Holiday tipping?

[Allisonfaye]

Every year I wonder whom to tip for the holidays.

Do you tip the garbagemen (if you live in a house?)
The doorman (if you live in an apartment)?
Your hairdresser?
The mail delivery person?
Your cleaning lady (not a cleaning service where different people come every time)?

Do you tip anyone else? Also, how much do you usually tip these people?

 

[Dee*Jay]

I go through this dillema every year too!

Last year we tipped the cleaning lady the same amount as one week of service and also gave her a nice box of candy. We''ve ratcheted up the amount that we give her over time because I think we appreciate her more as the years go by, LOL. Plus, she likes The Demon Dog and is kind to him so we appreciate that too.

Until last year we lived in a high rise and we tipped the doormen and janitorial staff individually, but now we live in a gated community and the management office gathers all holiday gifts and divides them among the staff of the complex. (Frankly I prefer it that way rather than hunting down the building staff and slipping them little envelopes of cash.)

The lady who does my nails likes to shop at a particular store. My plan is to get her a gift certificate to that store, probably for about twice the amount that I pay for my weekly manicure. Not sure if that''s an appropriate amount to give her or not becuase I''ve never had the same manicurist on a steady basis before so I''m flying a little blind on this one--if you have any thoughts on that let me know!

I hadn''t really thought about the ladies who cut and color my hair until now because I just switched to them this year and before that I wasn''t loyal to any one person for those services. I guess I should give them something, but not sure how much. Will have to mull that over.

I''ve never really tipped the mail delivery people. On the rare occasion that I see them it''s always someone different so I don''t really feel any connection to them that compells me to open the checkbook.

Hmmm... there must be other people but I can''t think of them off the top of my head...

 

[Christa]

Ooh, good question! I''ll be interested to see what the consensus is. Last year in my neighborhood I saw boxes of candy or fruitcake-type-things left on top of garbage cans, presumably for the garbage haulers. I have to admit I thought that was a little weird.

 

[KimberlyH]

My husband tips the postman every year. I don''t have a relationship with most of my service providers, stylist, nail lady, etc. so I don''t typically do much more than a homeade gift of cookies or something if I have an appt that falls extremely close to a holiday.

 

[Kaleigh]

Date: 10/25/2006 2:48:03 PM
Author:Allisonfaye
Every year I wonder whom to tip for the holidays.

Do you tip the garbagemen (if you live in a house?)
The doorman (if you live in an apartment)?
Your hairdresser?
The mail delivery person?
Your cleaning lady (not a cleaning service where different people come every time)?

Do you tip anyone else? Also, how much do you usually tip these people?

We tip our garbagemen $100
Mailman $100
Colorist $50
Hairdresser $50
Cleaninglady One weeks pay plus a gift

I think that''s it. We''ve had the same mailman for 10 years, and same goes for the garbagemen.

 

[gailrmv]

Good thread. Last year I was caught off guard when my hairstylist gave me a gift bag of samples at my December appt. I tipped extra that time but didn''t give her anything else. She is fabulous so I think I''ll get her a little gift this year!

 

[Allisonfaye]

Ok. I guess I should start tipping the mail lady and the garbagemen.

What about the UPS driver? He stops by fairly often.

 

[Tybee]

Yikes!!! New home owner, first home! Never thought about gifts for garbage collectors or postal service workers!
Holy Cow! 100? really? That''s extremely generous! We might have to start saving LOL!
This is a great thing to think about early! Thanks for creating this thread!!!

Tybee

 

[laine]

I''ve read that mail carriers are not allowed to accept cash gifts.

My mom always did baked goods for people like the garbage men, mailman, newspaper guy (not a kid in our area), ups guy, etc, but the family had a fairly close relationship with all these people. I don''t know any of mine, and suspect they wouldn''t trust baked goods from a stranger.

I''ve noticed that my mail and ups persons tend to vary, so I''m less inclined to tip them.

I live in a townhouse that pays for garbage and lawn/snow service, so I presume the association takes care of tipping these people.

If I knew any of these people, of they gave me any extra service or attention, I''d probably tip, but as is, I don''t.

