Tipping the mail carrier: a thing of the past?

[randooch]

It's coming up on that time again, and every year I wonder if that's a bygone tradition, no longer p.c., or embarrassing for some other reason. [huh]

If folks here do tip, how much is too little? (No such thing as too much, i imagine.) It may depend on the difficulty of the route, etc. I'm right in town.

Thanks for any opinions.

 

[rue]

It's coming up on that time again, and every year I wonder if that's a bygone tradition, no longer p.c., or embarrassing for some other reason. [huh]

If folks here do tip, how much is too little? (No such thing as too much, i imagine.) It may depend on the difficulty of the route, etc. I'm right in town.

Thanks for any opinions.

We used to have the same mail man everyday for a year and right before Christmas they changed the routes and ever since then we never have the same one more than twice, so we don't. I always tip the trash men though.

 

[redavis001]

My postal carrier is awesome. However, you have to be careful in tipping the postal carrier. They have a strict set of rules about what they can accept.

United States Postal Service Gift Regulations:

Mail carriers working for the United States Postal Service are allowed to accept the following items during the holiday season:

Snacks and beverages or perishable gifts that are not part of a meal.

Small gifts that have little intrinsic value (travel mugs, hand warmers, etc…) and are clearly no more than $20 in value.


Perishable items clearly worth more (large fruit baskets or cookie tins) must be shared with the entire branch.

Mail carriers working for the United States Postal Service may not accept the following:

Cash gifts, checks, gift cards, or any other form of currency.

Part 2635, Subpart B
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...5;view=text;node=5:3.0.10.10.9;idno=5;cc=ecfr

So the best advice I can provide is to make something nice for them. Also sending a letter about their good service to the postmaster in your area goes in their personal file and helps their career.

 

[Tomasso]

Mail carriers working for the United States Postal Service may not accept the following:

Cash gifts

lollollol

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I always stick a bag of candy from "The Phantom" in the out box on Halloween, and I've always put a thank you card addressed to the mailman with $20 in it. But you know, I suppose he has the refuse to turn it into the office since I failed to lust a complete address and put a stamp on it...

 

[Idledame]

As an ex mail-lady, I can tell you the Post Office sort of has a "don't ask - don't tell" policy as far as cash and gifts go. Letter carriers gladly accept money or gift cards...usually $5-20. The most I got was $50 from one customer. Some carriers who really get to know everyone on their routes get hundreds of dollars, dozens of bottles of booze and piles of food at Christmas. It certainly is nice to feel appreciated. Management knows we get gifts of course. The rule of no gifts was made to ensure that all customers get the same service, no bribing the carrier to get early delivery etc. So it's totally up to you. You'll get your mail either way.

 

[Widebrim]

I always tip the trash men though.

Love it! I don't know if we did that when I was a boy. I did, however, one year copy out of Mad Magazine the poem, "Ode to a Garbage Man," and left it on a trash can lid (my parents didn't know). One of the garbage collectors looked at it, but I really don't remember if he chuckled or swore.

 

[Zombie_61]

My wife and I tip our mail carrier every year because she's personable and very conscientious. The last few years it's been a $50 gift card from a local Italian restaurant.

 

[Pompidou]

I've never heard of tipping either mailmen or garbage men. I can understand the logic, especially the latter. However, speaking about garbage men, in my area, there'd be no way to do so without being there when they arrive. All the garbage bins in our town were replaced with personal, wheeled dumpsters. Being a garbage man is a totally hands-off experience. They back in and empty your garbage hydraulically. That also means a hard limit on the amount of garbage you're allowed to dispose of each week. As for tipping mail men, I want to say they're one of the highest paid jobs in the town with some of the best benefits - doesn't seem necessary. I live in a very small town though, so it might be different elsewhere.

 

[dandelion-vint]

We usually give a card and a box of candy to our mail people. We have bulldogs and our regular mail people have always loved them and our Christmas card every year is a photo of our dogs. This year we had little desk calendars made - courtesy of Vista - and our mail gal is getting one of those.

