Tipping in December

[mjkacmom]

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.

We just happened to get the same dog walker each time, the last one was two days in a row, had to go out of town last minute for a wake/funeral, my adult kids have friends who live locally with their parents so I pay them to come feed and sleep here when we need to go out of town (unfortunately those who tend to board dogs in their home have dogs of their own, which isn’t a good fit with old cranky here).

 

[china mom]

I have a question. On my Landlord FB group, someone asked what other landlords are giving their tenants as a Christmas gift. Answers ranged from "nothing" to $20 gift cards to half a months rent. I had never herd of this before. Has anyone else? What is the thinking behind this?

 

[NYCgrrl]

I have a question. On my Landlord FB group, someone asked what other landlords are giving their tenants as a Christmas gift. Answers ranged from "nothing" to $20 gift cards to half a months rent. I had never herd of this before. Has anyone else? What is the thinking behind this?

Here are my answers based on wearing the various hats I worn inlife.

Tenant to landlord: Happy Holidays! I paid my rent so you could buy your favorite person a present.

Landlord to tenant: And Happy Holidays to you too! Ill also use the rent to pay for the heat you can share with all the company you will have. Peace on earth and I’ll see you same time next month.

At least that’s the way it always worked in my life.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

I have a question. On my Landlord FB group, someone asked what other landlords are giving their tenants as a Christmas gift. Answers ranged from "nothing" to $20 gift cards to half a months rent. I had never herd of this before. Has anyone else? What is the thinking behind this?

The same reason any tips extra in December....to be kind and generous. If it doesn't make sense to you or you don't want to then don't. I've had landlords skip the water bill that month (it's a pain to transfer the water bill in Philly so landlords just generally keep it in their name), I've had landlords bring over a cookie plate, I've have landlords do nothing. I don't have any expectations but appreciate it for sure if they do.

ETA: It seems like there are a lot more bad tenants than good (especially during COVID when you could get away with not paying rent) so some landlords just want to say "thanks for paying the rent on time and keeping up my property in good condition". Which I would do either way so I don't think a holiday gift is a requirement.

 

[dvcgirl67]

We just happened to get the same dog walker each time, the last one was two days in a row, had to go out of town last minute for a wake/funeral, my adult kids have friends who live locally with their parents so I pay them to come feed and sleep here when we need to go out of town (unfortunately those who tend to board dogs in their home have dogs of their own, which isn’t a good fit with old cranky here).

Ha, yes "old and cranky" do better at home in my experience. The "pet sitting" side of my business is the vacationers, and I haven't taken a new client looking for that service since before the pandemic. I'm just building the M-F dog walking business and allowing the remaining pet sitting clients to phase out as pets pass away. I have one employee who wants to buy my business when I retire within the next 4-5 years (if not sooner). And she really only wants the dog walking side...where there are no early mornings, late nights, holidays and hardly any weekends. That side of the business is easier to staff and manage, by far.

Incidentally, many of the pet sitting customers don't tip us.....again, unless we happen to have their pets in our care right near the holiday or over holiday week.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I have a question. On my Landlord FB group, someone asked what other landlords are giving their tenants as a Christmas gift. Answers ranged from "nothing" to $20 gift cards to half a months rent. I had never herd of this before. Has anyone else? What is the thinking behind this?

I imagine this depends on what the landlord situation is and the relationship they have with their tenants. You can be purely business-like, more informal and very informal.

If our landlord for our rental house we had was in town as opposed to more than 3 hours away in another state I could see her having done something for us for Christmas because that was her personality.

I don't believe my sister-in-law has done anything for her tenants for the holidays (she now has 5 rental agreements between two properties and will have 2 more in another property once that is completed on construction work) but throughout the year the tenants do things for her or she'll do things for them so a specified holiday thing isn't really expected.

Some probably also comes down to knowing the tenants situation. If a landlord knew a tenant was a good one but maybe needed a tad extra help at this time of year I could see giving half months rent.

 

[Micca]

we usually give gifts to our trainers at the gym

DW is a trainer at a gym part-time, she'll usually receive a gift card from a group of her regulars. We don't really have any regular service providers other than the mail carrier.

 

[rlk]

Our apartment building has a staff of ten people who we tip. We also park our car in the garage below our building, so we tip the four garage employees. We stopped tipping our mail carrier years ago because there doesn't seem to be a consistent carrier on our route.

