UPS Won’t Let Their Delivery Vehicles Be Resold—Here’s Why

Maybe you’re hoping to take your UPS driver Halloween costume to the next level by cruising around in an actual UPS truck. Or perhaps you’d just like to be known around town as “the guy who drives a UPS truck.” Whatever your reasoning may be for planning to purchase a decommissioned UPS package car, we have some bad news for you: the company won’t sell you one.

As Jalopnik reports, UPS policy prohibits the sale of the trucks because the company doesn’t want any non-employees giving the brand a bad name. If you’re recklessly driving through your neighborhood in the company's truck, your neighbors might only blame you—but if you’re flouting speed limits and running stop signs anywhere else, witnesses may get a negative impression of all UPS drivers. 

According to one rumor, the rule originated after someone used a UPS truck to help facilitate a string of bank robberies. After all, a UPS truck idling on the side of the road doesn’t draw nearly as much suspicion as another automobile would. But a company spokesperson told Jalopnik that the story is nothing more than an urban legend.

So what exactly does UPS do with its old vehicles? Some of them get painted white and recommissioned for internal use—maybe carrying workers from place to place or carting stuff around within one UPS location. If you see a white version of the truck on the road, your package probably isn’t in it. Other decommissioned trucks simply end up getting scrapped.

The shield-shaped logo and trademarked brown color might be specific to UPS, but those weird spinning things on top of the trucks are not—here’s what they’re for.

[h/t Jalopnik]