Gratuity For Mailman

A bit off topic, but do folks normally tip their mailman for the holidays/ end of year? Did a search on this on this forum but didn't find anything.

In the past I haven't, due to shifting locations and mail personnel, but during the five years we have lived in our (hopefully) last house for retirement, we have had the same very friendly, dependable and conscientious mailman. He never fails to say hello if he's driving by and is very careful with anything that could be damaged by mishandling.

It looks like there is a regulation against any gift above $20, and such gift cannot be cash or cash equivalent. As a practical matter, it would be a lot easier to give cash or a gift card versus some physical gift, even if the value limit were observed.

Just curious - what do other folks do, if anything? And does anyone kinda wink at the stated regulation w/r to kind or value of gratuity?

Thanks.

I get my carrier (who is on foot in northern Minnesota winter) a pair of Smartwool socks every year. Also for paper carrier and garbage hauler. The postal carrier has said several times that he really appreciates it. Our carrier also is very friendly, dependable and conscientious.

A box of cookies, banana bread, or similar baked good always fits.

I have a Postbox,
I hand over the mail counter, Cakes and boxes of chocolates, for all the staff, every year. They are my link to the outside world. Great Service.

Banana Bread and Seed butter mixture, always a hit. Always the consumables.

I thought US federal employees were forbidden to accept gratuities?

For the sake of hearing from the other side, I have never tipped the mailman. We never did when I was growing up, either. The few times that I see the local mailman, he/she is often different. I live in a condo community, with community mail boxes (like 25 mailboxes in one place), and I never see anything left there for the mailman at Christmas-time. I think giving to the mailman is rare around here - I suspect it is more prevalent in other areas. FWIW, if I lived in northern MN, and my mailman walked his route, I'd get him good socks every year, too!!

When I was growing up, we had the same mailman for twenty years. My dad gave him a bottle of Canadian Club every Christmas. Once I was grown and out of the house, I was never home when the mail came. It didn't feel right tipping someone you wouldn't know if you fell over him.

Now that I'm retired, I noticed that I have a different mail carrier every couple of weeks and the quality of service varies wildly between them. I don't feel right just tipping whoever's lucky enough to have the duty in December.

Not intended to influence anybody here, just from experience I find this rings true. Every time I have given anything, without expecting a reciprocation, it has been a wholesome experience.

"Generosity brings happiness at every stage of its expression. We experience joy in forming the intention to be generous. We experience joy in the actual act of giving something. And we experience joy in remembering the fact that we have given."
Buddha

As stallzer points out, it used to be illegal but they still got them anyway. A bottle or a box of good chocolates (See's, out here in the West for ages) was the usual when we actually saw and interacted with the local carrier. Some would even (politely) refuse gifts.

Per Aviatik, it's different guys on different days with wildly different attitudes and results. The local counter clerks are so bad as a group I go to the next city over when I can. The telling thing is when the one-day food drive is conducted by USPS, no regulars are working that day, so they don't have to haul bags back to the post office.

I think this is a highly personal thing. Back when I was getting a lot of stamp mail, and we had one carrier, I did not hesitate to give a cash tip with a Christmas card every year, and it was appreciated. Little kindnesses like bringing a package to the front door, instead of leaving a notice in the community mail box, or knowing who we were when the address was screwed up on the package, going out of the way to keep a package out of the rain, and etc.

John

We have so many different postmen these days that there really isn't much of a relationship. However, I do give my Parcel Force and Hermes delivery people (both charming Romanians), both of whom I see regularly, a decent bottle of claret.

For your reflection.
Any new members to this forum, may consider a small Christmas donation to SCF?
It is wonderful, helpful, Oasis of knowledge here, a small gift would encourage this forum to continue into the future, where would we be without SCF?

A simple click to Paypal is all it needs.

Gifts valued at $25 or less are acceptable. I deal with gov't employees at my day job and deal with this issue occasionally. Typically you can buy them a lunch, but as decent dinners in most metro areas are over $25, that typically won't fly. And every one that I've dealt with, without exception, is extremely conscientious about this.

Here's the answer to your question:
http://letmegooglethat.com/?q=is+it...e+mailman%3F

We have always tipped the mailman - every year and the trash collectors - actual money, not socks or brandy - nothing against socks or brandy of course.