 

[ronandannette]

This all comes as a complete surprise to me. We’ve rented at various times over the past 30 years...it never once occurred to me to “tip” the property owner, or that they would give us a gift. December was just business as usual.

 

[dvcgirl67]

This all comes as a complete surprise to me. We’ve rented at various times over the past 30 years...it never once occurred to me to “tip” the property owner, or that they would give us a gift. December was just business as usual.

I've seen tipping for the doormen in some buildings we work in.....but I don't know why anyone would tip the property owner, even if they are the ones doing repairs. If I was a renter...I wouldn't.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

This all comes as a complete surprise to me. We’ve rented at various times over the past 30 years...it never once occurred to me to “tip” the property owner, or that they would give us a gift. December was just business as usual.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that I would "tip" the property owner. And I clearly said I didn't expect anything in December as a tenant, but that occasionally I have had a landlord do something nice and it was appreciated

 

[NYCgrrl]

I'm not sure where you got the idea that I would "tip" the property owner. And I clearly said I didn't expect anything in December as a tenant, but that occasionally I have had a landlord do something nice and it was appreciated

Another poster asked if tipping tenants was a norm.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

Another poster asked if tipping tenants was a norm.

I know. I responded to that post as a tenant. Poster above quoted my response and then wrote some things that were not at all what I said.

 

[china mom]

I am with others who used to leave a gift for the mail carrier back when they would come to the house and we had the same one every day. It was usually something simple like a jar of candy with a thank you note. Where we live now, they pull up tp the mailbox at the curb and it is rarely the same carrier each time.

When we had city trash collection, we would leave a case of beer and a case of soda, not at Christmas but whenever we had a crazy amount of trash - like the time we threw away an entire shed that we had cut up.

When the kids were younger we would do teachers gifts and a gift card for the bus driver.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Our apartment building has a staff of ten people who we tip. We also park our car in the garage below our building, so we tip the four garage employees. We stopped tipping our mail carrier years ago because there doesn't seem to be a consistent carrier on our route.

Sounds like we live in similar surroundings . Staff here according to the Happy Holidays! letter (they send it every year with their names and positions- the better to tip, my dear, LOL) is 15 members strong. The in-house garage is run by a different company but no car so no dealings with them for me.

Now, here’s my question. Are you using the one month’s rent/ maintenance/ common charge guideline for tipping or a different formula? Just wondering if this is a regional practice or what. TIA!

 

[ronandannette]

I know. I responded to that post as a tenant. Poster above quoted my response and then wrote some things that were not at all what I said.

My response was to the topic in general, as by that point, several posts in the thread had been quoted. It was @NYCgrrl that mentioned the idea of tipping "Tenant to Landlord", in a winsome way.

Not to worry, I've gone back and deleted quoting you; my post is just a stand-alone now. Merry Christmas!

 

[NYCgrrl]

My response was to the topic in general, as by that point, several posts in the thread had been quoted. It was @NYCgrrl that mentioned the idea of tipping "Tenant to Landlord", in a winsome way.

Not to worry, I've gone back and deleted quoting you; my post is just a stand-alone now. Merry Christmas!

Raising hand…Yep, guilty as charged. Sorry for taking all down the wrong road.

 

[ronandannette]

Raising hand…Yep, guilty as charged. Sorry for taking all down the wrong road.

You didn't.

 

[rlk]

Sounds like we live in similar surroundings . Staff here according to the Happy Holidays! letter (they send it every year with their names and positions- the better to tip, my dear, LOL) is 15 members strong. The in-house garage is run by a different company but no car so no dealings with them for me.

Now, here’s my question. Are you using the one month’s rent/ maintenance/ common charge guideline for tipping or a different formula? Just wondering if this is a regional practice or what. TIA!

Hi NYCgrrl,
I assume from your user name you are in NYC. I live in Manhattan and know the drill. I will be making a bank run today or tomorrow for crisp bills. Our building staff are nice, but all they do for me is hand over packages. Plus, anytime I have needed a porter or the handyman, they have their hands out. My husband and usually give the superintendent $200 and the rest $100.

I rather give more to the garage manager and workers. They go above and beyond for us year round.

 

[aiden.b]

I usually tip my mail and waste collectors in December as a thank you for their year-round service. It's interesting to see how everyone's tipping habits differ during the holiday season!