This UPS driver is making $22,000 less than last year in a shift shakeup
Otis Keys II, a 41-year-old father of four, has had to work fewer hours after the new Teamsters contract raised his pay. But he still calls himself “blessed.”
When Otis Keys II hit top-level pay for his role at UPS in 2019, he expected to start checking items off his financial bucket list. That’s not what happened, even after the Teamsters union he belongs to negotiated a historic new contract last summer.
Instead, the carrier unveiled $1 billion in cost reductions early this year that included thousands of job cuts, citing weaker demand and higher costs. Another planned round of layoffs was announced this month, although package volume increased this summer for the first time since 2022.
As the company has trimmed some workers’ hours, Keys — a Texas-based feeder driver who hauls packages from large UPS hubs to other sortation sites — said his monthly take-home pay is about $3,000 lower on average. He sometimes offsets the shortfall with whatever overtime remains available and other shift changes but still expects to net about $22,000 less by the end of this year than last.
The separated father of four said higher rent and grocery costs have thrown cold water on his financial hopes.
“I got on a savings plan, I could pay my bills, and I had extra,” he said. “Then, boom — the economy is where it’s at, and the company is doing cutbacks and layoffs. And it’s like, OK, I gotta start back from scratch again.”
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