The U-Haul Loading Deck Dispute

It's the Judge John Hodman podcast. I am Bailiff Jesse Thorne. withith me is Judge John Hodman. If you remember, check your bonus feed now. There is a fresh members only mailbag. That's right of brand new meembo mailbag waiting for you. And if you're not a member D don't know what I'm talking about, here's a little taste of what you can expect In this month's Mailbag episode This letter's from Karen I have something of a philosophical dispute with a friend of mine who we will call Carl. All right Karen says during a long car trip last fall, I kept seeing U Hul vans with marketing on the bat that said because their loading decks were lower, moving was one third less work, exclamation point. I understand the basis of this claim, but I suggested that maybe there was an emotional aspect to moving that was being overlooked Carl looked at me like I had two heads and said It'sust one third's easier. It's science You know about science, right? Jessse You need to you halls science We went back and forth for a while before he got so frustrated that he stopped talking to me for two hours Wow This is another road trip dispute. This they're in a car though, not on a tandem bike. I'd really love to hear the J squads take on this. Does my point make any sense? if I'm wrong prepared to bake apology cookies. For us, thank you Yeah I'll take No need to apologize, just send cookies. Give me the cookies Jennifous, sounds like you just found a new catchphrase. Say that again, Jennifer Say it again Give me to cookies. Give me Eagle eared listeners can hear that the dog in the garden downstairs also enjoys it very much and is barking its pleasure to you Give me the cookies All right, should Karen give Carl and Jennifer the cookies Cood quest me? Yes No I think that I Karen wrote, so obviously so that you know, these U hauls, they have lower loading decks Karen suggested that maybe there was an emotional aspect that was being overlooked. What do you think that means? I confess I'm a little confused by that. It means, you know, like maybe whoever's moving is maybe feeling a little sluggish that day or it's harder for them to lift. Like there's other parts of moving that could make moving challenging that's not boil down to how high the loading deck is. Well, the emotional, you know, sadness and excitement of a major life transition of closing closing one chapter and opening another chapter, I see that point. Yeah. she's seeing a more holistic approach to moving versus Science It sounds like Karen. is simply suggesting that the work of moving is much more than simply lifting boxes into a U haul and out of a U ha exactly I have to say Even if you leave aside the emotional work of moving, there's no way you're saving one third of the work of moving by altering the height of the U haul. That is not there's no way that you could You could have a hole that you just throw the boxes into and they come out wherever you moved and that would not save you a third of the work of moving The work of moving is carrying the boxes filling and emptying the boxes. It is not pututting the boxes in the truck once you get to the truck. I'm not saying that's no work, but that's like ten percent of the work There's no way you could get to a third of the work saved by just altering the height. So you're saying that even if we set aside the emotional compomonent completely, which Carl obviously wants to do because he's a creature of pure logic and hates emotion lowering the loading deck of the of the U Hul van. it does make it someomewhat easier, right? Be You're running that dolly or whatever up up a less inclined ramp, that is somewhat less work, but not Not even a third of the physical work is is eased. by that ramp because there's still hauling stuff up and down stairs in the house Like at best like, would you say a sixteenth Yeah, thirty second of the work is less. Yeah at best. I'm gonna to say I'm going to put it at five percent at best. Maybe they just, I mean I'm sure that they would argue they're saying It's one third less work to get the boxes into the truck. One third less box getting into truck W work We hope you enjoyed that. If you want to hear the whole thing, memberships at maximum Fund start at only five dollars a month and there is a new episode of the memo mail backag every single month Join us at maximumfund dot org slash join JJ H O so you don't miss out