Growing up I never heard of such a practice, then a few years ago I was shocked to learn that people willingly give their money to a FedGov employee above and beyond the taxes that are taken from us at gunpoint by the IRS. Who tips the TSA for frisking their wife and children in an airport? Who tips the FBI for their exemplary 'work'??

Christmas - there are many times when he will bring a package to the door instead of leaving a note in the box.

I give the garbage man a little something. Our guy hussles and has definitely taken some stuff that they aren’t required to according to their contract with the county.

Mail, garbage, repeat people get something at Christmas absolutely. They do something for me I don’t want to do myself.

Osky

We dont.

But my grandparents were trying to get a smooth entrance into Heaven. That and they were high rollers.
They used to buy presents for the garbage man, mail man, the doofy that pumped their gas at Phillips66

We dont have trash pickup, you haul it to 6 miles to a mini waco barb wire compound. Our mail people make good as contract folks. They dont need any Whitmans from us.

Have a bud that carries a rural route, couple of years ago he showed me his stack of Christmas gift cards, said he gets plenty of cash too. Had 25-30 gift cards.
Personally I don't though.

Years ago we had a great garbage guy, he would even walk the 50 yards to
get our can if we forgot. He helped me get rid of big things too.
He got tips for the big stuff and a Christmas tip.

Now, I drag my can across the yard to put it near the neighbors.
Just to make it easier for them. They have never grabbed my can if I forgot.
They aren't interested in doing anything extra.

Haven't tipped in years. And won't.
They are paid to do a job.
They don't work for me, and if they won't do extra...

Once in a great while I get a "Thank You" at work.
For doing the job beyond the normal routine. That's tip enough.

They pay the agreed upon wage, they bought my efforts and abilities
for that time period. How can you expect more?

My moms old school.

She gives the mail lady some kinda home made crafty thing each year.

Tipping has become a virtue signalling prestige thing.

Just read some of the threads about servers.

It becomes a race into absurdity over who tips more.

My daughter was bringing home around $100 daily in tips from her after
school waitressing job. Working 3:30-7pm at a low end family restaurant,
in an area of low income folks.
I guarantee she was bringing more home
in 4 1/2 hours than many of her customers made in 8.

And it was bring home.
People often talk about the low hourly pay for wait staff.
That's the wrong way to look at it. It pays their taxes.

The kid was knocking down $20/hr+ in tips.
After all taxes, she still got a paycheck that filled her gas tank, bi-weekly.

She took a full time office job a few months ago, in an effort to
maybe build a career. (Daddy ain't happy)

It came with a good pay...

cut!

We have done it in the past when we had a carrier who WORKED. We felt she deserved something for her exemplary service above and beyond.

Usually the girls put some Xmas cookies in the mailbox. Not like her fat ass needs more cookies, but it's the thought

I never have, hardly the same person two days in a row

Our mailman and garbage collector gets some baked goods every Christmas and sometimes other holidays. Show a little appreciation and it s usually returned four fold.

Those do anything that don't tells a lot about the person.

No but i do leave the trashMAN a 12 pack after christmas trash pick up

Give cookies or something like that. They can get terminated from their job, for accepting any gratuities.

I live in a rural area of NY. We tip at Christmas. Most people think mail delivery is easy. BS. My wife ran a rural route, 50 miles long and over 500 stops back roads, some dirt. Did it 30 yrs. We get some good snow here and blistering cold and she is driving around with the window down at -15º F. Summer temps high 90's. Yep, easy job. We had to supply the vehicle (we had a Subaru) and was paid for its use, not enough to maintain the car like I did. I needed it to be extra reliable. Dedicated, aggressive snow tires mounted on wheels. Oil changes every 2500 miles. Brake jobs every 8,000 miles (F), every 13,000 (R) which I did. Yes, I have a brake lathe...

Rural carriers have a tough job. And what do you do when you have to pee????? Hahahaha.

Yes they do.
And that right front tire/wheel/suspension on a POV takes a beating.

I built a conversion, mounted a steering wheel and pedal set up so she could drive from the right side of the car...

Not the mailman, but I usually leave 40 bucks for the trashman at Christmas. He's a young guy and runs the truck by himself. He hustles and busts his ass. The dude is usually at my house around 6:30am and he handles my sinking ass trash twice a week. I should give him more than that.

We leave our rural guy a dozen eggs every week or so. I know him, we are friends. He often goes above and beyond.

The analogy of my mail carrier and a TSA guy is kinda lame.

People have to remember, most mail carriers and trash collectors are not govt employees.The companies have contracts and these people are employees,just like most of us are or were.

Same here. And the trash man will go to the back yard, drag the can around front, and put it back if we're away.

Not that it's anybody business whether I tip or not.

Tips go to the individual, not the gubmint. Our son has a friend who's a carrier. He works his ass off.

I don't think the US Postal Service is funded by taxes. Or they shouldn't be... May have been a bail out or two, but they are funded by rates they charge for postage.

My rural carrier isn't a USPS employee. She's a contractor with a route, like the newspaper delivery folks.

I'm not adverse to tipping her. I've seen her go above and beyond to accommodate us. We know her by first name.

we leave a small christmas gift each year for our carrier. She will bring the package to the front door if it won't fit in our box. SHE could leave a note telling me that I have a package at the PO in town and make me go get it, but she doesn't.

