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thegrimoire · ‎08-28-2017

How do you calculate the amount to tip them and are there any rules associated with the worker accepting a tip? Straight cash or gift card?

By circumstance, I have only ever had a regular carrier for two Christmas seasons, all my others have been temporary and no way was I going to throw a tip at someone who would only be on my route for two weeks. I now have a regular mail carrier and since I have had her for the past 6 or so weeks, none of my Pick Ups have been missed and all my packages have been scanned. I would love to provide a tip and want to know what others are doing.

rokkworks · ‎08-28-2017

I give my postal clerks good chocolates and a local coffee shop gift card.

Here is the official word from Usps...

Employee Tipping and Gift-Receiving Policy

All postal employees, including carriers, must comply with the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch. Under these federal regulations, carriers are permitted to accept a gift worth $20 or less from a customer per occasion, such as Christmas. However, cash and cash equivalents, such as checks or gift cards that can be exchanged for cash, must never be accepted in any amount. Furthermore, no employee may accept more than $50 worth of gifts from any one customer in any one calendar year period.

upscale_shop · ‎08-28-2017

I don't have a carrier doing pick ups. Since I bring my packages daily to the counter, I usually give my local postmaster a bottle of a well aged poison of his choice. 🙂

thegrimoire · ‎08-28-2017

Twenty bucks? That's pathetic. So, cash and hope they are quiet about it, or a $20 card to the local grocery store.

rokkworks · ‎08-29-2017

It's the thought that counts. ❤️

Seriously, I don't think career postal employees are expecting big monetary tips. They (should) consider themselves professionals.

Giving a tip or a gift should be just a genuine addition to civility & mutual respect that's shown all year, IMO.

I'm thinking of some neighbors of mine who treat all service people like personal servants throughout the year, but then attempt to bandage it at the holidays with a tip. They are still disliked by those they tip. Perhaps more so.

dhbookds · ‎08-29-2017

When I had a carrier, I put $40 cash in a thank you envelop for Xmas. Always got a written and verbal thank you. But we had a good relationship thru out the year and sometimes he went above and beyond.......

He also taught me that what I "think" is not always correct. Before I started requesting pickup I talked to him about it as it was quite a walk to my front door from the street and he delivered via truck to the mail boxes on the street. I told him I felt guilty about making him walk so far. He was delighted about "having an excuse to get out of the truck". Later he told me "they" pay him extra for the pickups and "it's amazing how fast the small amounts add up".......and thanked me for doing it.

warrenshobbies · ‎08-29-2017

I end up with untrained temps that show up from 3pm to 7pm from Thanksgiving until Jan 2nd every year. They aren't getting anything. 😉

dentalsales4u · ‎08-29-2017

We used to have an awesome carrier and we would give him $50 at Christmas, but he retired and now we never have the same person.
We've gone 4 days without mail being delivered or picked up due to them not showing up until around 7pm and the office closed.
Hard to run a business when you have carriers like that!
We complained, but it hasn't done a whole lot of good. They still show up very late, but not that many days in a row lately. No tipping this year.

b86fiero · ‎08-29-2017

Last year at Christmastime I had a relatively new carrier. He forgot a few pick ups and delivered some of my mail a couple of blocks away. However, he was a nice guy and always apologized and vowed to do better.

I decided to give him my usual "over the $20 limit" cash tip. I wrote him a nice note inside a holiday card and tucked the cash inside. Placed it out for pick up addressed to "Mail Carrier Tyron" separate from my outgoing packages.

Imagine my surprise when a letter from the USPS arrived in March with a postal money order and my holiday card inside. My new mail carrier had placed his holiday gift from me in with the rest of the local mail and sent it on to the sorting hub. Not only did he not receive the tip, the cost of the money order was deducted from my original cash amount.

I caught him a couple of days later, showed him the USPS letter and gave him the card with the original amount of cash I had enclosed. He has since relocated and I am on my third replacement carrier this year.

I have a years long habit of every 3 or 4 months buying lunch for my carrier. A $10 bill or a gift card to Wendy's or Panera Bread. A small thank you and a bit of motivation to pick up my packages.

Bonnie Jo

berserkerplanet · ‎08-29-2017

>>They aren't getting anything. 😉

Not even a lump of coal?

No that's bad too. Coal is a reward these days, what with heating costs and all.

Maybe a plain, common, ugly rock (not a pet rock) is the gift of disdain for this holiday season to show you don't care. (downside is that they can throw it at you to show THEY don't care either)

dbmm-media · ‎08-29-2017

i give the postal workers zero!!

they get paid quite well for what they do.

they should give me a thank you card with money in it.

warrenshobbies · ‎08-29-2017

@berserkerplanet wrote:
>>They aren't getting anything. 😉

Not even a lump of coal?

No that's bad too. Coal is a reward these days, what with heating costs and all.

Maybe a plain, common, ugly rock (not a pet rock) is the gift of disdain for this holiday season to show you don't care. (downside is that they can throw it at you to show THEY don't care either)

I can't tip when it's someone different every day and I pay $20, now $22 so they can be here between 3pm-5pm and they show up at 7pm.

I was kind of joking because its a temp guy, most last about three days. Sketchy to say the least when you see thousands of dollars worth of product drive away with a guy that wont even be employed by them in 3 days.

My regular guy gets taken care of thoughout the year.

pascals_outlet_us · ‎08-29-2017

@rokkworks wrote:
It's the thought that counts. ❤️

Seriously, I don't think career postal employees are expecting big monetary tips. They (should) consider themselves professionals.

Non-Professional Vs. Professional Jobs

Jobs are often classified as nonprofessional or professional, though many folks throw the words around as the distinction between the two can be unclear. Jobs tend to be deemed professional if they require specialized knowledge and advanced skills in an area. Teachers, engineers and doctors are all considered professionals. Jobs classified as nonprofessional are often manual or repetitive in nature. Dishwashers and cashiers are often considered nonprofessionals. The characteristics of these jobs vary greatly.

Training Requirements

While there is some argument about what level of training is required for a job to be deemed professional, most jobs classified as professional by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics require an associate's degree or higher. Nonprofessional jobs do not require a college degree and usually provide on-the-job training.

Am I a professional?

To be a professional the job you are doing must be recognized as a profession by the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics. Generally speaking jobs that are listed as professions will require a formal education. If your job is not listed as a profession by the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics then those folks performing the duties required by said job should not consider themselves to be professionals as so doing will only incurr extra responsibility. Should you wish to be recognized as a professional then you should start by educating yourself on the path you will need to take to attain such a position as so doing will also result in a considerable pay increase.

warrenshobbies · ‎08-29-2017

If you drive a mail truck and it's policy that you are not allowed to back the vehicle up I'm not sure you can be a professional.

Once a year my driver has a manager ride along, the manager get's seated in this crazy looking WW2 fighter looking seat thing they attach to the side of the box. "Nobody" saw him back up.