That’s OK.you are allowed to disagree, it was an opinion , not a fact.
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Respectfully, I disagree. For decades I needed to haul 8ft. + materials, heavy tools, motorcycles, Sea-Doos, assorted boats, snowmobiles, a dune buggy, household items, etcetera.
And for decades, I used trailers for that. In the north I still own the trailers. In their state of residence I was able to purchase “lifetime trailer license plates (tags)” for 75 bucks per trailer.
My Dodge Caravan, which I still own and is a “daily driver” here in the south where it resides, is going strong after 2-1/2 decades. It is nice having the option to drive a comfortable passenger vehicle/grocery getter/bicycle hauler or a capable heavy/large stuff hauler.
I have owned one pick-up truck and don’t miss it for a second. I will, however, purchase another minivan if/when it becomes necessary some decade.
CSA
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My little pickup has a 7-foot bed. I can fit a few 8-foot pieces in cross-wise, plywood and drywall by propping it up against the closed door (make sure it latches!) I don’t do that for a living, just home repairs. If I did it for work I’d get an 8-foot bed.
If you are constantly hauling 8 ft lengths of lumber and you want your tail gate closed, then full sized truck w/ 8’ bed (e.g. a F-150 8’ bed is 97+ inches long) is your only choice.
If you are occasionally hauling the same lumber, and you don’t mind driving with your tailgate down or having the lumber stick out on top of the tailgate, the smaller beds would work just fine, assuming that you secure your lumber, which is always recommended. (e.g. the 5.5 styleside F-150 bed w/ tailgate down is slightly under 8’.)
So really it boils down to what you need vs what you want, and whether or not you need to have the tailgate closed when your hauling lumber, and/or how much cubic feet you need in your truck bed with the tailgate closed to haul the rest of the stuff you carry. Do the math, and that is your answer.
Two problems with lumber hauling and smaller trucks. First, lumber is heavy. Some small trucks have payload ratings as low as 800 pounds, and that includes vehicle occupants and anything else in the cab. If someone’s with you on your trip to the lumberyard, you can easily go over capacity with less than 200 board feet of oak.
The other problem is that as others have said, 8 foot beds on small trucks are few and far between. You can get tailgate extenders or, and I find this the better solution, get or build an over-cab lumber rack. I once hauled 16 foot boards in an 80’s minitruck - that wouldn’t have worked with just a tailgate extender. You can remove the lumber rack when you need unrestricted bed access - some of them clamp in and others bolt to a receiver that you permanently install on the truck.
The other advantage of the rack is that you can put the wood more toward the center of the vehicle rather than having a bunch of heavy wood hanging off the back and taking weight off the front wheels.