I'm listening to the Thom Hartmann show right now and they're talking about giving people special gratuity for the holidays, as in your postal carrier, your newspaper delivery person, your garbage collectors, your pet sitter, your house cleaner, etc., and people are calling in talking about what they give these people each year.
And I'm kind of lost here, I've never heard of this stuff. I grew up in a nasty section of chattanooga, Tenn, where the postman considered himself lucky if he wasn't shot by people looking to steal welfare checks each month. In fact, our carrier never got out of the mail car, unless he needed to take a package to the door. He drove one of those mail cars with the steering wheel on the right side so he'd be on the same side as the mailboxes on the street. There was no such thing as tipping him, we were lucky if our food stamps lasted the month. Our garbage men banged up our metal garbage cans until they were bent at odd angles, and the neighbors would steal them. Yes, people stole banged up garbage cans. I grew up on a street where someone stole my next door neighbor's kid's birthday money out of his birthday card left in the door. He was only 10, my mom gave him a $10 bill in the card and someone took the money and put the card back in the envelope and the envelope back in the door.
So I never really heard of this tipping stuff, not unless it was in reference to rich people. Today on the radio show I'm hearing about people giving something nice to their pet sitter. In all my adult life, I've tipped as matter of course, like when I get my hair done or eat at a restaurant, but I've never given anything to a letter carrier or garbage man for xmas. I never get the newspaper. In fact, here in San Diego, our letter carrier is different almost every day of the week. We have about 4 carriers, and their schedule is irregular. Who would get the tip?
I didn't know you're actually supposed to give virtually every service person around you some kind of gratuity for xmas. Do you give xmas gratuity to the letter carrier, newspaper delivery person, pet sitter, garbage man, maintenance man, gardener, etc.? Am I the only person who never heard that this is what everyone is expected to do?
I used to work in a laundromat doing wash and folds, and a few people brought in stuff for all the women who worked there... one guy brought a case of wine (a bottle for each of us) and others brought chocolates. Some people got special tips from their special customers.
I have heard of it... I've seen it. I don't do it, but that's because I don't celebrate $mas at all. If I did, and if I had the money, I might like to do something like that, as I worked in the service industry long enough to know the paycheques suck and tips like that ARE appreciated. But I would only do it if I wanted to, not because of some arbitrary date on the calendar that told me I should be generous at a specific time of the year.
I've never heard it's something you're supposed to do "for this time of year" or anything. Tim and I have managed to get pretty friendly with lots of people we meet as a matter of retail, so we sometimes do cards if they haven't already been folded into our circle of friends who actually come over to our house and stuff.
We usually eat at IHOP on christmas morning, so we try to tip the server 75-100% (it's IHOP, so it ain't breakin' the bank or anything) because even though we don't care much for the holiday, we figure it might suck for those who work while everyone else has the day off. Even so, I've never heard of it being expected.
Yes, I normally do this, and apparently I'm the only one who does. DH thought I was nuts when I tipped the letter carrier, garbage collectors, etc.
ETA: When I lived in a doorman building in New York, I was explicitly warned by the buyer that it was pretty much required to tip every staff person in the building specific amounts of money; otherwise they would make life Hell for you in the coming year.
anastasia Wrote:I'm listening to the Thom Hartmann show right now and they're talking about giving people special gratuity for the holidays, as in your postal carrier, your newspaper delivery person, your garbage collectors, your pet sitter, your house cleaner, etc., and people are calling in talking about what they give these people each year.
And I'm kind of lost here, I've never heard of this stuff. I grew up in a nasty section of chattanooga, Tenn, where the postman considered himself lucky if he wasn't shot by people looking to steal welfare checks each month. In fact, our carrier never got out of the mail car, unless he needed to take a package to the door. He drove one of those mail cars with the steering wheel on the right side so he'd be on the same side as the mailboxes on the street. There was no such thing as tipping him, we were lucky if our food stamps lasted the month. Our garbage men banged up our metal garbage cans until they were bent at odd angles, and the neighbors would steal them. Yes, people stole banged up garbage cans. I grew up on a street where someone stole my next door neighbor's kid's birthday money out of his birthday card left in the door. He was only 10, my mom gave him a $10 bill in the card and someone took the money and put the card back in the envelope and the envelope back in the door.
So I never really heard of this tipping stuff, not unless it was in reference to rich people. Today on the radio show I'm hearing about people giving something nice to their pet sitter. In all my adult life, I've tipped as matter of course, like when I get my hair done or eat at a restaurant, but I've never given anything to a letter carrier or garbage man for xmas. I never get the newspaper. In fact, here in San Diego, our letter carrier is different almost every day of the week. We have about 4 carriers, and their schedule is irregular. Who would get the tip?
