It's _not_ easy to move a box 1000 times with little change in quality.

Before software, I did a bunch of construction. Some of those tasks were highly repetitive. ("Remove this commercial firewall that's 45 feet tall and 200 feet long". "Fill these 500 holes with metal plugs, weld them in, then grind them smooth", "remove 500sq feet of carpet on concrete, and get the glue up too")

If I paced myself and went carefully, my quality stayed high. If I rushed, quality went down. If I worked too long, quality went down.

One can move boxes, but... one can also:

  - damage the box by careless handling
  - loose the order (if the order is important, which it usually is)
  - hurt oneself in the process
  - hurt someone else in the process. (If its 1000 boxes, you're prob using a forklift or at _least_ a pallet jack)

and more.

(edit: formatting) "blue collar" jobs have quite a lot of room for optimization and process management, just as software jobs do.

(though, yes, the _scale_ of moving boxes vs. working on a system that will be used by thousands/millions is very different.)

You’ve obviously never been in the position to do the former as a requirement for paying bills... sure, lifting the boxes (or nailing the shingles, or digging the trench) is easy, it’s getting up and continuing to do it day-in and day-out that takes persistence, a strong constitution, and grit that isn’t present in many/most of the software devs that you’re likely to encounter In the workplace.