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.
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.
Your response implies that tech workers are mentally more fit than those who work for UPS. This is flatly untrue, if tech workers are so damn smart, why don’t we unionize? We would make a ton more money, have better work life balance, and job security! It’s the same story for every industry, unions are the antidote to capitalism death cult.
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.
While my job can be stressful, I switched from contracting to a ft job with a single employer well over a decade ago and never looked back. Have I earned less money over those however many years? Oh, yes. But I work regular days, rarely get hassled, know the system inside and out, and really like my coworkers who are mostly people who have also been there for a very long time.
Damn, I must have had the wrong dev job. Did one for 13 years where i had to wear flame retardant clothes, drive up mountains in the winter and sit out in the desert in the summer, annual training as a first responder. But I did sip a lot of coffee and have a lot of stress.
Well the one thing that pandemic has taught us is that people are never satisfied no matter how much they get. Before the pandemic, nobody gave a flying shit in the tech world, specifically the devs, about work from home or hybrid work nature. But somehow now they are entitled to it. Still the tech giants obliged and are allowing them to work from home. Now they are pissed that someone who works physically and deliver items to their door steps is earning as much as they are while they sit on their fat asses watching a screen. Sure they have other deadlines and stuff which the drivers won’t have to face, but don’t be so fucking greedy and jealous when someone is getting paid for their hard work.
What are you trying to say? Devs don’t deserve it because they’re not exposed to the same conditions as a UPS driver?
Where’s your class solidarity?
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)
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
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.
Yeah, if shipping gets more expensive that means that shipping was cheap because of exploitation of people. I don’t know about anyone else, I personally wouldn’t want that.
Exactly. This logic can also be applied to fast food, hard labor, etc…
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.
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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?”
Yea i understand, for reference my father works and worked his whole life in IT, my grandma worked as union rep and I’m interested in both worlds, I get that the struggle is real, the sector is young. Even just 30 years ago there was no IT market, for reference the transport industry is as old as time and yet this historic contract was won in 2023 AD, we just gotta push and organize.
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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.
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.
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!
It’s a tactic to pit us against each other rather then the proper people running to the bank.
Well shit, if you look at the top comments in this thread it’s absolutely working
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.
They earn every dollar because I would nope the fuck out of there so fast
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 rising tide lifts all boats” is something Republicans say is impossible because God wouldn’t let the liberal commie boats rise with the patriot boats.
The context is all wrong. It is less money for CEOs, not less for tech workers. Good job teamsters.
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 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)
