Tech workers react to UPS drivers landing a $170,000 a year package with a mixture of anger and admiration::Some tech workers questioned whether UPS drivers deserved high pay — others jumped in to note the importance of the jobs and harsh working conditions.
The amount of shit a delivery driver puts up with? They certainly deserve it. Good on them, we should all be well paid, and thinking otherwise is Stockholm syndrome.
That crab mentality (crabs in a bucket) can be hard to shake but it’s got to go. The Boondocks explained it nicely (short SFW extract from an otherwise NSFW TV programme here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipg4EL_JUyE)
tech workers: i’m underpaid and everyone else should be too!
fucking unionize already. tired of this crabs-in-a-bucket mentality
Or, perhaps this article is just trying to sow discord between workers.
One of the old tricks in the books to make people despise unions is to take the very best union deals and sensationalize them, so that others hate the union out of jealousy.
Make it appear like the UPS driver is getting paid $170K for 32 hours of work, in a fully A/C’d vehicle on a short, easy route, starting pay, right out of college without a degree, four weeks of vacation yada yada.
When in reality, the $170K probably only kicks in if you take the absolute worst routes, worst shifts (weekend/night) with max overtime and even then, a third of it is retirement, insurance and health care contributions. And you only get the max after 10 or 20 years of service, if they didn’t fire you as you increased.
During an earnings call on Tuesday, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said that by the end of its five-year contract with the Teamsters union, the average full-time UPS driver would make about $170,000 in annual pay and benefits, such as healthcare and pension benefits.
The headline is sensationalized for sure. But the article itself actually makes the point that the tech workers are misunderstanding that the $170k figure includes both salary and benefits.
“This is disappointing, how is possible that a driver makes much more than average Engineer in R&D?” a worker at the autonomous trucking company TuSimple wrote on Blind, an anonymous jop-posting site that verifies users’ employment using their company email. “To get a base salary of $170k you know you need to work hard as an Engineer, this sucks.”
It is important to note that the $170,000 figure represents the entire value of the UPS package, including benefits and does not represent the base salary. Currently, UPS drivers make an average of around $95,000 per year with an additional $50,000 in benefits, according to the company. The average median salary for an engineer in the US is $103,845 with a base pay of about $91,958, according to Glassdoor. And TuSimple research engineers can make between $161,000 to $250,000 in compensation, Glassdoor data shows.
On the whole though this is a useless article covering drama on Blind, wrapped up with a ragebait headline.
What strange math. My healthcare costs are DEDUCTED from my salary
Most places I’ve worked at say “it would cost you 5,000 / month for healthcare, but we’re only charging you $500 / month, so that’s $4,500 / month we’re paying you”
They’re quoting Blind users though, Blind is a cesspool of silicon Valley tech bros. It’s often just a dick measuring contest between FAANG workers about who makes more money.
As a tech worker, I say good for them.
As a fellow tech worker, I agree. Probably most tech workers would agree, but since that’s boring, this article focuses on the opinion of just “some tech workers on social media”. So dumb.
Like 3 ancient jaded guys that are working on network infrastructure for a small hospital in Montana posted on Xwitter that they’re upset. 10000 bots reposted it…now it’s newsworthy.
Xwitter
I’m going with Xitter pronounced sh-ITT-er That makes tweets Xits pronounced sh-IT-s
This is a little misleading. It’s $170k in pay and benefits, not just salary. Still, UPS drivers deserve it and this will make everyone’s experience with UPS so much better.
As one of the tech workers: fuck yeah, good for them for negotiating well, and getting what they’re owed.
This is also why most jobs should be unionized
Maybe. I know shipping things via UPS is about to get a lot more expensive, and maybe it should be.
I have worked as a driver helper in the past. This pay makes sense. It’s a demanding job mentally and physically. With the pay being good it also means people work really hard to get that job and really hard to keep it. Congratulations to them.
A UPS driving job is a hell of a lot more difficult and tiring than most tech jobs. It might take less skill, but tech workers don’t have to be out in the heat or freezing cold all day carrying heavy loads and dealing with angry people who blame them for a late package or, worse, get shot at for the crime of being in the neighborhood while black.
This is true. Hence why garbage men are paid quite a lot. Low skill but a very difficult job.
I work in tech and have enjoyed good salaries, I wish everyone was so fortunate.