I didn't know you're actually supposed to give virtually every service person around you some kind of gratuity for xmas. Do you give xmas gratuity to the letter carrier, newspaper delivery person, pet sitter, garbage man, maintenance man, gardener, etc.? Am I the only person who never heard that this is what everyone is expected to do?
Anastasia I am so sorry you grew up in a bad neighborhood where things were, to say the least, crappy. I know the feeling of growing up poor. But, If I was to base my life on the past I would never have anything good now.
Today in the present... YES I do tip TWO service people.
#1 is My Post lady Patty.... who always takes my outgoing mail. So I never have to bother looking for a mailbox. I just stick our outgoing mail in our slot and Patty gets it without fail.
Also, Patty always holds our mail for us when we go to Vegas. So I don't have to make special calls to the post office only to be put on hold for 20 yrs for a simple request.
I need not bother cause she takes very good care of us mail wise, So every year, we give her something great in the way of $ & or special gifts.
#2 is I also tip our UPS Man Dave. Cause he has had to carry his fair share of very very heavy boxes to our door. And he always rings the doorbell.
Not unlike our idiot Fed Ex man who leaves packages at our side door without so much as ringing our doorbell. And when I got to look for it.
Its somewhere in our rose bushes, lol
So he never gets a dime, lol
IMHO You get what you pay for.
If you tip your service people well during the holidays, they will remember you and treat you with respect.
Now I am not saying that they shouldn't do that without a tip.
But it does make their day brighter.
And hell, If I can afford it, then why not, Hey it's the Holidays and
its always fun to share when you can, lol
There are rules for tipping USPS mail carriers. Here's an excerpt from a tipping etiquette
website:
Postal Service employees may not accept cash - in any amount or form (bills, checks, money orders) - from an outside source.
The mail man delivers my mail - the garbage man picks up my garbage. I don't give them a tip of any kind. They're union employees and make enough money as it is.
mark1030 Wrote:There are rules for tipping USPS mail carriers. Here's an excerpt from a tipping etiquette website:
Postal Service employees may not accept cash - in any amount or form (bills, checks, money orders) - from an outside source.
Yes, I knew about this, but I do it anyway. They have never turned it down.
I wouldn't even know how to tip my mailman. We don't have a box, just a slot. No clue who the guy is - he comes while we're at work.
I have tipped my newspaper carrier in the past - but ONLY when they do a good job. This current guy can't get the damned paper here on time pretty much 4/5 days and he doesn't bother throwing it near my door either. Sorry, dude, no tip. My old carrier had it here by 5:30am EVERY DAY, even Sunday and right on my doorstep. That was worthy of a Christmas tip.
At work at my old job we tipped the UPS guy. Where I work now is too fucking clueless to do such a thing.
I had never heard about this custom until reading about it in magazines (Real Simple type). I tip at restaurants like a normal person, and I tipped when I got my hair cut (I do it myself now), but that's it. I don't tip at the spa I've been to a few times, even though they have cute little envelopes expressly for that purpose. I don't tip the housekeepers in hotels either. (No, I've never gotten tips for all the crappy, low-paying jobs I've had in my life. Yes, I make minimum wage.)
So it doesn't even cross my mind to tip the postal carrier, garbage collector, or apartment manager during the Xmas season. That seems like more of a "city" thing, like people would do in NYC.
Truckerswife Wrote:#1 is My Post lady Patty....
#2 is I also tip our UPS Man Dave.
Hmm...I don't know the postal carriers, there are several different ones each week. I have no idea what their names are, and they're different from the people who delivered the mail when we first moved here last year. The job seems like a revolving door. It doesn't seem like a tipping relationship.
The UPS guys and the FedEx guys are always different, and most of the time they don't ring the bell, they just leave the packages on the porch. So I guess there's not a tipping situation there.
There's only one garbage collector guy, I have never actually seen him so it might be a different guy every time, but he drives a truck that has an automated thing that picks up and empties the trash in the back of his truck. He just works levers from his driver's seat. The recycling guy does the same thing. It's not like the old days when it would be one truck and 4 guys physically picking up the trash bins and unloading them by hand.
I can't really think of anyone else. I guess the dog groomer, but I tip her anyway each time, and she already charges me $70 for Muppet's grooming. My massage therapist, I guess, but I never thought of it. I dunno, I never had money to be so extravagant with, it's alien to me. I guess if I could do something useful, like make yummy cookies like the lady across the street did for all the neighbors, I'd do that for people, but I'm pretty useless in the kitchen.
anastasia Wrote:Truckerswife Wrote:#1 is My Post lady Patty....
#2 is I also tip our UPS Man Dave.
