Do you buy gifts for delivery/bin collectors?

[BigBaublesGalore]

Wondering what the general consensus is on buying some chocolate/alcohol for delivery and bin collectors, posties etc... I usually think I should but never have because I always overthink and then don't do it... and this year I'm thinking it's even more deserved due to the situation

I’m guessing all you who don’t buy presents for people don’t buy for your children’s teachers either given they also receive a salary? Does your family not receive salaries? Don’t you buy for them either? I get a box of chocolates for the office staff usually too but then I love Christmas and love to give. Would hate to be so tight and Scroogey

You do realise a lot of people are struggling to make ends meet and couldn't stretch to a box of chocolates or wine for all and sundry right? That doesn't make someone tight or Scroogey.

And as for comparing buying presents for the bin men to buying for family, well not sure I get that.

@daisypond oh maybe you are right! I really couldn't tell... you never know on Mumsnet!

@LuckyAmy1986 not being able to afford it- fine, I get that.
Saying they don’t buy presents because people already get a salary.. don’t see the sense in that?

We give a Christmas box of chocolate biscuits and a card. They are a good bunch of guys.

Bin men are several and come at 6am - thought of taping a card to bin but imagine it would get pinched.
I normally put £10 in a card for postie but always wonder if it goes to my regular one or not! Not sure i even have a regular one...
If I knew them well enough to say hi (smaller town or village, say) then definitely i would.

@SendHelp30 Ok but you compared it to not buying for family because they get salaries! I don't get it? Family is family and the bin men are the bin men - surely there's a difference?

Oh and I’ve never bought a Christmas gift for my DC’s teachers either, that wouldn’t occur to me either. They get a gift at the end of the school year but not Christmas. I’m a teacher and I come from a long line of teachers, we don’t expect Christmas gifts

Same. BIL and DS are teachers and they end up with sooo much stuff at Christmas they have to give most of it away - the perishables mainly. They appreciate it but at the same time wish people didn't feel they had to, plus find it a bit embarrassing! Not talking for all teachers of course but I just wouldn't.

Postie here.

I deliver to 500 addresses per day, and got 6 "tips" last year. Cash, bottle of wine, chocolates and biscuits. All gratefully received, but not expected.

It tends to be older couples, and those that get a lot of parcels. Please don't feel bad if you haven't/can't/don't want to. A smile and a wave a just as important this time.of year (and not complaining that your letters are wet when I've been out in the rain for 4+ hours)

Although, after this year....

I'd be very surprised if most of these people can accept cash, and if they do they risk disciplinary procedures. I've worked for a couple of local authorities and both had very strict policies on gifts. Most didn't even like you accepting personal gifts, eg chocolates had to be shared in the office and alcohol given to charity.

Obviously the private companies might be different.

I never have and have never understood it as people already receive a wage and I don't buy a gift for every single person in the town and beyond that I have bought something from or had a service from. It just wouldn't be possible. If i had a relationship with someone I might but the gift wouldn't then be for them just doing their job but because I appreciate them as a oerson

I give a present to my regular postie and courier drivers (Fedex, UPS and DHL) but not the bin men. I never see them because I have mobility issues and a relative puts out the bins for me.

Going back a few years I took over management of a workplace where the previous manager had hawked around the staff to collect for very lavish presents for the cleaners. I discovered that the cleaners were on a higher hourly wage than some of the junior staff so I put a stop to that. I told my staff that if they wished to give a personal gift they were free to do so as it was not my place to tell them how to spend their money. The cleaners were employed by the local authority, just as we were. I did not consider it appropriate for one group of staff to be gifting another as though we were in some kind of asymmetric social relationship.

I disapprove of staff collections except in very exceptional circumstances as I believe they are a racket. I also dislike the moral pressure aspect in staff collections whereby people are made to feel mean if they cannot afford/dont want to contribute.

If the cleaners had been my employees working to clean MY home then the gift would have been to thank them for their work during the year. That would be a different kind of relationship.

When we were young and poor, we got a card saying 'Happy Christmas from the people who take your bins". We left one the next week saying "Happy Christmas from the people who teach your children" .

I used to, back in the days when they had to lift and carry smelly metal bins - but now I handle the wheelie bins more than they do, just pulling them round from the garden, so no

£20 and a crate of beer, they are really good and will always take extra rubbish for us.

My grandmother always used to give something to the bin men. She called it their 'Christmas Box'. I remember asking many questions about that because it wasn't in a box, and so didn't appear to make any sense :)

@SpudsandGravy

My grandmother always used to give something to the bin men. She called it their 'Christmas Box'. I remember asking many questions about that because it wasn't in a box, and so didn't appear to make any sense :)

My grandmother did exactly the same - their Christmas box.

If I bought presents for everyone that mumsnet talks about buying presents for I'd be broke. I dont tip delivery drivers either, what a scrooge.

When I had a milkman I gave him a fiver in a card.

Binmen aren't a charity case ffs like this thread implies.

Bin men are paid more than I am... so no

We have 4 sets of bin/recycling collectors that visit each week. I'd be bankrupt!

While we are talking about delivery men, does anyone know how the ‘feedback’ that Amazon asks you to give after a delivery, works? The site says it is anonymous, but do the deliverers get any sort of a bonus for compliments?

@CorianderQueen why/how does the thread imply bin men are charity cases?

I have lived in my present house for over five years and have never seen the bin men, other than perhaps driving past them if I'm out that early.

So no, I wouldn't give them a Christmas tip.

However, I see a number of the people who work on my local Tesco checkout on a regular basis, and I suspect they earn less than the binmen. Should I give them all a tip at Christmas?

@pigsDOfly yeah if you want to

@ParkheadParadise so true - my parents got two household waste bins emptied each time the lorry was round, no questions asked, less frequent now that there’s just the two of them, but at Christmas etc. Two bins are still emptied 😂