Tips/Holidays, how do you tip mailman?

[TheRatPack]

My mail carrier is paid for 9 1/2 hours and he has a route of 900 or so stops.....and he has a regular sub, I'll try to remember them both

 

[maggiew]

Now my UPS guy, he is a busy man!!

Mine too! I know I've ordered from Victoria's Secret 4 times in the past month because of all the deals.

Maggie

 

[AnninIowa]

I am an Ebay seller, so I'm at the Post Office every day and have gotten to know the clerks. I found 4-packs of mugs filled with candy at Sam's Club for $20 - so each mug came to $5. I bought 3 packs, gave one to each of the clerks, will give one to the carrier, one to the paper girl, and one to my dad's barber. They are really substantial and have Girardelli chocolate in them - look much more expensive than they were!

 

[ncbyrne]

I've had the same mailman for 20 years. He's a super friendly guy, and goes over and above what's expected. He never asks for postage due, he just pays out of pocket. It's a walking route, with the mailboxes on the houses, so his day involves a lot of stairs. He also rings the doorbell where he knows someone is home (like my house) and hands the mail to me with a minute or two of chat. Over the years he has befriended just about everyone on the route. We give him $25 within the first week of Dec.

 

[timzagain]

One very lean Christmas a few years ago, the then garbage collector openly scoffed at the tip we gave him (it was all we could afford at the time - DH literally gave the man the last $$ in his wallet!). We were quite hurt because it was a real sacrifice at the time. Since then, DH has been adamant that the only thing we'll offer our garbage collector, mailman etc. is our best wishes for the holiday season! As far as DH is concerned, we already contribute to their pay checks and bonuses through our taxes!

Maybe I'll get him to soften this year - I think we have made Peter pay for Paul long enough!

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

As far as DH is concerned, we already contribute to their pay checks and bonuses through our taxes!

I do not blame you. I wouldn't tip anyone who had been previously ungrateful. That is so rude. But why refuse to tip others, like letter carriers, if it was the garbage man who was ungrateful? I understand not tipping anyone for financial reasons, but I wouldn't let one bad apple (the garbage man) spoil the whole bunch.

btw, letter carriers do not receive any bonuses or perks of any kind. There are no job incentives, in fact, the majority of carrier supervisors seem to go out of their way to do whatever possible to make the carriers miserable. You have no idea the stunts they pull and the unreasonable demands they make on their workers. My husband works very hard. He takes great pride in his route. For the most part, the supervisors know this, and realize he had been delivering mail before some of them were even born. But, as with any job, all it takes is one supervisor from h*e*l*l to make the job almost unbearable. As a former letter carrier myself, I often wondered what it was about the carrier supervisor position that attracted so many mean, unreasonable individuals.

Oh well, tis the season to be jolly, right?

 

[beattyfamily]

I just leave the envelope in the mail box around 11:00a - 12:00p a couple of days before Christmas and he has gotten it every single time.

I always get a thank you card a few days later.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

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.

Mistakes happen. Your mail should have been delivered. I will tell you one thing, though, 10 days of mail can be a pretty huge load. It usually is not delivered when the carrier is walking the route, but requires a separate trip from the mail truck to your house. I am not sure any carrier on foot, with bag on his/her back or with a cart, has room for 10 days of mail without making a separate trip from thier truck to your house. Just a thought - you also have the option of picking up your hold mail at your post office as soon as you return from your trip (have a photo ID handy).

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

It's so nice to see so many folks here being so kind to their letter carriers during the holidays. I am sure your carrier considers it a pleasure to deal with you.

My husband sees babies born on his route, then he watches them go off to college, get married, and have babies of their own. He has even had the luck of about three of those babies becoming professional athletes. Being a sports nut, he gets a kick out of that.

We love getting the photo Christmas cards each year to see how the children on his route have grown. It really is a happy time. As the wife of a carrier, I can tell you my husband looks like a kid on Christmas morning bringing in festively wrapped gifts and envelopes. He is grateful for every single one of them and the kind people who let him know the little things he does all year to make sure they receive all their mail and packages safely is very much appreciated.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

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.

Hi, If you don't have a lot of extra cash right now, I wouldn't worry about tipping anyone. Unless you know your carrier personally, typically, homemade goodies are disposed of. I, too, used to bake for people. I'd package up some of my best treats, and I do love to bake, until I realized baked goods are thrown out. Now I do not bake for anyone except friends and family.

Also, if your carrier is on foot with a bag on their back or using a mail cart, it is generally not a good idea to give them food on a plate. They simply do not have a good way to carry a plate of cookies or other goodies, along with the mail. Imagine your cookies having to be turned on their side and getting smashed after all your hard work. I do, however, make my husband take special care of Mrs T's fudge. We know her personally, and nothing says Christmas like seeing her little tinfoil wrapped rectangle of delicious fudge.

A really inexpensive gift for service people is a gift card. Even a small amount to a bread store, Starbucks, or Blockbuster, using the same amount you'd spend on baking ingredients, are appreciated and easy for a letter carrier to carry.

tink

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

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.

Love the fruitcake comment. I'll have to tell dh that one.

 

[tinkerbellmagic]

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

I would venture to say absolutely not. We've been a postal family for 35 years and have never heard of anyone turning down money.