Hmm...I don't know the postal carriers, there are several different ones each week. I have no idea what their names are, and they're different from the people who delivered the mail when we first moved here last year. The job seems like a revolving door. It doesn't seem like a tipping relationship.
The UPS guys and the FedEx guys are always different, and most of the time they don't ring the bell, they just leave the packages on the porch. So I guess there's not a tipping situation there.
There's only one garbage collector guy, I have never actually seen him so it might be a different guy every time, but he drives a truck that has an automated thing that picks up and empties the trash in the back of his truck. He just works levers from his driver's seat. The recycling guy does the same thing. It's not like the old days when it would be one truck and 4 guys physically picking up the trash bins and unloading them by hand.
I can't really think of anyone else. I guess the dog groomer, but I tip her anyway each time, and she already charges me $70 for Muppet's grooming. My massage therapist, I guess, but I never thought of it. I dunno, I never had money to be so extravagant with, it's alien to me. I guess if I could do something useful, like make yummy cookies like the lady across the street did for all the neighbors, I'd do that for people, but I'm pretty useless in the kitchen.
ITA anastasia it would be very hard to establish a repore with postal employees if they are constantly changing their routes.
But in my case Both Patty & David have been delivering for us for over
5 years.
And they both tend to run into each other too, while doing their jobs. So they both know each other as well as know me. Also,
They both know I have lost a lot of weight too.. And both are very supportive of me as well.
All summer long Patty would see me walking. I sometimes got a chance to walk with her.. So they are more then just strangers for me.
And by the big smiles on their faces & the many Thank you's that I get every year, I know they are very
Appreciative of what I give them.
No, I don't give extra tips when people do their jobs(wait staff excluded). No one tips me for my job, why should I tip them? Why some people are worthy of tips while others are not is a mystery, and a custom that should be ended imho.
I am on the receiving end of Xmas gratuities at my job because of what I do. Some people give me gifts around Christmas.
Last year I got couple bottles of wine and some food items and they were really nice. This year it's so much more scaled down because of harder times. This year I just got cookies and nuts. I did not like the cookies I got.
If I didn't get anything at all, that would have been fine with me. I enjoy my job and I don't do it for the gifts.
I have worked at a couple places where they got gifts at the holidays. Not money (although that might have happened discretely for all I know) but FOOD. Good chocolates, and cookies, and such. That way we could share, and it wasn't awkward for the gifter. I don't think you should do it unless you consider it more like a gift to a friend. There are a few people that I know that I would like to give them something nice, and it would probably be something like that. Even if they can't eat it themselves then their coworkers would.
It may not be an ideal solution for all cases, but I like the concept.
I've heard of it, but don't do it.
I don't have a regular mail carrier, or garbage person, or a house cleaner or a pet sitter or anything. I don't get personal deliveries (community mailboxes) and our garbage service sucks and it's sporadic at best.
I also think it's a custom that should be ended. It's a nice gesture, but it's just not realistic now.
I tip extra for my massage therapist and my hairdresser. Otherwise I don't tip. I don't know my mail carrier, my UPS carrier, or my newspaper carrier.
I do, but only a few people.
I think the only reason I do is because I watched my parents do it while I was growing up.
They left money for everyone. They still do. Sometimes I think they are a bit too generous, but hell, it's their money and if the door person, waiter, housekeeper, etc......are nice and they make my parents happy, I guess it is worth it to them.
On that note, I am not quite as generous. I tipped my hairdresser (extra) the other day. I left some money for the paper person and we tipped the waiter that always gives us excellent service extra, too.
Paloma Wrote:...I don't tip the housekeepers in hotels either...
I've heard that if you tip the housekeeper, you may get extra towels, or they'll replace the sewing kit, soap, shampoo/conditioner, etc. daily, or just give your room a little extra tidy-up around your stuff.
When I was in Vegas a year or so ago, I tipped $3 a day (I read the average was $2-5/day) and you know what? Not a damn thing different in the level of service. The bar of soap beside the sink? Used the same one all four days - no extra towels, no extra tidy-up.
My last trip I was at a different hotel and didn't leave a daily tip - again, no decrease in service (near as I could tell). What I found interesting was at this hotel there was tipping envelopes not-so-discreetly displayed by the 'phone/hotel information book. THAT, for some reason, pissed me off!
So while I think the housekeeping staff are poorly paid, I also think the expectation of a tip (regardless of employment) has gone too far. Tip/don't tip - in my case it made no difference so I may as well keep the $12.
We always tip housekeeping when we travel but do so on the last day only. I heard once that at Disney if you tip daily the staff will do fun things with your room (such as making towel animals and fun displays), but we tried that last time and nothing happened.