Tipping in December

[hrhdhd]

Sounds like a lot of postal workers are violating the ethics policy: https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2012/pb22349/html/cover_025.htm

 

[mjkacmom]

I don't think I have ever seen my mailperson in my life in the Netherlands... Maybe on occasion if I came home/left the house at the right time, but those instances are rare.

How does that work in the US? I take it you have a mailbox, they don't come to the door, ring the bell and give your mail to you in person, do they?

He walks up my walkway onto my porch, puts it in the mailbox arrached to my house, and gets verbally abused by my dog, as well as from every dog on our street.

 

[soccerdad72]

Why does there seem to be an obligation/tradition of tipping at the holidays? I don’t tip anyone and other than when this type of thread or “articles” pop up this time of year never even gave it much thought.

I guess we view it as less of a "tip" and more of Christmas presents. Generally speaking, though, my wife is pretty good about trying to figure out something a little more meaningful than just extra cash (although we're not above giving out some gift cards this time of the year as well).

 

[MillauFr]

I tip none of the above. If I don't tip the other 11 months of the year, I'm not tipping just because it's December.

Yes Mr. Pink

 

[john7994]

He's makin a list, checkin it twice, gonna find out who's cheapskate or nice.

Harsh.

 

[fla4fun]

The only person I tip/gift is the guy who mows my lawn all year. He really deserves it and I appreciate his hard work.

Other than that, I don’t have anyone I gift. The trash collector drives one of those automatic trucks, so there would be no way to leave anything. Our mail is in cluster boxes (and quite frankly, doesn’t get delivered in the right one half the time). Any other service I have that would traditionally be due a tip, I tip at the time of the service, not in December.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

I don't think I have ever seen my mailperson in my life in the Netherlands... Maybe on occasion if I came home/left the house at the right time, but those instances are rare.

How does that work in the US? I take it you have a mailbox, they don't come to the door, ring the bell and give your mail to you in person, do they?

Mail works several different ways in the U.S. Some have boxes on their porches/stoops and the carrier walks the route. Others have boxes at the curb and the mail carriers drive the route. Still others have common boxes not even in sight of their residence where the carrier has a key that will open all the boxes at once and just sticks all the mail in right there. I'm sure there are even more but those are the big 3.

I would guess that the percentage that tip would be highest where the carrier comes to the stoop and lowest for the communal boxes. But I have no actual data. They're not supposed to take cash, however. But gift cards that can't be exchanged for cash are ok.

 

[MillauFr]

For those who are not fans of Reservoir Dogs....

https://reservoirdogs.fandom.com/wiki/Mr_Pink

 

[amylevan]

You are not allowed to tip US Postage workers.

You may give them a gift, including gift cards that cannot be exchanged for cash, but it is supposed to be worth less than $20.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

I don't like our letter carrier. We regularly see her driving down our neighbor's driveway to deliver packages. She leaves us a note in the mailbox, and I have to go it at the post office.

We don't tip the garbage pick-up people.

My mom cleans for us (we pay her.) I seriously doubt she would take a "tip."

We have gone out to eat a few times in the past few weeks. One guy was super nice, so we left him an additional $15 on top of the 20% tip and told him Merry Christmas.

I will be buying gifts for several of my boys' high school teachers.

 

[Darcy03231]

I don't tip anyone extra for the holidays. My hairdresser (who's a longtime family friend) gets her normal tip and a tin of homemade cookies (which her family loves) every year, but I'm not tipping the mailman, garbage collectors, delivery drivers, etc. for doing their jobs. Only other people I tip are the waiters/waitresses if I go to a restaurant. I did tip the team that just delivered my horse to me as they went out of their way to make sure he was comfortable on the 18+ hour ride and made regular updates so I knew where they were and how he was doing.

Tipping has gotten out of control in the US.

 

[robinb]

I tipped my dog groomer extra a couple weeks ago and I'll tip my nail technician extra when she celebrates Tsagaan Sar in February. I hired local kids to walk my dog and feed my critters while I was away last week and I paid them extra so they can buy their parents/friends gifts with the cash. I've never thought of tipping my letter carrier. Is than normal?

