Tips/Holidays, how do you tip mailman?

[las3888]

I have no idea how other people do this. I really like our mailman...I don't see him much, but when I get a package, I wave occasionally. Two years ago, I left a cash tip in our mailbox with a card for him. He wrote a very nice thank you to me. Last year, I did the same and I never heard anything. I suspect that we had a 'sub' that day. I don't really know. I am not home that often when the mail comes, and it often fluctuates. I realize the post office probably has rules and regulations about tipping, but leaving that aside, how do you handle giving your mailman a gift...do you wait out every day and grab him or what? I am just curious how others do this, if at all. TIA!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

Hi, Here are some letter carrier threads from last year. Hope this helps:

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1300033
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1262778

Here is a post from last year concerning the policy:

My dad was a letter carrier for 30 yrs and he received all sorts of gifts. He really appreciated all of them and would (usually)share with us.

Here's what the post office says the rules are:


"Can USPS® employees receive gifts?

Gifts to Postal Service Employees
While many Postal Service™ customers have traditionally thanked their letter carrier with gifts of cash during the holiday season, this practice puts our employees at risk of violating federal law. The Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch ("Standards"), specifies that Postal Service employees may not accept gifts from outside sources (including Postal Service customers) or gifts given to them because of their official positions. Postal Service employees are also prohibited from soliciting gifts from outside sources.

There are a number of exceptions and exclusions to the general gifts rule. Postal Service employees may accept the following items:

Snacks and beverages that are not offered as part of a meal.
Items with little intrinsic value (i.e., greeting cards, plaques, pens, coffee mugs, etc.).
Perishable items (i.e., flowers, chocolates, cookies, etc.); if the items are clearly worth more than $20, employees should share them with others in the Postal Service workplace.
Items with a market (retail) value of $20 or less.
Gifts motivated solely because of a personal relationship.
Gifts for which the employee has paid market (retail) value.
Gifts paid for by the Postal Service.
Postal Service employees may not accept cash - in any amount or form (bills, checks, money orders) - from an outside source"


Hope this helps...

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

I realize the post office probably has rules and regulations about tipping, but leaving that aside, how do you handle giving your mailman a gift...do you wait out every day and grab him or what? I am just curious how others do this, if at all. TIA!

Hi, here is my post from last year on this topic:

Here is some practical advice about leaving gifts for your letter carrier. Obviously you do not want the gift stolen off your porch or out of your mailbox before it reaches your letter carrier, so try to make sure the gift is not visible from the street.

To insure your gift goes to the right carrier, hand the gift to the letter carrier you intend the gift for, or at least make sure he/she is on your block when you leave the gift on your porch or in your mail box.

Here's why: every year wonderful people on my husbands route leave envelopes or gifts inside the mail box or on their porch. Unfortunately, there are some subs on the routes or temporary carriers hired as Christmas help, who keep the gifts, rather than give it to the carrier it was intended for. Money is just too tempting this time of year. Hehe, there are also occasions when the sub is a lot nicer than the regular carrier so you'd want to make sure the right person receives your gift. Maybe if you wrote the carriers name on the gift, rather than "letter carrier" it might help too. All too often a sub will justify their actions by saying, "Hey, it said letter carrier, so I kept it."

I sincerely hope I am not coming off as tacky here. My husband would never ask for anything. He doesn't expect anything. He has been on his route for 30 years and takes care of his people with pride. He personally thanks each person who remembers him at Christmas.

If someone leaves a tip or gift in the mailbox for their favorite carrier and a sub ends up taking the gift, (or even someone walking down the street if the gift is visible), the patron is usually left wondering why their favorite carrier never thanked them for the gift. They may think he/she has suddenly become ungrateful. But if your carrier always thanks you for gifts and one year he/she does not, someone else may have taken the gift.

Many letter carriers share some of their gifts with their co-workers. A regular letter carrier will sometimes give a portion of money they receive (and yes, letter carriers do receive money) to the sub(s) who usually handle the route on the regular's day off. Other times candy and other goodies are shared with co-workers.

Hope this helps.

Tink

 

[grlpwrd]

Tink, I thought of that, too, so what I do is go in to our local main distributing post office and then find out the first names of the sub(s). That is how I found out the name of my main postman. Then I leave a card there with a gift card for each. I looked it up in my phone book first and tracked them down that way. One year I was short on money and time so I just left some chocolates in my mailbox for them.

For the post office where my mailbox is, the people there are so lovely and kind when I come in to pick up my overflowing mailbox and when I send my ebay parcels out. I get them a gift basket of goodies or fruit with a thank you card.