As for myself, it would actually be a huge relief to know that there are many career options for me that paid just as well, because sometimes I really want to do something else. If wages had grown fairly, then a lot more people would be making 100,000+.
Complaining about this is dumb. Someone else’s gain isn’t your loss. Everyone outside the top tier earners should be paid more. Period. I’m happy a union had the national stage representing UPS workers and showed why unions are important.
The context is all wrong. It is less money for CEOs, not less for tech workers. Good job teamsters.
As someone in tech who also has a friend that works for UPS, this is amazing for them! Anything that can improve their lives is a win. UPS people who incredibly hard (regardless of how much shit I give my friend when UPS does something silly with my deliveries)
My UPS guy deserves every penny of it.
My housing development is a confusing maze of twisty streets. The street I live on takes multiple turns where another street starts when my street should have gone straight on. My UPS person deserves every penny just for being able to figure out which house is which.
As a tech worker for over 25 years, I say good for them.
Hell, if my back, knees and neck weren’t already fucked, I’d be damned tempted to start driving for UPS.
I’m already kind of nearing a point where a move away from tech is appealing, but even if I accept the idea of some reduction in pay, I’m at a loss for what I can do that wouldn’t see me losing half my income which would just be more than I’d like to bear.
I know someone in his 20s who makes $41 and some change per hour plus $150 per diem…
7 days on and 7 days off…
“Unskilled” coal mine work.
It’s pretty damn insulting to be honest as someone who’s been in the technology industry for over 25 years when I have to deal with companies and recruiters thinking that my labor is somehow worth less than that.
Hell, I made more than that 18 years ago (and I still do as an hourly without the per diem) but now I get dipshit recruiters emailing and calling me constantly thinking I should be willing to work for $25 an hour or even sometimes less.
It’s like I’m living in fucking crazy world.
I would still try to fight for more than you make. It will be tough, don’t get me wrong, but I think most industries are in this position one way or another. Everything is going up, and everyone has to eat. Why can’t everyone make more, so less people suffer? The costs for everyone have certainly increased. A lot of these “record profits” should really be finding their way to employees, but they rarely do anymore.
With the “unskilled coal mine work” example specifically, I believe a big reason for their pay rate is the numerous immediate and long term health risks that are associated with it. Historically, mining has been a pretty fatal/dangerous job. They miners will probably need that money down the road if they get any of those bad conditions. It’s certainly not a job that I would feel safe doing, nor is it one I would ever do for cheap. You should look into all of the associated lung diseases and ths effects that certain mined materials can have on the human body, especially with prolonged exposure. PPE can only do so much sometimes.
When I see people making more than me with less skill, I think “damn, I should be making that too”. Why can’t both jobs have good pay rates? Both would be nice. What a world we live in.
If you can, unionizing might help. It takes the company perspective from “we’ll lose one great guy” to “holy shit, everything will crash and burn if we don’t meet their demands!”. I would also look into the laws in your area. Where I live, unions can protect you well before you actually create a contract. That knowledge was very useful to my coworkers and I a couple of years ago, because we previously thought that they could just fire us for trying to join a union (jobs are at-will here).
If you get a good union, the pros can outweigh the fees easily. They can cut right through a LOT of corporate bs, and they will usually provide lawyers for you if your company tries to screw you over. The lawyers mine provides are pretty top-tier.
I don’t disagree with anything you said.
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Not sure why that is but energy jobs pay a lot. Had a friend who worked on an oil rig and made about 400k
Seems pretty crazy really…
This reminds me of what happened at my last job towards the end of the lockdown. Previously, you started at a certain wage and increased a specific amount every 500ish hours, up to a limit. The last “raise” was only like 4 cents, but you still had to work the extra 500ish hours to get it.
Well, the company decided that they weren’t paying enough to be competitive, so they suddenly raised everyone to the top rate. This put people who just started their very first job at the same pay rate as the people who had been there for multiple years. Their “solution” was to give the long term employees a one off, taxed, check for $200. To say that people were angry would be an understatement.
Personally, I think they should have just increased everyone across the board, especially after previously bragging about making record profits multiple years in a row.
IMO, when someone else makes more, it gives me room to also argue for more. Otherwise, why not go to another company that will pay it? Getting angry at the guy with the raise won’t give you one. Inflation will still happen.
