Christmas Tips

Xstatic3333

Chatting in the office today, someone mentioned giving your mail man a Christmas present.  Is this a thing?  I have never done it before, though we did have a PO Box at our old place.  We have a slot, not a box, so if I did have to leave him a tip I'm not sure how I'd do it.

Related: Our mail collection has not gone smoothly.  We've not recieved a few things I know were sent, including thank you notes and checks from my PT job.

Anyone else I'm supposed to tip that I'm forgetting?

jessica490

Nope, never done it, but we do tip our newspaper delivery people

hoffse

I've never done tips, but my mom does give the mail lady a small plate of cookies each year.  She figures that she's baking them anyway, and it helps keep the mail person happy.   Getting your mail delivered promptly is pretty important....

formerlyGDaisy09

Last year I dropped cookies at the hair salon and our vet's office...like hoffse said I was baking them anyways, I don't think they were necessary, I think I tend to tip my stylist well throughout the year anyways. We got a nice thank you from all the women at the Vet's.

We have 3 or 4 different mail people who deliver to our house, I'm not even sure who to give a gift to if we did. 

brij2006

We only did it when we had a specific mail carrier that delivered mail directly to the house.  Now we have a PO Box and never see the postmaster.  So I don't do anything. 

It also probably makes a difference that we knew our mail carrier by name and he had our route for many many years.  He went above and beyond in his job, and was very friendly.

Xstatic3333

Phew, I'm glad I haven't been a jerk all these years! I like the cookie idea for other people I see regularly.

vlagrl29

nope we don't do it - I do give my hairstylist a bigger tip at my last appt of the year.

Wulfgar

I have never given these people tips at all or Christmas presents.  I am not even going to give my children's teachers Christmas gifts since I don't think my parents ever made us as children.  If my children want to get something for their teacher, then I would allow it.

My issue is that most of the these people are already getting paid to do a job so why do they need extra?

HoneyBee973

Nope, never done it.  And I don't tip extra at the nail/hair salon.  And as PP have said, they are already getting paid to do their job. 

Erikan73

I do give my hair stylist a little extra around Christmas time & this year I'll bring her some treats we are making.

als1982

I like to tip double if we're dining out over a holiday (ex. Thanksgiving brunch in Vegas), but otherwise, I don't do anything else, with the exception of this year, I'm planning on getting the parking garage attendant at my office a QuikTrip (gas station) gift card.  He has a hard job dealing with crappy people, especially this time of year when they're visiting the mall our building shares a garage with, but the man ALWAYS has a smile on his face and makes the end of the day feel special.

I guess I'm a paranoid person, but I would never give baked goods to a mail carrier, because I know that if a semi-stranger gave those to me, they'd go straight in the trash, and then I'd feel like a jerk.

KatieCutie05

um no ofcourse not. Maybe for people who get a TON of deliveries/call them to pick up a TON of deliveries for like UPS or FED EX who has a set route and you end up getting to know them...but for someone like me who gets nothing but an occasional package and i'm never even home to see the guy drop it off - no. 

My FIL was a UPS driver for years and now my BIL is a package car driver for UPS too so i really should be more sensitive but i'm not. My husbands the giver and the super friendly person so i can totally see him wanting to give something to the UPS guy at some point in our lives. Apparently its common so i'll try to not be such a cheap scrooge when that happens. 

brij2006

I didn't even think of the UPS driver.  When I used to work my direct sales business like a full time job, he would deliver to me weekly.  If we were home, he would bring the packages inside for us.  So I gave him a $25 tip at Christmas time, because that was my busiest season and he went above and beyond. 

blondie42107

At Christmas I give our mail carrier and UPS driver a small goodie bag with a gift card for coffee ($5) and a thing of chocolates or similar. We see our UPS driver a lot! We don't spend much but they must appreciate it because we always get a nice thank you note.

I'm also the type that does little things at the office. I recently gave everyone on my team holiday post-it notes (50 cents each) and a handful of Hershey kisses. Just something to add a little cheer.

I don't think anyone should feel like they have to but I think it's a nice gesture if you want to.

wesleycrusher

We give a gift card to the local grocery store- but we our mail is delivered to our door, and we live on a hill- there are 15+ steps to get there. 

formerlyGDaisy09

related to this thread, how do you figure out how much to tip your stylist at the salon? do you do a percentage? whole dollar amount based on the time they spend on your service?

I'm never sure. 

recently I've been tipping $5 for a simple wash, cut, dry...takes her 20-30mins...the salon charges $39 for that service.

blondie42107

Gdaisy09 said:

related to this thread, how do you figure out how much to tip your stylist at the salon? do you do a percentage? whole dollar amount based on the time they spend on your service?

I'm never sure. 

recently I've been tipping $5 for a simple wash, cut, dry...takes her 20-30mins...the salon charges $39 for that service.

My last wash, cut and style was $35 which includes an essential oil scalp massage, and hand/arm massage. I'm there about an hour. I tip $5.

formerlyGDaisy09

blondie42107 said:

related to this thread, how do you figure out how much to tip your stylist at the salon? do you do a percentage? whole dollar amount based on the time they spend on your service?

I'm never sure. 

recently I've been tipping $5 for a simple wash, cut, dry...takes her 20-30mins...the salon charges $39 for that service.

My last wash, cut and style was $35 which includes an essential oil scalp massage, and hand/arm massage. I'm there about an hour. I tip $5.

Wow...maybe I need to shop around for prices again...this included a scalp massage...but as far as above and beyond that was it. there is some value in trusting my stylist, she's been doing my hair for almost 3 years...the only time I had an issue with a cut was while she was on maternity leave and the salon was quick to rectify it. But it sounds like the salon's recent increase in their prices may mean other salons in the area may be more competative. 

JoanE2012

We tip the mailman and garbage collector. Our garbage man will take away pretty much anything we put out.

vlagrl29

Gdaisy09 said:

related to this thread, how do you figure out how much to tip your stylist at the salon? do you do a percentage? whole dollar amount based on the time they spend on your service?

I'm never sure. 

recently I've been tipping $5 for a simple wash, cut, dry...takes her 20-30mins...the salon charges $39 for that service.

I tip 20% of the amount she charges.  She charges $50 for a cut and blow-dry so I tip $10.

Xstatic3333

vlagrl29 said:

Gdaisy09 said:

related to this thread, how do you figure out how much to tip your stylist at the salon? do you do a percentage? whole dollar amount based on the time they spend on your service?

I'm never sure. 

recently I've been tipping $5 for a simple wash, cut, dry...takes her 20-30mins...the salon charges $39 for that service.

I tip 20% of the amount she charges.  She charges $50 for a cut and blow-dry so I tip $10.

Basically the same, I tip 15-20% depending on the cash I have available.

csuave

If you have a regular service worker like a hairdresser, cleaning person, etc the rule of thumb for Christmas/year end tip is to tip an amount equal to one service.  So if your regular haircut is $30 then you should give a $30 tip.  I don't know how many people actually do it.  I'm sure anything extra is very appreciated.