A Reddit user claiming to be a UPS delivery driver with “nothing more than a high school diploma” shared a $2,400 weekly paycheck from 49 hours of work, encouraging others to “organize or get exploited.”
The photo of the purported UPS staffer’s pay stub from the week of Aug. 27 showed that the unidentified person — with the handle WorthlessDrugAbuser — made $44.95 per hour for 40 hours of work, and $67.42 per hour for the nine overtime hours worked.
Before taxes, net earnings totaled $2,412.92.
“If you’re college educated with experience in your field making less than I am, you’re getting f–ked,” WorthlessDrugAbuser wrote.
The message was posted days after unionized UPS workers represented by Teamsters ratified a five-year contract that raised full- and part-time pay by $2.75 more per hour in 2023, and $7.50 more per hour over the length of the contract.
The new deal means full-time delivery drivers will make an average of $170,000, including benefits, come 2024 — $25,000 more than before the contract negotiations were settled.
Fellow users on Reddit were divided in their responses to the paycheck — some applauded the pay transparency and others appeared frustrated that their college education and job in tech weren’t earning them as much as the UPS driver.
“The working world could use more transparency like this,” another commented, adding: “The more wage/salary info is out there for the public to see, the more fair the market will be.”
“The only people that benefit from employees not talking about pay are the companies. Literally no reason not to talk about your pay with colleagues,” another chimed in.
One woman in social work shared that she has “two master’s degrees, the highest level of a professional license, an additional national certification in my specialty and another certification that separates me from the competition.”
However, she “doesn’t break six figures” while her husband, who works in construction and “barely has a high school diploma but has 40-plus years experience…makes double what I do, high six figures.”
“If young people would consider learning a trade (construction, electrician, plumber, iron worker, millwork, tile work, stonework, etc.) you will make more money you could ever make in a generic ‘profession,’” the user penned.
“I’m salary, currently in high tech, and paid pretty well as far as my field is concerned and I don’t bring that home. OF COURSE, were I paid for my overtime, I bet I’d make more than you. Kind of sucks working for ‘free’ as a salaried worker…” another user wrote.
“Bruh I make less than you as an aerospace engineer,” yet another commented.
Other users seemingly against unionizing called union dues into question, but WorthlessDrugAbuser replied that the fees charged by the Teamsters — American’s largest labor union, which also represents public school and public safety workers — are about $26.
“Yes I pay union dues but guess what I don’t pay for? Medical, dental, vision insurance. Not a dime comes out of my pocket, no premiums, deductible or copay and it covers my family as well. I also get a pension which I don’t have to contribute to either. I pay far less in union dues than those anti-union clowns pay in healthcare,” the UPS delivery worker shared.
“Your union due is a little over 1% of your income. I’d say it’s worth it,” another replied.
The Teamsters deal with the Atlanta-based package and delivery company, which handles about a quarter of US parcel deliveries and serves virtually every city and town in the nation, will also provide additional paid holidays, end forced overtime and add air-conditioning to new models of the company’s ubiquitous brown trucks.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
