This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
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.
Meanwhile software devs? We sit around in a comfy meeting room sipping coffee and are occasionally a bit stressed. Sure there's exceptions, but most devs I know have it pretty good while making a shit ton of money
And I will add that you also deserve to be well paid and have your own stressors and those matter too. We all deserve a good wage. What's the point otherwise?
But I'm especially glad because delivery drivers are often treated poorly.
Also make sure you add the amount of schooling, training, and certifications that you as a Tech industry worker are expected to shell out for to get ahead, gone are the years where a high school diploma and some skills gets you in the door in Tech. Also the hours we need to put in.
So sure it's not as physically demanding as delivery driving, but it is absolutely mentally demanding and time consuming. Most things in tech are also things the average person isn't interested in learning, so it's not like a delivery driver can go and code or engineer some kind of solution for complex IT problems or environments, but a developer/IT worker can absolutely get out there and deliver packages if they had to for some reason.
Either way, good on the UPS folks, now it's time to take that and leverage it across the board for all of the other career paths.
This is in no way to undermine the argument that UPS drivers deserve every penny they get paid. I am regularly very stressed out by my current client. Consulting can be an absolute bitch.
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.
On the whole though this is a useless article covering drama on Blind, wrapped up with a ragebait headline.
This is the buried lead. Blind is a negative echo chamber where your posts gets no value if you don't mention your TC (total compensation). Opinions from there should be taken with a grain of salt.
I think people just don't realize how underpaid they are. They think that because they make six figures, that means they're getting paid what they're worth.
Actually what people don’t realize is what the above poster means between the lines, this is an article by big corp to make the general public angry at unionized organizations.
Fuck off with this class war baiting bullshit
Tech workers need to ask themselves why their boss makes more than them for doing nothing
There’s no way any substantial amount of tech workers are concerned about what UPS workers are making. These kinds of articles are rage bait targeted at “low skill” workers to make them furious at what they perceive to be high salary earners complaining about “blue collar” workers earning more money.
All of this bullshit is a distraction from the fact that the middle class is shrinking at a massive rate and the lower class is being turned against itself so nobody can rightfully blame the rich.
Fuck this article and the hatred it’s designed to generate. This is all bullshit.
Tech worker here. I'm gd pleased to bits for anyone making a decent income. Congrats UPS drivers. Do teachers next!
Ah. The anti-union propaganda has begun to stop the tech industry from unionizing, lol.
They are scared they will and with good reason. A strong union will level the playing field.
You'd think these complainers would realize it's great when other jobs get a massive raise... because those engineers can now say "Why should I work here and deal with your nonsense when UPS drivers are making near 100K in low cost of living income areas?"
Like, please please please let the cashiers at walmart start making 30 dollars an hour so I can tell my boss that I need a raise or I'm dipping to walmart.
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.
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.
"This is disappointing, how is possible that a driver makes much more than average Engineer in R&D?"
Because the engineer is being exploited and refuses to unionize.
"To get a base salary of $170k you know you need to work hard as an Engineer, this sucks."
Bitch, UPS workers work harder than I ever did as an electronics engineer.
As one of the tech workers: fuck yeah, good for them for negotiating well, and getting what they're owed.
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.
Wow good for UPS workers. As a tech worker I can say I'm genuinely happy for them. They have a hard ass job. A win for labor is a win for labor, regardless of which type.
And it's not like their win is our loss. Why would we fight amongst ourselves? It's the ultra-rich we should be sizing up.
As a tech worker, good for them. Why would I be opposed to someone else getting paid more, especially if they're being paid by a private company whose services I enjoy?
Pushing tens of pounds around in the heat everyday is hard, expecially inside a van without AC.
Let's just hope tech workers will be smart enough to unionize and organize like the UPS Chads did.
It's a good objective, but it would take a lot to make it happen. It's significantly more challenging for tech workers to effectively unionize en masse for several reasons:
Tech isn't monopsonistic, or even close to it; there isn't a single large employer... even the biggest tech companies employ only a relatively small fraction of the tech workforce. That means separate unionization efforts at thousands of big companies, not at one.
Tech job functions are much more widely varied than "delivery driver"; job responsibilities differ greatly, complexity and education requirements differ greatly, workplace expectations differ greatly ... think of the difference between help desk, front end dev, network security engineering, data science and DBA. Collective bargaining is harder the more varied the needs of the collective are.
Job mobility is really high in the tech sector ... in other words, tech employees (by and large) have access to many prospective employers (especially with the prevalence of remote work), and tech employers to a wide geographic pool of talent. That means if your San Francisco office seems on the path to unionization, you can shift work to your Chennai office.
It also means that, when the working conditions at a tech company suck, a lot of tech workers can easily jump ship. It's hard to get a union going when your voters can easily quit and go work someplace nicer, rather than take the more difficult path of staying and trying to force your employer to improve.
Again, I think highly of unions and would really like to see more effective unionization efforts in tech -- I just want folks to go into it eyes wide open and intelligently, vs throwing up their hands and saying, "Why don't tech workers unionize?"
I see we are trying to sow some tension between working class people here eh?
As a tech worker, I do almost jack shit and make deep into the six figures. Honestly, I'd be fine if UPS drivers made more than me, good on them.
Frankly, in terms of total compensation, pay them more.
I have a pro-driver pro-union UPS placard in my window and a "Unionize Amazon" sticker on my hoodie. I'm happy for UPS workers. They fought and won a much better contract. It's genuinely exciting that there's so much positive union activity in the USA right now.
It's because people are realizing it works. Like airline attendants are on the picket line with the actors and the writers now. A win for any of them is a win for all of us. Power to the people baby
Some tech workers on social media
This isn't fucking news! Enough of this dumb ragebait bullshit.
Omg you wouldn't believe, someone on the internet was an asshole!
Come on, business insider and "some tech workers"...
The idea is that unions can secure higher wages to show you it can be done. Now both union and non-union drivers can reference UPS for a salary "that reflects increasing industry averages".
Software techbros, if you think you're worth more than UPS drivers, tell your boss. If you think your boss is gonna dismiss you, then get all your co-workers who think you're worth more than 170k then get your boss to hear you out as a group. Did I hear, "you nyan eyes"?

We all do better when we all do better.
As someone who has only worked freight in an air-conditioned warehouse, moving boxes is not easy work and not many people will be able to do it their whole careers. I'm personally glad I argue with computers for my job now and I have much respect for those lifting things in the elements.
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.
The context is all wrong. It is less money for CEOs, not less for tech workers. Good job teamsters.
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.
Can we react more about trust fund managers and CxO salaries instead?
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)
They earn every dollar because I would nope the fuck out of there so fast
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+.
TLDR article prob funded by big corporations wants general public to get triggered by unionized organizations.
Tech workers have no right to be angry. Unionize or shut up. (Excluding all the supportive tech workers, including those in the comments.) Source: am a tech worker
