Is this communism? Is that what I’m doing here? I mean it sounds sort of like communism, advocating for collective ownership of a resource, but I implore all of you who may find this concept distasteful to just hear me out. The concept is really simple: Every neighborhood – made up of, say, 8-12 residences […]
You could have 1 truck for 50 houses and it would sit unused most of the time. Most people need their trucks to move and maybe a few times a year to haul stuff from home depot.
My local Uhaul does a pretty brisk business in a neighborhood of 150 houses, and they've got way more than three trucks.
There's definitely peaks and troughs. Everyone likes having a truck when its time to pick up a Christmas Tree or re-sod the yard. So you run into a problem of people having one week where nobody needs the truck and one week where everyone needs it.
But also, having a "community truck" opens the opportunity for other community projects. Would be nice if the truck came paired with a few professional construction workers who could direct a community effort to update the local playground or fill potholes or do more advanced home repairs (roofing / re-siding, etc). Then we start talking more broadly about a Citizen Conservation Corps or similar public works department that exists to create/upgrade/maintain amenities across town without getting price-gouged by for-profit contractors for the privilege.
Also gotta say this ignores estate sales which allow people to get urniture and household items for 1/10th or less o the price that would otherwise end up in a landill. i go to estate sales like once a month and alot more people could use that option i they had access to more storage in their car.