diff --git a/src/main/resources/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/postinst-useradd b/src/main/resources/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/postinst-useradd
index fc640de99..3b8a75da0 100644
--- a/src/main/resources/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/postinst-useradd
+++ b/src/main/resources/com/typesafe/sbt/packager/debian/postinst-useradd
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 # Adding ${{user}}
-if ! id -u $1 >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+if ! id -u ${{user}} > /dev/null 2>&1; then
     echo "Creating user ${{user}} in group ${{group}}"
     useradd --system --no-create-home --gid ${{group}} --shell /bin/false ${{user}}
 fi