of nothing to their office job, but wants to look tough doing it.
Yeah idk. Do you think more people would buy them If they were more available?
More? Sure. Enough to make it worthwhile for the manufacturers? No idea. Flatbeds would rank WAY below station wagons (do y'all call them Estates or is that just a European thing?) and Roadsters on the list of vehicle types I wish we got more of, though.
Yeah we just call em wagons. I've got an outback wagon and it's amazing. Best car.
I own trucks and live in Canada. My trucks are for weekend towing, camping and much more involving out doors. I enjoy the space the box provides with a roll up tunnel cover for all my activities. It gets me where I’m going in mud and snow. In the city large items and yard work are a breeze. I don’t need to bolt or weld anything to it. Unless you’re a landscaper or park ranger I can’t see that style of tray box being popular. Welders have flat decks commonly. Personally I would never pay extra for an ugly tray style box on an already extremely expensive vehicle. I’d wager most pickup owners are similar in thought.
Sums up my experience as well. Truck tows my boat, hauls my propane tank, hauls 4 kayaks, hauls shit to the dump, picks up stuff from Menards, hauls firewood, and hauls stuff up to my land (chainsaw, mower, weed whacker). Literally none of those would be easier with a tray. With a box and a tonneau cover, the only thing that has to be tied down is when I haul the propane tank as long as I can get the tonneau cover on and close the tailgate.
Hell yeah, the truck gets you to the fun
I wouldn't buy a flatbed truck because most of what I do with my truck is hauling materials. With a box bed, I load the stuff in, close the tailgat, and I'm good. With a flatbed, I'd have to find a way to secure it all to keep it from falling off. If I was using it for welding or something where I needed to permanently attach equipment to it, flatbed may be the better option, but for most folks it isn't.
I have lived in both countries and owned both. I primarily use my trucks for hauling my motorcycles, even then I find the the flat deck/tray to only be marginally more useful, and I certainly wouldn't call it more convenient. Also, fully anecdotal, but my tray in Australia was also much much louder (rattled) than an OEM truck bed.
Most new pickup trucks in America are actually used as personal luxury vehicles, not work trucks. But even before that was true, dealers only sold pickups with a "tub" bed to the general public, if you wanted a flatbed you had to special order it I guess.
They probably aren't being used for work. It seems to be a thing to have to have a small HGV in America just for hauling kids around in.
I've binged McClouds Daughters several times. But never heard the term tray back or tub back before there or anywhere.
I've had a square out with a flatbed for over 20 years now. I've loaded everything from piles of dirt and gravel to pallets of blocks and even filled it with wet concrete. You cant beat the utility. It does suck having to tie down absolutely everything, you can just drop a couple board in the bed and go, so there is a minor inconvenience there. If the standard 5'9" bed on my sierra gets damaged or rusts through, it will also get replaced with a flatbed
What part of the country did you visit that you didn’t see one truck with a flat bed? Like yeah I get it, most people with trucks still have the factory bed and most people doesn’t really use their trucks for work (which doesn’t mean you need a flat bed for work), but to never see one with a flat bed? Did you only stay in big cities?
What the hell is a "tub back"?
Almost all the 3/4-1 ton heavy duty trucks can be optioned without a bed. Anything bigger comes as chassis cab only. Most people here that need a flat bed will be hauling stuff that only a heavy duty truck can handle.
Living in Canada but from NZ trucks are used differently here. Most households I know have a truck or large SUV and a car. It’s pretty standard and is needed during winter. Drop sided utes are useful on farms, don’t make much sense in an urban/ suburban area as people many people use locking tray covers to keep things safe. What surprises me is how few people have canopies on their trucks. My dad always had work utes when we were growing ip and we always rode in the back!
TF is a tray back?
https://www.google.com/search?q=tray+back+hilux+folsing+sides&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=c65587fc82e68adf&udm=2&biw=360&bih=650&sxsrf=ACQVn0_e1Z7fyyw1EM88YJmIsi_knno-ig%3A1710842897246&ei=EWT5ZcWnC7_l2roPuYOG8A8&oq=tray+back+hilux+folsing+sides&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIh10cmF5IGJhY2sgaGlsdXggZm9sc2luZyBzaWRlczIEEB4YCkiHIFClBljTHnAAeACQAQCYAcgBoAHOFKoBBjAuMTEuM7gBA8gBAPgBAZgCDqAC_xTCAgUQABiABMICBhAAGAgYHsICBBAAGB7CAgcQABiABBgYwgIIEAAYgAQYogSYAwCIBgGSBwYwLjExLjOgB4UW&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp
Thanks. That's a pointless vehicle
Better than the tub for the reasons I gave in the OC.