Anywhere from $20 -$50, Trash man, Recycle guy, Mailman, and Paper Boy.
Plus 18% tip on our Friday night dinner.

Gonehuntin: Ha-ha-ha!
Yeah.... rrriiightttt.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Yep.
Newspaper man and Garbage men at Christmas time.

As a retired carrier I can say I've been given cash, cards, food, booze, soda by the case, gift cards etc.
When you take care if your customers they don't forget, well some of them anyway.
I never looked forward to that just cause it's my job, but if they gave I received.

My mailman is an alcoholic bumblephuk. I am surprised he hasn't run over his head by now.

Ive never tipped them, or given them a Xmas present. They never came to my place of work to leave me money or gifts......

i don't think we have the same people all the time out here. garbage guys leave my cans almost on the road. i blame the companies because they send a garbage truck with 1 guy. he drives and tosses the garbage. he has one of those loaders for the big can but still, they work their ass off. if i knew it was the same guy i would probably tip him.

FedEx guys and gals are good to us... same with the rural route USPS... They bring treats or ham biscuits for the dogs (sometimes)... I send them out with pecan (last few days)... of some preserves. Not every time, but often.

Gave the UPS guy a box of 9mm ammo a while back... he stopped to chat and found out he was one of us.

Internet guys were fantastic (and WAY BEYOND the standard install). They flagged off the next appointment and we shot some cool toys.

Yes we are kind to the folks that help us... I was raised that way.

I have the private cell numbers for many tradesman/internet folks etc. One call and they are instantly "on it".

Kindness works both ways.

That's the way it is SUPPOSED to be, but as with all Gov programs, the USPS is woefully inept. They love to use the "Stamps fund the USPS" line, but receive a yearly bailout from Congress. Last year it was up to 10 billion. They project a 2 billion MONTHLY deficit for 2022.

So, outside of accounting tricks and semantic arguments, the USPS is funded by our tax dollars.

I give my two trash collectors a bottle of Jack every Christmas. The cleaning couple, pool guy and paper "boy" get an end of the year tip.

Not a lot, just a $10 gift card for the local Wawa store to the mail lady every Christmas, but she appreciates it.

Our mailman is a good guy. Avid hunter and shooter. Busts his ass. Always walks packages to the back yard. We were talking one day and he said that he and his wife saved their money up and enjoyed expensive wines. I don't know schit about wine, cant stand the stuff. Got him a gift card to a high end wine store. He reacted like I gave him a million bucks

I live on a farm with about 5 miles of gravel roads before one can hit pavement . The mail lady is a family friend, I fish with her husband, and she always has treats for the dogs who know her vehicle. The wife used to buy her a blouse every year but these days she prefers several jars of our home-made strawberry jam. As for the garbage man, he comes once a week and the wife puts a piece of pie, honey bun, or some other treat every time he picks it up.

We have before but now we have a different one every other week!

Makes me think of a post when this subject came up several years ago,

"I tip the garbage man $50 each Christmas, if I had a roll of carpet with a pair of feet sticking out one end the guy would make it disappear."

I don't tip my mail person but Always keep the mailbox plowed out (and the near neighbors too) every winter and the bushes/brush trimmed back in the summer (mailbox is on the cross road neighbor so I can't cut down the bushes/trees). They have dumped small packages in the snow as opposed to bringing them to the house, given us the wrong mail and lost other mail too.

We do at Christmas.

If you’re going to make your agenda so obvious, why bother using the USPS as your decoy?

My best bud is a mailman and a more overworked and under appreciated guy you’d never meet..

He goes WELL above and beyond and puts in more hours in crappy conditions with hardly any support than most internet blowhards ever will

The Mailman, Garbage man, UPS man all get a mini rum cake that we make and Christmas card with a small amount of cash.

Mutha fugga,s aint getting schit for doing their .gov job from me.
Especially when the Post Office is N double O around here and they fugg schit up by the #,s consistently day in day out.....


GMAFB......

My son just finished a year being a substitute/relief rural mail carrier. Up at 3:30 every morning to be at the post office by 4:30, loading his POV, sometimes not finishing until 6:00 pm after making additional trips to reload his car...rain, blizzards, or good weather. (I guess Subaru Outbacks must the the unofficial car of rural postal contractors.) Say what you want about Millennials, he works his ass off! The lady who subcontracted him delivers parcels on Sundays just to keep up with the regular flow of mail during regular workdays...and she brings parcels to the door...and she always brings milk bones for our dogs as well as every dog on her route every day! Hell yes she gets tipped not only during the holidays but occasionally throughout the year.

Mail people are overpaid already.

I used to get her a bottle of liquor, but then she showed up with Whiskey Killer dewey plates on her mail Jeep. What's my play moving forward?

How much in tips did you get while in government service?
Contractual bonuses don't count.
Just the cash, given because you did your job.


Whoops, you don't qualify.
Your job was easy, under great conditions. With no stress, or risk!
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂!

I've not thought about it.

Our mail guy is great,he gets a nice tip at Christmas,the 3 garbage men do too.

I pick up mail at the PO and haul my garbage, so no tip. I wouldn’t even if I did get home service.

I do recall my dad hustling into the garage to grab a few cold beers for the garbage men if he saw them coming up the street. It was pretty rare for him to be home when they picked up, but he’d look out for them if he was around.

Well, they haven't given me a tip for doing my job which allows me to pay for their services.