Dreaming of bakfiets... (i.e. hauling things by bike!)

Bakfiets?! Wait, it's a good thing. It is what Dutch cargo bikes (usually front-loading) are called. They're generically called "freight bicycles" or "cargo bicycles" and have capacious seating/transport rigs. A great list with photos can be found here. There are similar bikes made in Denmark by Christiania. (There are also others: Nihola, Sorte Jernhest [Black Iron Horse], Bellabike, Triobike, Esimex, Larry vs. Harry, Long John, Short John and Kangaroo Bike). Here's the Cargo Cycling website if you want to go deep.

Sadly, all these bikes/trikes are quite expensive (although if you consider the cost of cars and gasoline...) and very hard to get in the USA. Though there are importers (see this list).

There is at least one US manufacturer: Human Powered Machines (photo below).

And a Boston-based group that devoted  to exclusively human-powered (bicycle-driven) transport: Metro Pedal Power. And back in Copenhagen, IKEA has created a program for customers to use cargo bikes for free to bring home their purchases. Read here. I have big dreams for more human-powered non-polluting locomotion!

World Bike is one non-profit that designs and distributes low-cost bicycles for programs that increase economic opportunity, improve health outcomes and boost enrollment and gender equity in secondary school among the rural poor. The bikes are configured to be not only affordable, but also maintained and repaired locally.

Hauling things on bikes is actually quite normal in many countries and communities (and can be very safe). Here's a furniture seller in China and a school bus bicycle in India.

Or you can make our own...

Other links: 
Family Bicycles
Bakfiets.nl
Velorbis
Cargo bike restoration (in Dutch)