 

[Puzzicato]

When I was growing up everyone would leave a 6-pack of beer (and sometimes also an envelope with some cash) out for the bin-men at Christmas. I suspect that is unacceptable now.

 

[LocktownDog]

Nope. We have a different carrier, depending upon the day of the week usually. Odd. Also no real mailbox, just the clusterbox a block away. And that's something else I dearly miss and is leading to the spiralling downfall of community ... the disappearance of real mailboxes. I understand there are security problems and such, but I'd love to have to walk out to the driveway to grab my mail rather than driving down the hill.

 

[rue]

Love it! I don't know if we did that when I was a boy. I did, however, one year copy out of Mad Magazine the poem, "Ode to a Garbage Man," and left it on a trash can lid (my parents didn't know). One of the garbage collectors looked at it, but I really don't remember if he chuckled or swore.

lol I wonder if he thought your parents did it.

 

[Michaelson]

I do it for our mailman, who has been our rural route carrier for years, but I don't for the garbage men. The reason is we have a group of 'junkers' who run the garbage route just ahead of the arrival of the garbage truck and they pick up any items they think they can make a buck from. I'm glad someone is getting use out of my broken items like lamps and the like, but they'd more than likely make off with anything I put out for our garbage men, and I don't have time in the morning to run out to the road to catch them after the junkers roll through. That said, our small town garbage men scatter more of our trash all over the road and ditch than into the truck, so I'm not sure they deserve a tip. (LOL!) Regards! Michaelson

 

[JimWagner]

When I was a teenager in a small town (early 60's) there were really only 2 mail carriers in town. And they walked their routes and put the mail in the mailbox on your front porch. Plus a couple of RFD carriers and the postmaster (whose son I went to school with). They'd all been working for the post office for most of their adult lives and everyone in town knew them.

They'd stop and chat with people on the routes.

Being a typical teenager I couldn't have told you if anyone tipped or gifted them but suspect they did.

Today, and for many years, my mail is put into a curbside mailbox by a drive-by mail carrier even though I'm in town. The days of a mailbox on your porch and a walking mailman are long gone. I couldn't tell you who our mailman is or how long he's been on the route. Or even if it's the same guy from week to week. Mail delivery has become anonymous. No face, no name, no service beyond dumping the mail off - no tip, no gift. He probably makes more than I do anyway.

If you live in a small town where your mail carrier is a neighbor and it still feels like yesteryear, then count yourself lucky. And leave a cookie in the mailbox.

 

[rue]

And they walked their routes and put the mail in the mailbox on your front porch.

They still do this in our neighborhood, that's how I knew that the mailman had moved on (they're never the same one now). It was one of the things that made us want to live here

 

[AmateisGal]

When my dad was a rural mail carrier, he used to bring home lots and lots of goodies during Christmas time that were left in the mailbox for him.

 

[Spitfire]

No way!!! it's their job and they get paied for doing it. If they do it.
The postal service here in Denmark is lacking everything these days.
The price for sending a ordinay letter will be raised by 30% next year while they only bring out the mail every second day - so it seems.
In reality they would prefere if you came to a local postoffice and picked it up yourself.
So I see no reason what so ever for tipping a mailman.

 

[B.J. Hedberg]

I have a post office box at the post office now and never see anyone, so I don’t tip, but it’s a pretty common practice hereabouts for folks to tip $5 or $10 around Christmas – regardless of if the postal service likes it or not. A retired postal worker I know who was very well liked by the residents on his route sometimes received up to $20 from some of the folks, but he was just as appreciative of the cards, cookies, and candy.

 

[Mr_D.]

I don't tip anyone other then my food server (this includes pizza delivery drivers). My friend told me he tips the tow truck guy. WHAT THE HECK???? Why? Jobs like tow truck driver, postal worker, barber, ect, they get min wadge or more. Food servers do not get min wadge and they rely on tips. Oh and this does not carry over to fancy places (like cruise ships) where they automatically charge gratuity. That's their tip, I am not adding another tip to my bill.