Nearly every vehicle on the market for private consumers is an automatic rather than a manual or standard drive vehicle.
But what about trucks, specifically UPS trucks- are they manual or automatic, and what do you need to know before becoming a UPS driver? If you’d like to find out, keep reading!
Are UPS Trucks Manual In [currentyear]?
Most UPS fleets are entirely automatic, but some still have manual trucks in [currentyear]. Whether a vehicle is automatic or manual depends on the type of truck you’re driving- freight/semi-trucks are manual, vans are automatic, and box trucks can be manual or automatic depending on the facility. You must know how to drive a manual to be a driver.
If you’re interested in becoming a driver for UPS or just want to know more about how your neighborhood shipping company operates, be sure to check out the rest of the article!
Are All UPS Trucks Manual?
Because of the rate at which we are evolving technologically, more and more UPS trucks are shifting from manual to automatic, although not all UPS trucks are automatic yet.
Whether a UPS truck is manual or not depends on the type of truck.
Freight and semi-trucks are the biggest types of trucks UPS employees, and are almost entirely manual vehicles with rare exceptions.
Box trucks are the type of trucks that UPS typically uses for delivering packages, so these are the trucks most people are familiar with.
Box trucks are both automatic and manual, although how many automatic box trucks are in any given UPS fleet depends largely on the facility you work at.
UPS also employees vans, which are the smallest trucks UPS uses and are almost entirely automatic vehicles.
Are UPS Semi Trucks and Box Trucks Manual?
Semi-trucks and freight trucks are used by UPS to transport large numbers of packages for long distances, especially for shipping services such as UPS Ground.
Box trucks are the more familiar trucks that you see in your neighborhood.
These trucks make residential and commercial deliveries, and are only responsible for transporting packages from the destination facility to their destination.
All semi-trucks and freight trucks used by UPS are manual transmission vehicles, whereas box trucks can be manual or automatic depending on the facility.
All UPS facilities have at least some automatic box trucks.
However, since there are still a few manual transmission box trucks, it’s required for you to have at least some experience driving a manual transmission vehicle.
Do You Have to Know How to Drive a Manual to Work at UPS?
Any job that requires you to operate any piece of heavy machinery typically comes with stricter requirements, and being a driver with UPS is no different.
All drivers are required to have/do the following:
- Class D license
- Pass a standard 5-panel urine drug screening
- Pass a Department of Transportation physical examination
However, whether you need to know how to drive manual depends on what you’ll be driving.
If you’re applying for a driver position that requires you to drive a freight truck, semi-truck, or box truck, you will need to know how to drive a manual vehicle before landing a job with UPS.
This is because both freight trucks and semi-trucks are 100% manual.
However, although box trucks can be manual or automatic, there’s no guarantee that you will only be driving automatic trucks.
If you’re applying for a UPS position that requires you to drive a van, then it’s not required for you to know how to drive a manual before being accepted for employment.
There’s a lot more than just knowing how to drive a manual vehicle that goes into being a driver for UPS.
UPS drivers go through a rigorous boot camp involving managing icy, slippery surfaces, how to properly get on and off the truck hundreds of times a day, and more.
If you want to learn more about what goes into becoming a driver for UPS, and get a first-person perspective on the training and skills required, you can check out this awesome article.
Will UPS Train You to Drive Manual Trucks?
While UPS provides limited training, if you’re looking to land a UPS job as a driver, more than likely you will need to know how to drive a manual vehicle before being hired.
However, this is not always the case, and many current and previous employees of UPS have saidthey did receive some training on how to drive a manual vehicle after they were hired.
This seems to depend largely on the facility where you’re hired and what type of vehicle you’ll be responsible for driving.
For example, UPS will not train you to drive manual freight and semi-trucks because that skill is a requirement for a CDL license, which you must already have.
For drivers applying to drive box trucks, there seems to be a little more wiggle room in terms of being trained after getting hired, as these trucks are both automatic and manual.
To know more, you can also read our posts on whether or not UPS updates tracking, if UPS delivers to door, and if UPS delivers on Sundays.
Conclusion
Some, but not all, UPS trucks are manual. UPS freight and semi-trucks are always manual, and as such UPS requires that you must know how to drive a manual vehicle prior to being hired as a driver.
Box trucks are the trucks used to deliver packages in most neighborhoods, and these can be either manual or automatic depending on the facility where you work.