 

[mamalle]

I bought him a $20 GC last year and he came up personally and thanked dh. It is hard though sometimes since you wonder if they have a sub but so far we have been lucky to get our regular guy when we do it..

 

[skywaywaver]

Our usual mailman is a gem, as he is always picking stuff up for me and leavine me my ton of Paperbackswap packages. We gave him cash last year and will do so again this year.
However, we have been having a lot of subs (not temps, just not the usual guy), so I will wait to see who it is before I go put out the goodies and envelope.
Sometime last year, I left him a loaf of pumpkin bread, just because, and he was very grateful. He came to the door to be sure it was for him and said thank you a zillion times.
For the record, I will also be tipping our UPS guy, just not as much. He is awesome too!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I put a card in the mailbox with "Postal Carrier" in large letters. Inside is a $20 bill. I prop it up so that it is easily seen by the person. The next day we get a card in our mail box thanking us for the gift.

ETA: We live in the country and never have a sub. The PO hires subs only to deliver packages to the homes during the holiday. So we never have the problem of not getting our regular mail carrier at the mail box.

 

[ssdeverell]

My mom always left our carrier a box of chocolate covered cherries, so that is what I do, too. With a Christmas card, of course.

 

[cgcw]

I call our post office to find out which day our regular letter carrier is off so that I don't leave a gift for the sub.

Then I give cash -- which I know is more than the value in the guidelines -- so I call it a "fruitcake". I tell him to enjoy it with his family. We always receive a thank you card within days.

Our mailman has hauled away more boxes from my home than I can count. I know it's his job, but there is no way that I would ever stand in line at the PO to mail them out. Because of his help, I have sold quite a bit on ebay and I know if I leave the packages outside, he will make sure they get to the PO. In fact, he's come back some days because my packages haven't been ready if he's running early. And, if I see that it's his day off, I pull my packages back in as I don't have the same level of confidence with those that are subs -- sometimes were lucky to get our mail from them at all, and not all the neighbors.

We are fortunate we have someone who cares enough about their job. These days that seems to be a dying bred.

 

[TheRatPack]

We just moved last year and both the UPS delivery lady and our regular postal carrier are GREAT! He often leaves our packages in the shed, or in the spare vehicle...etc so they won't get stolen...etc and he's always really nice about leaving us a note stating that he did that so we'll know. That saves me from going to the Post office and standing in line with one of those cards to pick up a package that wouldn't fit in the mailbox. At our old house we probably had a different mail carrier every month or so...not sure why exactly. But, we always just gave them a card since we never really got to know any of them (over 10 years). I feel odd giving them money since the rules state that is a NO NO but what else can you give someone you don't know 'that well' but goes above and beyond as they both do. Do most postal employees turn down the money due to the rule?

 

[My2BabiesLexis&Dill]

Not to start a huge debate over this but can I ask why some of you all are bashing the SUBS? And why you don't give the subs a "gift" also?

I have been a Sub for 3 years. I do have customers who gives me gifts every year and I appreciate that. And I do leave them thank you cards (as soon as I run the route again)

If anyone of you would work in the Post Office a week you would realize how hard the job is. A regular carrier is on their route every day. A sub can be on up to 6 routes a week. That is allot of names and addresses to remember especially when its anywhere from 400-700 boxes PER route.

And you got to remember this is our heaviest time at the office. ALLOT more mail and ALLOT more packages. It takes time to sort and case everything. (especially when you are getting old addresses BUT we are nice enough to sit there and figure out WHO the mail belongs)

And also about the "gift" coming up missing or no thank you card, make sure you don't put it in with your regular mail (because we are not required to look at the outgoing mail UNLESS it's a package or big envelope). Also put your name and address on it. It makes it easier to write the thank you cards. That is also good for when the mail is thrown into the outgoing mail, it will come back to you. So if you do put something in the mailbox, make sure it's noticable that the gift is for the regular carrier or sub. You can either highlight the name, stand it up...anything to make it more noticable.

Sorry for the ranting but SUBS do work as hard or even harder than the regulars and GOOD,HONEST regular carriers will tell you that in a heartbeat.

 

[maggiew]

Technically you are not supposed to leave things in the mailbox.

Handing it to the carrier is your best bet. If you work, try on a Saturday.

Also, for those of you who might not have heard back, did you put your address on it? If not, maybe he couldn't remember where each card came from and couldn't thank the person properly. Make sure you put your name or address.

My Dad is a retired letter carrier. He was a career man at this and did it his whole life. I remember at Christmas time he would bring home boxes and boxes of cookies and chocolates, etc. (sometimes liquor). He brought home so many food items that it was hard to eat them all. He appreciated every gift and left a note of thanks for each. But IMHO, cash is a better option for a gift. You can only eat so many bags of Pepperidge Farm cookies, etc.

