Automatic only in school?

Does Swift train with auto now?
The trucks we drive are all auto now, but they still trained with manual.

Maybe all those old manual trucks finally bit the dust?

 

I can't speak for everywhere, but Phoenix it is all automatics.

 

Thank you guys. The local companies i called in michigan said i need to learn both and in my opinion to all the old school new school guys and gals all do respect i commend you all for your years and miles in you all are fin heroes. in my views and studies Manual these days with all the pissed off drivers do to inflation economy pandemic and etc etc I need to focus on my lanes, lines, traffic and drivers trying to get that buck from trucking companies just to start including weather winds that are off the charts these days. Not including the exclusive exclusive 24/7 ads from lawyers on all stations i quote has a tractor trailer caused an accident call us now. Focus is the key in my opinion these days. Even if a manual comes second nature to a driver the brains frontal lobe has to use that energy focus on that area in turn causing fatigue. Sorry to all but i see it different when it comes to a manny tranny.

 

Your still better off learning how to drive a manual gear box, the reason being is one day if your truck breaks down and they replace it with a truck with a manual gear box, you'll be up the creek without a paddle. Sure you may find a company with auto only, however what will happen if you choose to leave? Then what?

 

Auto are a lot easier, I'm going to training right now and test on friday. Auto is the way to go, most if not all companies are moving to auto anyway.

 

I understand your concern and shifting does require some attention but after you’ve done it for a while you can do it with no thought. Most otr applications require very little shifting. I would still try to get a license without restrictions or at the very least know how to operate one you can choose not to. I would guess you have to go back to school to change that if you ever need to. I would say that most smaller companies are still on manuals and at least here most of the vocational stuff is.

 

Your way over thinking this stuff man. Learn on a manual and then pick an auto company (pretty much every major company now)

 

Me thinks.....to put it bluntly and I really don't want to be offensive. But that's BS or you are just way overthinking things. Pissed off drivers because of this and that, winds off the charts, lawyers on the radio, frontal lobe and focusing? After you learn to shift, which might or might not be an issue for you, it will become second nature. I don't believe that shifting is going to be a negative for you unless you let it be. There are going to be many more negative things in trucking than worrying about shifting. Either way good luck.

 

EVERY newbie is afraid shifting the truck "they have sooooo many gears" almost like it's defusing a time-bomb. It's just a simple pattern over and over and over. You will shift hundreds of times per day. Even a brand new driver with zero shifting experience will be NOTICEABLE better in one week. Every person learn shifting pretty darn fast and then has trouble downshifting to slow down. That's normal and newbies can learn that very fast also. IMO EVERY NEWBY makes a MUCH MUCH MUCH too big of an issue about shifting. Everyone was a newby once. There are lots of drivers with much less ability than the next newbie making a living in the industry right now. Shifting is just different, not difficult. If you don't avoid manual trucks you will learn it quickly and never have to worry about paying someone hundreds of dollars, at a later date, to let you practice shifting a truck. Shifting is nothig to ever get mental vapor-lock about. EVERYONE makes a mistake or ten when they are learning and then they do it like they have done it forever pretty quickly.