Mailman and garbage men...

[TheHaitian]

Do people still "tip" them come Christmas time?

My wife told me this morning how much I intended to tip the mailman and garbage men? I said: I said I did not intend to so I guess 0.00. She said are you sure?

I didn't think people still did that, I don't even know who my mailman and garbage men are? How would we tip them if I never see them???

Do you tip your mailman and garbage men?

[Deleted]

Living in no tipping zone now. I hope nobody tips mail and garbage anymore. I hope not in trouble!

[Sharon]

We don't have the same mailman every day.  It seems to rotate between 3-4 people.  They have said it is whoever finishes there route first then does our neighborhood.

Our garbage men don't even get out of the trucks, it is all automated. 

[Deleted]

Well, my mailwoman is my neighbor and a real smartass PIA to boot.  She'll show up at my house and ask me if I want my mail for the rest of the year or not because she's keeping it hostage.   I stuck cookies in there with a note that says "Go ahead, eat them...you can trust me." 

I have no clue who the garbage man is or know how to tip him if I wanted to.  I could tape something to the garbage can, but I'm guessing it would just end up in the garbage since they don't even get out, the truck picks up the can and dumps it and they're there long before the sun comes up, so it would be hard to see if there was something taped to the bin. 

[wonderland]

No, tipping here. Our mail carrier is different every day, and our trash people are horrible. They leave bags of trash in the middle of the street, skip houses, etc.

[gooddecisions]

No way. These people make really good salaries.

[ArchietheDragon]

no and no.

[iono1]

I tip the mailman. I always have, even when I was in an Apt complex. I speak with him a few times a year when I see him.  

My garbage is collected by a private company that comes by & lifts the garbage out of their bins automatically. I have never met any of the garbage people and I pay their boss for their services so I don't tip them. 

[andi9899]

I don't tip either one and can't think of anyone I know who does.

[taz157]

No and no.

[zibazinski]

I tip my garbage man because he walks down the driveway, gets my garbage can, takes it to the street, then it's emptied and he puts in back. I was gone, DF doesn't know to do it so I will do it after Christmas. It's still money and it'll still be welcome. My mailman just retired to AZ, so nope.

[whoisjohngalt]

The only tip I would give to our mailman is to get a different job bc he sucks at this one!!

 I  looove the guy who owns our garbage company, so I would totally tip him, but he never does pick ups anymore.  the guys who do pick ups are not that great.

In general, I have no clue who to we are suppose to tip anymore and how much.

I so wish the whole tipping thing would just go away!!!!!!!!

[msventoux]

No tipping here.  The garbage person doesn't get out of the truck since everything's automated.  The mail is done by a number of different people.

If anything I should tip the UPS driver for putting up with my Amazon addiction.  I don't want to think how many hundreds of pounds of dog food, cat food and kitty litter they've brought to my door step.  But it seems like there's a different driver every month. 

[taz157]

Dec 26, 2014 22:01:32 GMT -5 whoisjohngalt said:

I so wish the whole tipping thing would just go away!!!!!!!!

[Lizard Queen]

I've seen UPS delivery literally running between the door and the truck.  One time, a female UPS driver dropped DH's box of 4 bowling balls off at our front door.  She carried them, despite it weighing over 60 pounds.  I was impressed.

[msventoux]

Holy crap!  I had 1,350 pounds of animal food and litter delivered to my house so far this year.    I realllly should have tipped UPS.

[Cookies Galore]

I gave nutella cookies and snickerdoodles to my favorite train driver (see him every morning) and coffee shop guy (same). That's all the holiday appreciation I have in me.

[marvholly]

Never tipped either and NEVER will. All the time I worked I could see how both made about 3x what I (w/a college degree) was making. I figgured they should have tipped me (and the rest of us)because of me/us they had a HIGh paying job.

[vonna]

We tip both.

[busymom]

We gave a gift card to DS's school bus driver. It's also normal here to tip your newspaper delivery person.

But, the garbage man just operates a lift to get the garbage. He doesn't even get out of his truck. And, like others have mentioned, we have different people delivering our mail all of the time.

[Shooby]

Nope. No holiday tips. I buy for my family and thats it. Not making Christmas bigger than it needs to be.

[midjd]

Dec 27, 2014 6:23:05 GMT -5 marvholly said:

Never tipped either and NEVER will. All the time I worked I could see how both made about 3x what I (w/a college degree) was making. I figgured they should have tipped me (and the rest of us)because of me/us they had a HIGh paying job.

So because you have a college degree, you feel that a service provider (who presumably doesn't have a degree) should pay you for allowing them to handle your household garbage or delivering your mail? Simply because they earn a decent wage by doing so? Wouldn't it be easier for you to go get one of those jobs if they are so great?

