What’s the consensus: tipping the postman

[minniecarousel]

We have the best postman. He had an injury a few months ago & we suffered through poor service while we was off work. Really appreciated him after that! I was planning to give him a grocery gift card. What is the story on “they aren’t supposed to accept cash”? Is that true? Is there a dollar limit?

(I found an old thread about this but wanted to know what’s the word on this for 2017)

 

[AquamarineSteph]

I found this online

https://about.usps.com/postal-bulletin/2012/pb22349/html/cover_025.htm

which gives very specific details about the amount and how it can be received. From reading this, I think a $20 grocery gift card would be safe, though.

 

[kaytieeldr]

So, according to this, i could give my carrier a $15 gift card for Hanukkah, another one for Festivus, and a third for Christmas - and not violate any regulations? Because my carrier is even better than the OP's, unless she's my neighbor. My carrier was out for two days, and the drop in service by the sub was extreme.

 

[Pacolovestacos]

Tell postman you want to send them a christmas card so ask for their address. Then anonymously mail them a gift card for whatever amount you want.

 

[Topper]

I don't tip postal carriers.

The average salary for a mailman was $51,390 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $46,990 and $55,530 annually, and the lowest 10 percent earned less than $40,470. Some mailmen earn more by working overtime, depending on the season and mail volume.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I don't tip postal carriers.

But, see, i don't care how much my postal carrier (or anyone else i choose to gift {because, really, that's what it is}) earns. The person performs outstanding service for me, and thats what matters.

 

[mom2rtk]

We have a different carrier more days than not, so no way to ever know if we'll have anyone we've had before. I've been told we're a "scrub route" which means whoever gets done first works on ours late in the day. Sometimes it comes as late as 7 PM.

No tip here.

 

[jrmasm]

No tips for postal workers from me.

 

[Mizzoufan]

I say do what you wanna do. I'm sure he'd greatly appreciate a nice gesture like a a gift card.

 

[Hikergirl]

My carrier doesn't deserve a tip, he is awful.

 

[scrhsa]

I don't even have a carrier! My town is so small we have just one lady at the Post Office. Every once in a while we have two ladies. I have thought about taking some baked goods up to her. She deserves something...she is the nicest lady!!

 

[AnnaS]

I really like my post person also and tip.

 

[MIGrandma]

We used to tip our mail delivery lady, she is awesome. But the past couple years she has only worked part time and we have several substitutes so we have no way of knowing what days she is doing the route so we stopped tipping. We always gave her a $20 gas or movie theater card.

 

[Kitty 34]

All summer when our postman, Carl would come by we were always enjoying coffee outside in the sun. As the sun changed in the sky and summer moved on, so would our chairs. So we were always waving at him from different parts of the yard. So this week I stuck a little coffee mug ornament and a card with $20 in the mailbox.

 

[Micca]

We used to tip our carrier in the days we had a house where he had to walk up the porch steps to access the mailbox. He'd also ring the bell and wait for us to come to the door to accept a package. We'd exchange some pleasantries and off he'd go.

We now live in a neighborhood where there are group lock boxes near the street, ours is in front of our neighbor's house about a 100 feet from our house. The carrier pulls up to the lock box in the little truck and often doesn't exit the vehicle. On the rare occasion we receive a parcel that's too large for the lock box, the item will be placed on the porch. The mail comes during a very wide window from about 11AM-5PM, it's unusual for me to see the truck come & go--I couldn't tell you if it's the same person on a regular basis. I don't have any complaints about the service, but there's certainly no personal contact so I don't see a reason to tip.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm not home with the mail gets dropped off and I have no idea who drops off my mail. I don't think I've ever laid eyes on them. No tip.

 

[Soldier's*Sweeties]

We don’t tip them but we leave out either DD gift cards or beer for them and the trash men.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Never see our postman as we have a community mailbox. Even if we had home delivery we would never see them as we work full time days when its delivered. And honestly we get very little mail anymore. I pick it up from the box like once a week. Mostly flyers.

 

[anniemae]

We don't tip. I always thought they were not supposed to take gifts. Our carriers tend to change a lot and we have a lot of mis delivered mail so I don't really feel the need.

 

[DisneyHardin]

I sell on eBay and used to to package pick up at my old house. My carrier was fantastic. Even though I knew he wasn’t supposed to take cash, I figured he still would. I left a Christmas card with his name out with my packages with cash inside. He took it, I’m sure pocketed the money, he was happy and his supervisor was none the wiser.