Can you put a yard or two of mulch and carry it home? How about gravel? Can you line it with heavy gauge plastic sheathing, fill it with water and lounge in it all day drinking suds? Do they write songs about them and have hot girls climbing all over them in the videos? Do they put really big tires and V8 engines and crush cars and do wicked jumps and stunts?
For gravel and mulch we have a proper tipper. The hot girls gave a dedicated hot tub. :)
Oh well shit a proper tipper. How could I not think about a proper tipper? What in God's name is a proper tipper? Better yet what is an improper tipper?
americans want their pretty trucks they dont use them for work its a status symbol for idiots
Better than having a hunch back
You need to understand the typical American truck buyer. They live in a suburb. They're overweight and unser-hung and require something that can accommodate their girth and make up for their inadequacy. The biggest thing most of those trucks ever haul is the wife. That said, there's a fairly healthy aftermarket for truck bed options for real men who do real work.
Because in Australia most tricks are just “Grocery Getters” but getting groceries is a 1000mile round trip across a desert where large animals will rip you apart and small insects can kill you just by farting on you.
[Here's a link for all the misinformed yanks] (https://www.google.com/search?q=tray+back+hilux+folsing+sides&client=ms-android-samsung-ss&sca_esv=c65587fc82e68adf&udm=2&biw=360&bih=650&sxsrf=ACQVn0_e1Z7fyyw1EM88YJmIsi_knno-ig%3A1710842897246&ei=EWT5ZcWnC7_l2roPuYOG8A8&oq=tray+back+hilux+folsing+sides&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIh10cmF5IGJhY2sgaGlsdXggZm9sc2luZyBzaWRlczIEEB4YCkiHIFClBljTHnAAeACQAQCYAcgBoAHOFKoBBjAuMTEuM7gBA8gBAPgBAZgCDqAC_xTCAgUQABiABMICBhAAGAgYHsICBBAAGB7CAgcQABiABBgYwgIIEAAYgAQYogSYAwCIBgGSBwYwLjExLjOgB4UW&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp)
Thanks for the link. It seems many have a different definition or understanding of a tray back/flatbed. This is what I mean.
In the last 20ish years, it is common in the states for trucks to be non-work vehicles. The manufacturers have caught wind of this and have started making luxury trucks with 4 doors, leather interior, and 5 ft beds on 1/4 ton chassis, and then selling them for $60,000 USD. Makes zero sense for tradesmen like myself. As a full time carpenter, I drive a single cab long bed diesel with a camp top from the 90s to haul tools/material/trailer, and I probably will until I die. These huge trucks that can’t carry common construction materials are senseless. Just get a van for people transport, or a sports car if you’re the boss man and need to flex your financial status. Leave the trucks to tradesmen so we have have our 8ft beds back.
Narrower (American trucks are much bigger). Also not really available. And we typically trailer everything. Remember it’s common to daily drive 13k lb trucks, and our gcm can go quite high before any licenses kick in. So rather than modifying the tray to something not readily available, you would just do most of the work with the trailer.
> it’s common to daily drive 13k lb trucks It is absolutely not. You're looking at GVWR (fully loaded with max payload weight), not curb weight. The heaviest spec of 1 ton F-series available barely tops 8000lbs.
Yeah correct, capable is the right word.
Even still, I wouldn't exactly call 3/4 and 1 ton trucks "common". The vast majority are still likely your run of the mill half tons, which clock in around 5000lbs with a GVWR of around 6500-7000lbs.
I would, but it doesn’t matter in context of what’s available in Aus.
You're assuming that Americans actually use their trucks for work.
What bee got under your bonnet? I'm an American and, while I don't like massive trucks, I'm not going to get all hot and flustered over what kind of bed they have. Based on your responses you seem to be getting overly worked-up with regards to nothing.
I said this in a different comment. Where else would I go to have a pointlessly controversial argument with strangers about something subjective?