Maggie

 

[mickeyfan9194]

Do most postal employees turn down the money due to the rule?

Answering as the wife of a mail carrier, I've never met one that did.

Then I give cash -- which I know is more than the value in the guidelines -- so I call it a "fruitcake".

I love it!

And why you don't give the subs a "gift" also?

For the ease of the customer, I wouldn't expect them to remember more than one mail carrier. That being said, my husband always takes good care of his sub--gives him a percentage of the money he receives AND a nice gift. If each sub received six of what my husband gave, that sub is making out better than him. For the record, I do tip my mail carrier but not the sub, because our sub truely does suck and therefore doesn't deserve a tip.

 

[tiff211]

My mail carrier is ok, no complaints but I think where we used to live, the mail carriers had a harder time since they were on foot. Now I see them zip thru our subdivision in the truck, they never have to get out. I will leave a gift card for a small amount. Now my UPS guy, he is a busy man!! I will be giving him 2 gift cards 1 to subway and 1 to sonic.

 

[cnj]

We give the mailman and the UPS man a gift card to Chili's. We live in the suburbs, but are on a hill, so I know it is hard to have to keep walking up it to drop off all of our "deals".

I wait until I see our mailman to give him our gift, even if it means catching him after the holidays. I want to make sure he gets it.

 

[cgcw]

Not to start a huge debate over this but can I ask why some of you all are bashing the SUBS? And why you don't give the subs a "gift" also?

If we had a sub more than once, I might consider it. But seldomly do I see the same person twice. Of course, it's hard to see them when they can't get the mail delivered usually in the daylight hours this time of year.

We have been gone for 10 days. I had our mail held at the PO and it was to be delivered today. My DS7 came home from school 30 minutes ago and just now when I said that I wondered where our mail was, that he saw the "sub" walking down the street and going past our house. Go figure. No wonder I don't trust them to pick up my outgoing mail -- they can't deliver the held mail on the correct day.

I'm sure tomorrow when our regular carrier is back we'll have a stack of it.

 

[pbharris4]

I used to for several years, but not once did I get a thank you..so I do not do it anymore. I think we have a lot of different people doing it now. I do give UPS and newspaper gift cards. And the bus driver, and the teachers, hair person, massage therapist, children I watch, their parents..and so on....

 

[Stephanie218]

We don't have a lot of extra cash right now, but do you think he would appreciate handmade cookies or bread? I don't want him to get freaked out about random food left in the mailbox though, lol.

 

[kid-at-heart]

We don't have a lot of extra cash right now, but do you think he would appreciate handmade cookies or bread? I don't want him to get freaked out about random food left in the mailbox though, lol.

Being from "the old school", a handmade gift was always considered the most polite gesture of thanks. I bake cookies, bread or something of the sort and leave it with a holiday card addressed to our postman and his family. I have the advantage of living in a smallish village and knowing our postman. And he knows who the “homemade” item is coming from and that is a safe item to consume. He, in return, always leaves us a holiday card with both a thank you note and pictures of his family. We have never “officially” met his family but we have watched his daughters grow from toddlers into beautiful young ladies. I want to give our postman a gift, not because he delivers our mail; he gets paid for that service. I want to give him a gift because he goes beyond his “postal duties”; each day he knocks on the doors of our elderly neighbors and makes sure they do not need anything. I have seen him walk pets and children who have escaped their yards back to safety. I am sure that all these extra gestures cost him time and I want to thank him for watching out for our neighborhood, therefore, I use the holidays as an excuse to bake him a gift.

 

[My2BabiesLexis&Dill]

For the ease of the customer, I wouldn't expect them to remember more than one mail carrier.

But they sure don't have a problem complaining about the sub, now do they?

Handing it to the carrier is your best bet. If you work, try on a Saturday.

That's the day MOST regular carriers are off.

Of course, it's hard to see them when they can't get the mail delivered usually in the daylight hours this time of year

If you would see the amount of mail and packages we have to deliver, you would totally understand.

If we had a sub more than once, I might consider it.

I understand that one.

We have been gone for 10 days. I had our mail held at the PO and it was to be delivered today. My DS7 came home from school 30 minutes ago and just now when I said that I wondered where our mail was, that he saw the "sub" walking down the street and going past our house. Go figure. No wonder I don't trust them to pick up my outgoing mail -- they can't deliver the held mail on the correct day

Not to defend him but did you fill it out correctly and completely?