UPS Drivers make HOW much????

7 It has been broadcast all over the news in my area that UPS is hiring, and that the average UPS driver makes around $76,000 annually! That just totally makes me feel devalued as a nurse. I am not sure what the national averages for nurse salaries are right now, but I am pretty sure it is not that much. I mean, seriously, these people deliver packages (not to devalue them, I have known a few and they work exceptionally hard), but we nurses deliver babies, we keep people alive, we take care of children and the elderly. We are highly educated, knowledgeable, and the responsibility we hold is immense. If the UPS guy screws up, someone might not get their package delivered on time. If a nurse screws up, someone could die. I just cannot reconcile this in my head!!!!

When I first saw this my initial thought was "screw nursing, I'm going to drive the brown truck!" My next thought was, how sad that we are so seriously devalued. What will it take before people realize our value to society? Am I overreacting to this? What are your thoughts?



Again, I want to add that I do not want to sound like I am putting down on UPS drivers or similar careers. They work hard and do a great job. It is just that in comparison to the responsibility that we nurses hold, it does not seem that the pay is in line. Not that they deserve less, it is that we deserve at least as much or more for the work that we do!!!
My father works for UPS, he drives tractor-trailors full of packages on the interstate although he did deliver packages many years ago. His salary is in that range; however he has been with the company 30 years and works about 55 hrs per week. I don't know his hourly rate but the OT is what pushes his annual salary so high. Other senior UPS drivers work that many hours. It seems to me that article misrepresented what an average package car driver with a few years experience makes. UPS is also unionized and maybe that contributes to the salaries? I have heard it's also hard to go full-time with UPS; they keep people to the max part-time hours and let the people with more seniority go full-time and get the extra hours.

After I got laid off from my nursing job, at some point in time I applied for a job with UPS, but they didn't hire me. Guess their line of thought was if I wasn't good enough for nursing, then I wasn't good enough for UPS.

I agree with the basic point of your thread . . . nurses are underpaid for what we do!!! I think that other jobs deserve whatever they've been able to fight for . . . in my area, the municipal transit bus and streetcar drivers can make $100K/yr and we've all heard the stories about the average auto worker salary being over $75K/yr . . . the only way that they got these salaries was through union representation/negotiation. RN's in my area make $50-55/hr average because we're mostly union!! Go Union!!

It is discouraging...my husband went to Vatterott college for one year and received some sort of HVAC/R degree and currently makes $3 more an hour than what I will make with 4.5 years of nursing school

My DH works for FedEx as a driver they don't pay anything near what UPS pays. But he used to work for UPS as a package handeler (sorting) and he says now in order to even become a driver you have to be a package handeler FIRST. That position doesn't pay anything. So many of the UPS drivers work years at minimum wage first before getting to be a driver.

Please. This is reported by the same news outlets that report that nurses can make above 100K a year.My sister drives for UPS, for about the last year. While she does have fabulous benefits, her actual salary is right at about 40K. Hardly 75K. Be discerning in your media consumption.

I mentioned in a post yesterday that I work with a former UPS driver turned nurse. She makes more money as an RN. Don't believe everything you hear.

Quote from BluegrassRNPlease. This is reported by the same news outlets that report that nurses can make above 100K a year.My sister drives for UPS, for about the last year. While she does have fabulous benefits, her actual salary is right at about 40K. Hardly 75K. Be discerning in your media consumption.

UPS just happens to be an incredibly well-run company, with state-of-the-art training tools, strong incentives and internal promotion, competitive hiring, and good compensation. I think that many hospital systems could learn a lot from them!

Good points. I did not think of this being the same media that tells us there is a nursing shortage. We all know what a joke that is! My husband also brought up about the high salary might be due to lots of OT. I bet somewhere out there a group of angry UPS drivers are cursing that media report, just like we do when we hear yet another report of how "recession proof" nursing is Thanks for talking me off the ledge...I won't put in my application yet. Besides, I look terrible in brown

Quote from JoPACURNUm.Some nurses, bedside, do make 100K. I know of a few.More than a few actually.....

a guy i went to high school with is ups driver. i have not spoken with him in about 5 years, but he told me that ups drivers are "self contracted". they are only payed for delivery, so if there is a slow season, slow wages.. i believe he may have told me you have to buy or rent the truck for yourself too...being a self contractor can sound nice, but all of the bs that comes along with it is not so great.