diff --git a/bin/steps/pip-install b/bin/steps/pip-install
index 2cb3bde6f5f3b12fd13035aa782d6009eaebcd04..4c633b05e3a100fdb4753e698abfe32206f4ebc1 100755
--- a/bin/steps/pip-install
+++ b/bin/steps/pip-install
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@ puts-step "Installing dependencies with pip"
 set +e
 /app/.heroku/python/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt --exists-action=w --src=./.heroku/src --allow-all-external --disable-pip-version-check --no-cache-dir | cleanup | log-output | indent
 set -e
+PIP_STATUS="$?"
 
-if [[ "$?" ]]; then
+echo "$PIP_STATUS"
+
+if [[ "$PIP_STATUS" ]]; then
     echo "an error occurred."
     show-warnings
     exit 1