I have zero desire to be a postal carrier or a garbage collector. I don't even like taking our one trash can to the road. So if others can make a living at doing something I won't do, more power to them. (But I don't tip either.)

[Works4me]

No and no.

Also, it is often against company policy, if not against the law, for service providers to accept anything in excess of $20, sometimes even $5 or $10.

[Deleted]

I think some of you have an inflated idea of how much postal carriers make anyhow.  I know my friend the rural carrier doesn't make much, AND she has to use her own vehicle.  Let me tell you how fast she trashes vehicles on a rural route, a lot of which is on gravel roads. She's constantly replacing brakes and rotors and puts tons of miles on every week.  Plus, it just plain sucks to have to get the mail out no matter what the weather.  When we get a foot of snow her 6 hour route might take her 10 hours to deliver.   She tells me at the start of every winter that she's sick of risking her life getting the mail out and I don't blame her.  Most of what I get is junk mail, so I can't imagine how much of that she deals with every day.  Must be thrilling to make you way through 2 miles of deep drifts to get to that one house on the end of the dead end road to put a 0% credit card offer in their box, then head back. 

[zibazinski]

Well, there might be rules but my garbageman pockets the cash so fast I'm sure he ignores any so-called rules. 

[beergut]

 No and no.

 Our mailmen are jerks who leave hate mail if we dare park near the mail box, necessitating them getting out of the truck to deliver the mail.

I never see the garbage men, and the trucks are all automated here. Why would I tip someone for simply driving a truck?

[marvholly]

Dec 27, 2014 22:20:17 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I think some of you have an inflated idea of how much postal carriers make anyhow.  I know my friend the rural carrier doesn't make much, AND she has to use her own vehicle.  Let me tell you how fast she trashes vehicles on a rural route, a lot of which is on gravel roads. She's constantly replacing brakes and rotors and puts tons of miles on every week.  Plus, it just plain sucks to have to get the mail out no matter what the weather.  When we get a foot of snow her 6 hour route might take her 10 hours to deliver.   She tells me at the start of every winter that she's sick of risking her life getting the mail out and I don't blame her.  Most of what I get is junk mail, so I can't imagine how much of that she deals with every day.  Must be thrilling to make you way through 2 miles of deep drifts to get to that one house on the end of the dead end road to put a 0% credit card offer in their box, then head back. 

I live in an urban area-suburban Chicago. NONE of our carriers have to drive their own vehicles or pay for the maintenance of the vehicle. I Know what postal carriers make as I have one nearby. I know what our local garbage men make as this is public info, just like exactly what my DDs each make as teachers.

[reader79]

I tipped my mailman $20 the other day. We have had the same main guy for a few years now, and he deals with my Amazon addiction so... I would tip UPS, but I rarely see the same driver twice. I don't usually see the sanitation guys, but my dad will tip them throughout the year if he has a particularly large load for them.

My BIL's brother just started training with the postal service, he says the money is okay but you have to get some years in before it gets 'great.' And two of my neighbors were with sanitation, one is retired now. You could look up their salaries online, and with OT they were making a comparable salary to my mother who was an assistant principal - around $90K. 

[Deleted]

Dec 28, 2014 6:39:37 GMT -5 marvholly said:

Dec 27, 2014 22:20:17 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I think some of you have an inflated idea of how much postal carriers make anyhow.  I know my friend the rural carrier doesn't make much, AND she has to use her own vehicle.  Let me tell you how fast she trashes vehicles on a rural route, a lot of which is on gravel roads. She's constantly replacing brakes and rotors and puts tons of miles on every week.  Plus, it just plain sucks to have to get the mail out no matter what the weather.  When we get a foot of snow her 6 hour route might take her 10 hours to deliver.   She tells me at the start of every winter that she's sick of risking her life getting the mail out and I don't blame her.  Most of what I get is junk mail, so I can't imagine how much of that she deals with every day.  Must be thrilling to make you way through 2 miles of deep drifts to get to that one house on the end of the dead end road to put a 0% credit card offer in their box, then head back. 

I live in an urban area-suburban Chicago. NONE of our carriers have to drive their own vehicles or pay for the maintenance of the vehicle. I Know what postal carriers make as I have one nearby. I know what our local garbage men make as this is public info, just like exactly what my DDs each make as teachers.

I said rural. Not urban.

about.usps.com/publications/pub181/welcome.htm

[Shooby]

I don't think their wages have to do with anything.  The purpose of holiday tip is a thank you, not something to subsidize their wages.