Today is the biggest milestone in my career as a UPS driver. Here’s why.

Not every day can be a special day. Most days are ‘just another day.’ But when we think about our lives, what we remember most are those significant moments that stand out to us for one reason or another, whether good or bad.

I’ve been blessed to have lived long enough to enjoy many special days. Some have lifted me to the heights of ecstasy, like witnessing the birth of my child; others have brought me to the depths of despair, like getting the call that my dad had been killed.

Some days sneak up on us and surprise us, like appearing on a game show. Others we plan for and do our best to orchestrate, like a wedding. Some days we don’t realize are special until after the fact. Others we don’t have a lot of control over but we anticipate them, perhaps for years.

Today is a special day for me, in this last category. Like a high school graduation, I’ve been thinking about, waiting for, but also working hard to make it to this day for four long years. Today is the day I make ‘Top Rate’ as a UPS driver.

The wage progression for UPS drivers is a four-year progression. When I first started driving four years ago, I earned $20.50 per hour as a ‘22.4 driver.’ As of today, as a ‘Regular Package Car Driver (RPCD)’ my pay has ‘topped out’ at $45.70 per hour.

You read that correctly. I now enjoy an hourly rate about two-and-a-quarter times higher than just four years ago. This has been partly the result of moving from the 22.4 class to the RPCD class of drivers. Also, when the contract was renegotiated over the summer of 2023, the 22.4 classification was eliminated and the entire wage scale for RPCD’s was adjusted upwards.

The wage progression is not at all linear. Here’s how it’s played out for me:

YEAR	RATE	INCREASE
Year 1 of 22.4 progression (10/26/2020-10/25/2021)	$20.50	N/A
Year 2 of 22.4 progression (10/26/2021-10/25/2022)	$21.25	$0.75 (3.7%)
Year 3 of 22.4 progression (10/26/2022-4/15/2023) Year 3 of RPCD progression old contract (4/16/2023-7/31/2023) Year 3 of RPCD progression new contract (8/1/2023-10/25/2023)	$22.75 $23.94 $26.69	$1.50 (7.0%) $1.19 (5.2%) $2.75 (11.5%)
Year 4 of RPCD progression (10/26/2023-7/31/2024) Year 4 of RPCD progression (8/1/2024-10/25/2024)	$30.69 $31.44	$4.00 (15.0%) $0.75 (2.4%)
Top Rate (10/26/2024-7/31/2025)	$45.70	$14.26 (45.4%)

Getting to Top Rate is about more than just money, though.

Don’t get me wrong – I appreciate the fact that I’ve been able to bank on wage increases at regular intervals. I haven’t had to agonize over annual performance reviews the way I did in the white-collar world. The contract between the company and the union stipulates guaranteed annual pay bumps on the presumption that drivers develop their skills as they practice them; of course the ongoing surveillance and supervision of drivers provides daily opportunities for feedback.

But getting to Top Rate also means that I’ve arrived at something. It’s called a wage progression. I’ve made progress. I’ve made it to the top.

We all want to feel like we’re making progress toward something. It feels even better to have made it to the top of something. Not only am I at the top of the wage scale, but I do feel like the past four years have helped given me the skills and experience to be an effective UPS driver going forward. In that sense it feels very much like high-school graduation: both an ending of what came before, and the beginning of everything that comes after.

I’m sure there will be plenty more special days in my future- in both work and life. But none will be like the day I got to Top Rate. So today I’m celebrating.