Do I need manual endorsement on my cdl A?

Always better to have it and not need it... then need it and not have it.

 

Well as other threads have concluded that would probably make you a super trucker.

It seems most small companies and local operations around here are still running primarily manual transmissions. I don’t know what you want to do with your cdl but if you don’t want to work for a mega I would get a non restricted cdl

 

Short answer. No. Plenty of work for auto restrictions.

 

When I was buying trucks last year I would say automatics were maybe 40% of the trucks and we are talking 2017s. I would bet majority of trucks today are made with automatics.

 

First, there isn't a manual "endorsement." There is an E restriction, that prevents you from driving a manual transmission.

In the long run, it is going to become less and less important. We are seeing the same transition from manual to automatics that four-wheelers saw 20 years ago.

 

As the technology and experience with automatics in trucks has increased, automatics are getting better performance and becoming much more reliable than they previously. It's an obvious trend I don't think is going to change.
Lots of different arenas for a truck driver, many of those arenas isn't going to matter that you have an auto restriction. Certain types of trucking, it will be more limiting. Many fleets are already all automatics and more are going that route. Especially in fleets that hire new drivers without experience. Simple fact, it's much more profitable to seat a new driver in an automatic than a manual.
If you don't know, automatics in a truck are completely different than passenger vehicles. The hydraulic drive system used on passenger vehicles simply doesn't work with the heavy loads trucks have. An automatic truck is basically the same as a manual, except the shifting from gear to gear is all under computer control. They basically have gears, clutch, etc, just like a manual. But the clutch and shifter is operated by the computer, not the driver.

 

I guess you never herd of a Allison transmission.

 

Actually false. Lots of Allison autos that regularly move 50T+ in the oilfield, reliably.