Apparently UPS Truck Roofs Are Not Brown
If you're looking down at a busy street "Frogger"-style, you might see something curious — the ultra-recognizable brown rectangle of a truck we associate with United Parcel Service is not brown on top.
No. As one Redditor pointed out, the roofs of UPS's iconic vehicles eschew the familiar dirt color for white.
The roofs are actually made of a translucent material that keeps the cargo dry, but also lets light in so the back of the trucks don't have to be lit during the daytime.
Here's what that looks like from the inside:
And here's a former UPS driver/current Redditor weighing in on the benefits of the "sunroof truck":
UPS driver here for 26 years (cut short after a career ending injury) The translucent tops are extremely beneficial for finding the correct package in the mountain of look alikes. In the early 90's, it looked as though there was a solar eclipse inside the back of the trucks without the 'sunroof', even midday. The singular 25 watt incandescent bulb installed in the bulkhead meant finding packages at night was a nightmare. Literally. Every UPS driver had rookie recurring nightmares of having a truck full of packages at 11pm, and you can't go home till it's done. Yep, sounds like every Christmas at UPS.
The truck IS much hotter with the sunroof, but it allows you to get your job done, and allows UPS to expect you to get more done. Hellish in central Ca. 110 degree heat. A local driver measured the temp in the back of a sunroof truck at 140+ with a humidity level well above the outdoors, probably because of all the body sweat instantly turning to steam when it hits the aluminum floor. I blister burned my sweaty forearm after inadvertently resting it against a shelf for a second too long.
If you ever have a chance to glance inside a Fedex ground truck vs UPS, I think you'll see the night and day difference.
So the answer to the age old question "What can brown do for you?": Besides delivering your package, it can also blow your mind.