 

[TwoMisfits]

I tip for services as I use them.

So, there's no one I tip "special" in December.

 

[RedAngie]

Holiday tips to my house cleaning service, yard service, and hair stylist. Sometimes the stylist gets her holiday tip in January if I don’t see her in December.

 

[jo-jo]

I don't tip anyone aside from meals.

But I do leave a cooler on my porch all summer with bottles of water in it. Does that count?

 

[LuvOrlando]

The only person I tip/gift is the guy who mows my lawn all year. He really deserves it and I appreciate his hard work.

THANK YOU!!!!

I almost forgot the young guy that mows the lawn and takes care of the snow in the winter

 

[fortwildernessishome]

Just the mailman. We live in a small town and our mailbox is in front of our house. If I am outside when he drives up, we will chat and are on a first name basis. He's great! Usually 4-5 times a year, I will call the post office and ask him to set my mail aside so I can pick it up at 10:00 in the morning instead of waiting until he delivers it around 5:00. It's great that I can do this and I know asking for that would be unheard of pretty much anywhere else!

I'm also aware of the tipping rules regarding mailmen, so I don't go overboard. A $10 gift card to McDonalds (because I know he loves to grab coffee there!) one of those 3-packs of Planters nuts, a box of Whitmans chocolates and a bag of Lindt chocolate as well as a thank you card, for being a kind man who goes out of his way.

I go to the post office and hand deliver the gift bag to him. At the same time, I leave two bags of chocolate (usually Lindt and Dove) to the post office workers.

Our kids are all grown up now, but when they were in school, I did gift cards for all of their teachers, support staff and the school secretary.

Thats it, we don't have trash pick-up, a lawn service, house cleaners or anyone else that I would tip.

When my kids were little, I babysat a little boy for one year. That Christmas his parents gave me a "Christmas bonus" of one week's pay. I was blown away and it meant a lot to me. We never used daycare, but if I did, I would have tipped those workers.

 

[MIGrandma]

I don't think I have ever seen my mailperson in my life in the Netherlands... Maybe on occasion if I came home/left the house at the right time, but those instances are rare.

How does that work in the US? I take it you have a mailbox, they don't come to the door, ring the bell and give your mail to you in person, do they?

Our former mail delivery lady, who we had for around 30 years or more, would drive to our back door and honk the horn if she had a package for us that wouldn’t fit in the mailbox at the road. If we were at home one of us would meet her at the door to accept it, and would chat for a moment. If we weren’t home she would leave it on the porch, or if it was raining she would put it on the freezer in the garage. We always tipped her at Christmas, either a Walmart/Meijer gift card, or a gas card. She was a wonderful person, but she retired awhile back.

Now I have no idea who delivers the mail, I’ve seen several different ones so I really have no inclination to tip.

 

[dvcgirl67]

I rarely use a dog walker, maybe 5 or so 20 minute walks a year, I Venmo the owner ($30 a walk?). I’ve never tipped, how common are tips?

I wouldn’t worry about tipping in your instance unless you happen to be using your walker within 2 weeks of the holiday. Then I’d tip $20….no more.

For my company we don’t take on customers with that kind of “one off” walks. We require a minimum of 3 days per week. Most are 4-5 days a week and so our customers spend a lot with us. Our tips are minimum $100, more leave $200 and then we have some who are very generous. I got a $2,000 tip last week and another one today for $400.

If the customer sees one of my walkers exclusively, they keep that tip. If we share the workload with a customer we pool the tips and split them. And then I give everyone a holiday bonus. I will say this…my people not only really appreciate the tips, but they factor it into their holiday shopping.

 

[Meriweather]

Never see the mail person. The boxes are a street over. Never see any of the delivery people.
The garbage and recycle drivers never leave the truck and use a claw. We never see them either.
The only ones we tip at Christmas are the yard people. They are a family of dad and 4 sons.
I leave them a container of cookies and one of candy (from Costco) and $100.
And the pool guy. A container of cookies and $50