Redeem now - In the spirit of pay transparency, a UPS driver shared how much he earned in a week.
- UPS drivers reached a deal this year to raise their compensation package to $170,000, including benefits.
- The driver's viral post shocked thousands who were unaware of delivery drivers' pay.
Thousands of people are saying they might've chosen the wrong profession after seeing how much a UPS driver makes in a week.
Skyler Stutzman, an Oregon UPS delivery driver who posts on TikTok, has gotten over 11.9 million views on a video he posted in October.
In the clip, Stutzman shows a recent pay stub with his pretax earnings of $2,004 for one week of work. After all the taxes and deductions, he took home about $1,300 for 42 hours of work. With his pay rate at $44.26 an hour, many in the video's comments were shocked to learn that they earned less than a UPS driver.
@skylerleestutzmanUPS Driver Paystub Breakdown… #upspay #upswages #teamsters #ups
♬ original sound - Skyler Stutzman"Not me realizing that a UPS driver makes more than I do. 20 years in my field with a degree," one commenter wrote.
Another added: "I'm disappointed with the way health care pays. I make only $14.55 an hour to work in a nursing home. I love my job, but the pay is so bad."
The 10,000 other comments, many of which echoed the sentiment, are similar to a previous online debate sparked by a Reddit post from another UPS driver. In the now deleted post, the driver's pay stub showed he took home about $2,400 before taxes for 49 hours of work that week.
The Teamsters union reached an agreement with UPS that secured a total compensation package of $170,000 for UPS drivers, including the value of benefits, by the end of their five-year contract.
The raise triggered jealousy and admiration from tech workers, but Stutzman said he shared his earnings in the spirit of pay transparency.
"I don't want to mention it in ill-mannered way," he says in the video. "I simply love when I come across content creators who share their pay stubs in different working fields and their transparency of how their wages are broken down."
His transparency earned his video over 770,000 likes and a slew of people saying they planned to apply for a job at UPS — and use Stutzman as a reference.
But Stutzman said it took him 10 years to become a "full-time, full-scale" UPS delivery driver. In a follow-up video, he said he started at the company in 2008 and worked in the warehouse for nearly six years before he was offered a driver job.
He added that it could take four years for a driver's wage to progress to the top rate. Some commenters pointed out that the 10-year timeline was nearly the same as the time it took to become a medical doctor.
While it varies depending on location, Stutzman said, you'll have to start off working in the warehouse if you want to become a UPS driver one day. For some, the process takes years.
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