To ask who/if you tip at Christmas?

[womannotcis]

First world issue - Aibu to ask you to share if you tip the following people, and how much if so?...

• Postal delivery person (we have the same regular postman)
• Ocado Christmas delivery person (someone different each week, big Christmas order tomorrow, will ask for it to be brought in to kitchen)
• Council refused collectors

Thanks!

I was brought up to only tip exceptional service by service providers, and tp give gifts to employees.

Hence I never tip bin men (ours chuck rubbish up and down the street and mix our bins up. That's what I pay £1500 a year in council tax for...!) or posties.

I feel the cleaner is an a quasi employee relationship so I gave her wine and chocs. She's a bit slapdash so I don't feel I can justify anything more generous.

Jesus. Many of you are tipping more than I spend on a present for a close family member! Where does the money come from?

I tip my postman, been delivering here for 10+ years and is wonderful and helpful £10 in a card and have bought his two daughters a sticker book each, he always gets mine a little something.
Binmen, also wonderful, they traipse my bin out and down without complaint as they know my partial paralysis makes this difficult for me. I gave them a tub of chocolates and beer as I do every year.
My cleaner I gave a weeks wages to as a bonus, usually I buy her a gift but I ran out of time this year.

I always get a bonus from my boss too, and flowers.

Bloody hell I don't think I'm cut out for this adulting nonsense!

I don't tip anyone. Ever. I pay my bill and that's it 🙊

Although we did buy our sons preschool teacher a thank you gift when she left last week (she was maternity cover) because she was AMAZING and we took in a bag of festive goodies for the teaching assistants too for putting up with his constant clock watching and cupboard emptying 😂

Cleaner a molton brown gift set - candle, hand soap and cream of the fragrance I have in my house that she mentions how much she loves every week !

Postman I was deliberating about that. We tend to have the same one and he gives my daft dog biscuits so maybe I should tip him 🤔

Have never had my windows cleaned

Until I started as a self employed cleaner it never occurred to me to give tips. I tip the milkman £10, dustbin men get a box of beer, we don't know our postman & I didn't see the window cleaner this week.
Some of my clients are every generous & I really appreciate it, others who are less so I think they think I'm crap or they're just tight. Have to say I like it just as much when someone thanks me for doing a good job all year, it means a lot.

My nan had a cleaning job for years when I was little. I used to love going with her to explore the big house. Her employer always used to give her £100 each Christmas and birthday, and this was in the 1980s. When the employer moved away, she still sent Nan her £100 each Christmas and birthday until nan died. That set the bar pretty high for me! Sorry, slightly OT, but it made me all nostalgic.

Postman £10 , dog groomer £20 .

I don't tip anyone - my postie is forever changing, the bin men are forever leaving the bins halfway down the street, delivery drivers are always changing, my hairdresser is the salon owner (and is a friend of my parents') etc

The only Christmas "bonus" I give are to the girls at the salon where I get my nails done and eyebrows waxed once a month (along with getting my hair cut every 6/8 weeks), and I get them a big box of chocolates or nice tea/coffee which I give them at my last appointment before Christmas.

The only other thing that comes close is that I make up a hamper of cat treats/toys/blankets/food etc and take it to the local cat charity that I got my cat from along with a nice box of chocs/biscuits for the volunteers because whilst I can't take all the poor kitties home with me, I can at least make sure they get some treats over the festive period.

Many restaurants have a system where tips are pooled and shared between everyone, so no one looses out. And whoever said that all serving staff do is smile, take an order and deliver a meal has never worked in a restaurant! And if they have I'd like to work there please!

I don't earn a lot and that is precisely why I do tip restaurant and bar staff and the local ladies at the shop, because they're people like me - working often a lot harder at this time of year, to make other peoples Christmas easier or to give them a lovely time on their Christmas celebration, and missing their own celebration and families because of that. And mostly for no extra in their pay packet. Yes it is all part of the job and I never, ever expect a tip. But I really appreciate those that do, it makes such a difference.
DDs teacher has been great after some issues DD had this year. I've sent her a box of chocs for Christmas because she's been so kind.
I can't afford a lot, but tbh for me personally it's the gesture that means the most.

I also gave all six teacher gifts this year. I never have before but since September the teachers our dd’s have, have really got the best out of them.

This was also the first year I gave our post lady a tip. As I said in my previous post, I do all of my shopping online. I’m unable to work because of chronic conditions I have and going to an actual shop is too much for me.

Binmen cos they're always great and take extra for us.

I tip bus drivers too @AnxietyOCDDepression and the one this morning dropped his mouth open in shock! 😂 I guess they don't get it often, my BIL is a bus driver so I know how much crap they get though.

No one. Having checked the salaries of postmen and binmen, I don't earn that much more than them and no one ever tips me!

None, we don't use any services for the household so no cleaner, window cleaner, gardener, etc. (Unless you count me )

DS doesn't attend school or nursery (only a baby and my mum looks after him).

Rarely go to hairdressers and the owner (who does my hair) earns me than me, probably!

Always get different bin men and post men.

Plus, I'm a part time carer on a rubbish wage with a young baby. Money is tight as it is.

My dad is our general handyman person - should I tip him? I always get him a bottle of rum whenever he does work for us so I suppose that counts.

£20 for the window cleaner. Our postie is always different so it would be weird to tip.

Always tip in restaurants and cafes anyway.

Imagine if the postie got a tenner from every house they deliver to!!!!!

I don't tip. I think it's odd that the visible public sector workers get tips, but background staff dont. I would be allowed to accept a tip, so why should they??

Are the people giving £50 tips the same ones who think it’s ok to go to a wedding empty handed?

I doubt it. Generous people tend to be so to everyone, and vice versa.

Present for the cleaner but that's it. I wouldn't recognise the postie or bin men if I fell over.

them

It’s such a lot of money!

I was adding up in my head the cost of Christmas EXCLUDING my DC’s gifts and it’s really something. And we average £25 per gift we buy (for immediate family only) so that’s hardly extravagant. The Times last Saturday had an article entitled “Gift Guide For Tightwads” where everything was £25 and under. I know it was tongue in cheek, but still!

By the time you’ve done the Christmas fair, and cards for all the class, and Santa’s Grotto and a school trip to the panto, and the food shop for big hosting meals x 2, and work nights out and Christmas socials, and a Christmas tree (and replacement bloody lights - surely it’s not just us who has to buy a new set every year! - etc etc then it’s so so expensive.

We spent less than £3 on the teachers & TAs each - no way do I have £10 to tip the binmen & the postmen & the window cleaner! I’d love a cleaner, and would see that relationship differently & buy a gift, but everyone else, meh. They get a salary like I do!

I hate to admit that it's necessary, but I do believe that tipping the dustmen is a good investment!

I tipped the man who does my ironing £15.00. He provides an excellent service. I usually give the postie and window cleaner a tin of sweets but got slated last year on here for that .

I'm glad I sparked the debate!
Fyi - the lovely smiley Ocado man got £5 this morning - he seemed very happy with it too.

Still thinking about the postie, who calls me 'love' when he hands stuff over (one of my grumpy pet hates!)

Aside from Christmas, do people tip the supermarket delivery drivers? I never have and wondered if I’m meant to