A UPS employee is calling out the company on TikTok for paying them a $24 per hour wage—but only temporarily. He says his wage could drop to $15 an hour.
While government-mandated stay-at-home and social distancing orders implemented in the wake of COVID-19 absolutely obliterated small businesses and a slew of industries, major corporations and any line of work involving shipping and deliveries flourished.
As long as people were required to work remotely and public areas were shut down, businesses that specialized in bringing goods and services to your doorstep were raking in the big bucks.
However, once demand for such widespread use of these services subsided after COVID mandates were lifted, these businesses weren’t experiencing as much growth as before, which culminated in mass layoffs, or in the case of UPS, pay cuts.
In 2021, The Guardian reported that the parcel delivery service initially promised its workers an hourly rate of $18, only to cut that rate down by $3 per hour in spite of earning record profits. In some areas, the wage reductions were even greater.
It’s unclear whether or not these wage cuts are a direct result of the earnings-wave crashing or a business staffing strategy implemented by UPS at key times of the year.
In one Reddit post from user @HowSalty, they indicated that the company “lured” them in with a $21 an hour wage, only to discuss dropping it down to $15 an hour. One commenter who replied to the post said that the company occasionally posts “incentive” pay during busy traffic periods, like holidays, and “when they no longer need those people in January, that bonus pay disappears.”
It would seem that the recent TikTok posted by UPS worker @letsmakeyouviral123 supports this claim.
@letsmakeyouviral123 15$ is the lowest it can go like baby if my pay temporary so am i😭 #warehouse #ups ♬ оригінальний звук – :)
In the video, two UPS warehouse workers look at a camera. One contorts his face and gestures with his hand, while another eats Ruffles potato chips. A text overlay in the clip reads, “Don’t work at ups it’s a scam [what do you mean] my $24 an hour is temporary.”
The TikToker explains the alleged salary bait-and-switch in a caption for the video. “15$ is the lowest it can go like baby if my pay is temporary so am I,” he wrote.
Other users on the platform responded, saying that they too had their wages reduced while working for UPS.
“They got me – on the job description it said $25, sign all paperwork but first day they said it’s $15 … I left,” one commenter wrote.
Another penned, “I remember working at ups 2 years ago, it was only part time and the pay was $18 but all of a sudden in the new year comes. They drop it to $15.”
Others said that warehouse workers and package handlers at companies like FedEx and UPS don’t make as much as delivery drivers do. “Ups, fedex express, dhl, all those companies only worth it if you become a driver,” one user shared. The average hourly pay for a UPS delivery driver in New Jersey, for example, is $18.88.
Another TikToker echoed this statement, writing “just stick it out and become a driver. drivers make $40/hr.”
Employees at other delivery companies said that they experienced even steeper pay cuts. “Fedex dropped me from $30 to $19 yall complain over little money,” one claimed.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @letsmakeyouviral123 via TikTok comment and UPS via email for further information.
