To ask if you ‘tip’ your postie/bin men etc at Christmas?

[FiveFarthings]

Just wondering if people do this and if so, what do you do? Cash in a card? Box of mince pies/chocolate?

My parents are in their 60s and I remember they always used to leave cash in a card for the postie/bin men when we were kids but I don’t know if people do this now?

I’ve never done it as where we used to live we always had loads of different posties so never gave anything, but in our new house we have just the one regular and he’s really nice and friendly, always has a chat and always makes a fuss of the dog, was considerate when DD was born and left the parcels inside the gate rather than ringing the bell etc

I’d like to give him something, just not sure what the done thing is now days? Thoughts?

Yes, I leave a box of biscuits on top of the bin and a box of chocs for the milkman (I know the milkman's family, though). The postman changes regularly, so I don't give him/them anything.

My husband is a postie. He mostly gets chocolates and a card. Sometimes the odd fiver. He'll share the chocs with his post mate in their van. If he's not the regular postie then he gives it to the guys who are. He loves just getting a card. I always give our own postie a card with £10 in it. A lot of them work 6 days a week, walking up to 18 miles a day in all weather conditions with no break and no time to stop for the toilet. A little bit of festive spirit goes a long way so a little card is always appreciated.
The bin men get a card because I wouldn't trust leaving anything else out on top of the bin for them!

Yep £20 in a card for my excellent postman and I buy beer and leave it on the bin with a card for the bin man. First year I did it they came to the door to say thanks and much appreciated. Have done it every since.

£20 to the postman

Not anymore. When DC were little I used to buy beer for the bin men but not nowadays.my postman changes every week atm so I wouldn't know who to leave money for.

Yes £20 each

Hand it to the postie
Leave it in envelope stuck to top of wheelie bin for bin men

Why would you? Do you go and leave a tip for your lawyer/dentist/conveyancer...etc..add other professions as you see fit...

No, I don’t have binmen, I would give the postie a bottle of wine but not because he’s my postie I give it because he’s DS’s friends dad! 🤣

I tip the milkman and the paper boy.

No, as they're just doing their job. I find tipping such a weird, outdated and patronising custom.
Give them a tub of sweeties for doing their job properly?
It's always strange who gets to fit the criteria for getting a present or not as well, how some jobs are "OK" to tip but not others.

No. I don't know my postman/postwoman and I never see the bin men.

We leave our bins in the street and in my and my neighbours' case, quite some way from the front of our houses as we live in a little walkway that I doubt the bin men would be willing to walk along to collect the bins from.

I think the idea of tipping bin men would have come from an earlier time when the dustbins were made of metal and the bin men would walk down each garden path, pick up the bin onto their backs, carry it out to the lorry, tip it in the lorry and then return it back down the garden path they took it from. A very different type of job from the job of the modern bin man. Their work was dirty and hard and I imagine they were paid a pittance. They more than deserved a tip at Christmas.

I'm not saying the modern bin man's job is pleasant but I don't tip anyone else so why would I tip them.

Also, I don't know if this still applies but I remember getting a card through the door some years ago saying that the bin men were not allowed to accept tips from householders.

Its often patronising and deferential claptrap.. I'm off to find an Xmas box for my Quantity surveyor..

They earn more than I do. It ain't happening.

I used to give our postie a tenner in a card, we knew him by name and, apart from holidays, he was our only postie. These days we never seem to have the same guy twice so no tipping.

Both get £20. Our bin men are lovely, always say hello to DS(3) and will often wait until they get to our house before hitting the crushing mechanism because they know DS loves it.

Our postie is also lovely. I've got a newborn and if I have a parcel, he always just does a tiny knock on the window to get my attention and doesn't ring the doorbell. It's just little things.

In this day and age I think it's pretty patronising to stick a £10/£20/£50 note into a card and give it to another adult you barely know.

If I were a postwoman doing my job I'd feel a bit insulted tbh. It's demeaning.

Bottle of beer for postie
Box of branded mince pies left on top on the bins in a foodbag so they stay dry for the binchaps/chapesses.

Our extra rubbish, the collection after Christmas usually gets collected

Yes. Run out with some money.

It's demeaning - I agree - here, peasants! A token offering this yuletide!

I dont think it is demeaning. I'm 99% sure my postman does not think its demeaning. It's appreciative.

My parents used to tip the bin men years ago. But that was when they came into the garden lifted the bin carried it out to the lorry emptied it and took it back.

I honestly dont understand why people would think of tipping them these days when you have to lug the bin out yourself and all they do is pull it a few feet to the lorry.

I don't tip anything but I've never chatted to them or anything.

I dont think it is demeaning. I'm 99% sure my postman does not think its demeaning. It's appreciative

I don't get this thinking though
Yeah, I'm sure your postman doesn't find it demeaning, who wouldn't want to be bunged a few extra quid for doing a "good job?"
You'd just take it happily.
Who decides what is a worthy job to donate to though? Presuming you're in the UK, where everyone earns the same, why do some jobs get a tin of sweets/a tenner in an envelope and not others?

I am very mean and don't tip anyone !

A tenner in a card for both. Just a gesture. Bin folk work hard, not just bins but recycling, snow clearing etc...
Post lady will go through our gate and place small packages that don’t fit through our letterbox, in our garage. ( doesn’t leave an ‘I called but you weren’t in card’. Love her!