 

[diamondfan]

I have three garbage and three recycling guys. I give each of them 25.00. I give the mailman and milk delivery man the smae, and tip the guy from the local non chain drugstore and local small market who deliver here a lot a bit more since they are here at least twice a week. I do tip my colorist, manicurist and guy who cuts/blows dry my hair. I usually give cash since I assume that is what is wanted. I do resent, somewhat, giving a gift or tip to someone I tip 20 % to ALL YEAR, hey, I am the reason they have jobs, how about a gift for ME, the customer? Usually I also tip the cleaning girls and give my nanny one weeks pay, cleaning help I give one day''s pay. I will also get Borders or Starbucks cards and give them to teachers etc. I tip the guy who drives my kids on the private school van too, he is always nice and keeps my older two kids safe!!!

 

[Ellen]

Date: 10/25/2006 4:53:30 PM
Author: Kaleigh
We tip our garbagemen $100
Mailman $100
Colorist $50
Hairdresser $50
Cleaninglady One weeks pay plus a gift

I think that''s it. We''ve had the same mailman for 10 years, and same goes for the garbagemen.

Kaleigh, I''ll have to tell my husband he is doing something wrong! He''s a mail carrier (a very good one) in a middle-upper class subdivision, and the most he''s ever gotten is $40 I think. Average is about $25. Shame he can''t carry your route.

While carriers are not supposed to accept money gifts, they do. He also gets several gifts, usually boxes of chocolates, bottles of wine, gift certificates. Then there''s always the "interesting" gift, one year he got The Clapper, the thing that turns your lights on and off.

Of course we still appreciated it, it''s the thought that counts.

 

[Mara]

hahaha i never tip any of our people (garbageman?!)...i guess i just figure i don't get tips for doing my job...!! plus i have to save my $$ for my b-bags! priorities.

i asked like 3 people in my office about this and they were all 'what?!'. i wonder if it's more of an east coast thing?

eta..oh i would give my 'cleaning lady' (if we actually had one!!) a 'gift' like a box of sees or something, but that's it i think. i do get a few extra boxes of candies every year just in case.

 

[cutes814]

I think it might be more of an east coast thing too? I don''t tip any of my peeps too. If we''re suppose to, then I feel bad...

The only person I tip is my manacurist, but I don''t give it to her in a form of a holiday tip though. I just tip her extra when I go get my nails done in Dec. I usually tip 20%, but during the Dec visit, I''ll tip her 50%.

I hope I''m not viewed as a cheapskate!

None of my friends do holiday tippping either.

 

[Kaleigh]

Maybe it is an East Coast thing. Ya'll are cheap!!! KIDDING!!!!!!!!

But it does come in handy with the garbagemen, when we have extra stuff to haul, they never have a problem!!!

 

[Mara]

lol kaleigh. i do tip pretty well all year long so i figure that makes up for it in the service perspective.

i just had never heard of it, but i have heard of NYC people tipping their doormen. i guess if we had one person who did something especially for us all year long, it would make sense. but our mailman isn''t the same all year long, we don''t have a cleaning lady, we don''t even know our garbageman, and we live in a townhouse so we the gardeners are for the whole complex. off the hook!

 

[Cind11]

Well, I live on the East Coast and I don''t tip our garbagemen. I didn''t know I was supposed to-lol!

 

[Kim N]

Another West Coaster, and I never heard of that either. I didn''t know this was done!

 

[canuk-gal]

Date: 10/31/2006 5:54:06 PM
Author: Kaleigh
Maybe it is an East Coast thing. Ya''ll are cheap!!! KIDDING!!!!!!!!

But it does come in handy with the garbagemen, when we have extra stuff to haul, they never have a problem!!!

HI:

Yup, maybe we are!!!!

The garbage is a City service, so who knows who is on shift that day....and as for the mail, we are always getting others people stuff (others get our stuff??) so I definately am NOT going to tip the mail guy!!!!!

My son''s music tutor, and the "favorite" teachers at school...well, that is another story. $100 cash for the former and $20 Starbuck gift cards for the latter...

cheers--Sharon

 

[Ellen]

Well I''m from the midwest, so that''s covering 2/3''s of the US. You west coasters better get with the program.

KIDDING!


canuk gal, no, I wouldn''t tip a mail carrier that misdelivers either. They do need to earn the tip, and in turn, you get really good service. My hubby will go above and beyond, and his customers treat him great. They''ll even call the house if they''re going on vaca or wintering away, cuz they know hubby will take care of things right. But it has to work both ways.