To ask who you tip at Christmas and how much?

[ChocolateCinderToffee]

Inspired by another thread.

Postie?
Hairdresser?
Cleaner?
Window cleaner?
Gardener?

Anyone else? Do you tip people who are in any way friends even if you pay them for a service? Do you give gifts rather than money?

I tip my dog walker £20 (an hour's walk is £14 for context). She is self employed, has a relationship with us as a family, and goes above and beyond throughout the year so want to show my appreciation. I tip £20 as that is what I would spend on getting her a Xmas gift I guess, to pay someone a month's wages like some people suggest is absolutely insane in my opinion.

Bin men no, postie no - I don't know them and they are paid for the job they do.

I tip the binmen and give postie a box of chocs. I do my own hair, garden, cleaning, windows.

Where do people find all this extra money from?

I don't tip anybody! Wouldn't ever occur to me to tip the postie or thd bin men. I don't have a cleaner or anything like that and I don't go to the hairdressers as I dye and trim my own hair.

I'm going for a meal next Saturday, I'll tip then, that's probably the only time I'll need to.

I get a bonus at work, unfortunately since I am paid so low that I have to claim UC they just reduce it for that month as my wages are higher so I hardly benefit from it.

No one.

Don't have a cleaner, gardener or dog walker etc.

Window cleaner has a big firm that has a monopoly locally, charges a fair bit and drives round in a Bentley so nope. Unfortunately I have some mobility issues so have to keep using them.

Hairdresser I avoid Xmas appointments as it's so busy and loud so don't tip then.

Different post/delivery person all the time so nope.

DC in secondary now so no teacher gifts shenanigans either thank god.

We pay our cleaners double in the week before Christmas. They're more than worth it.

Don't tip postie or bin men or window cleaners but I did tip my hairdresser £10 at the weekend.

Do you live in the real world?

A lot of the people commenting don’t have a cleaner, a gardener or a team that works for them. Most people commenting won’t get a bonus at work either….

OP, I don’t tip anyone. Why would I tip the bin men when I have no clue who they are? I wouldn’t tip the postie because again, no clue who he is. My Evri driver is great but again, why would I tip him when he’s just doing his job? The only person I may tip this year is my hairdresser and if I do, it’ll be a fiver because it’s all I could afford!

Giving £30 to your Evri/Tesco driver is madness imo

Nobody sbould be "expecting" a tip. Nice if they get something but no way will everyone do so.

It's fine if you don't tip.

Don't worry about it.

@ChequeredPastel not if she was a secondary teacher - gifts seem to vanish after primary as they go from one single teacher to so many different subject teachers.

Is this inspired by the bin man thread?

I tip my hairdresser if I have cash

plan to give the cleaner some chocolates or something - or js an extra £10 better?

thinking of giving bin men something

hadn't thought of giving the postie anything but did think about the evri woman as she's here a lot!

Also nursery staff - box of chocolates this time

I’m fortunate financially. I wasn’t always. When much younger, I spent two summers as a coach tour manager. My salary was £50 pw for, typically, a 7 day week with no breaks except to sleep. Passengers were advised how much to tip if they were happy with my service. Some tipped the recommended amount, some less, some nothing. I understood that some couldn’t afford it, but I’m grateful to my ‘mentor’ for teaching me the importance of tipping. So I always leave tips for hotel cleaners. I would like tipping to be unnecessary-I think that used to be the case in Denmark as service staff were properly paid-but I know as a public sector employee with good benefits born ‘at the right time’ how lucky I am. (I know that not all public sector employees are so lucky.) Apparently if you want to help the most people, donating to reduce malaria is the best thing. I try to give a reasonable amount to charity, but I also try to pass on the appreciation I felt when my coach passengers tipped me. So to answer the question… hairdresser, window cleaner, binmen, postie when regular, milkman, gardener (told you I was fortunate). As school cleaners and office staff do a really hard job with little thanks, I also buy lots of them a bottle. But I expect to drastically reduce my hours soon so know I can’t be as generous. You did ask.

Bin men -box of chocolate

Postie - box of chocolate, biscuits and wine

Cleaner - box of chocolate, biscuits, wine and a present ( this year it is a dressing gown)

Window cleaner - box of chocolate and wine

Kids swimming instructor - box of chocolate, biscuits and wine

Evri delivery guy - Chocolates and wine

Gardener - Chocolates, biscuits, wine and a small cake ( he’s an old guy and loves cake)

Nursery staff - Small gifts from boots about £5 each in value there is 10 staff.

School teachers - There is a class collection so just pay £10 and one of the parents will organise it.

and of course Christmas cards for all.

Assuming you're paying them right and treating them well you shouldn't need to bung them only at Christmas.

I'm reasonably confident my team feel my "joy".

I paid 180 quid at the hairdresser yesterday. I got a great haircut. Reasonable exchange. No tip.

Fuck, that’s shit. One of my people has two student loans, and he will
pay an additional 15% ‘tax’ on what I give him. It feels bloody miserable. If there was a bonus category in tax, loads of employers would abuse it though.

No cleaner or gardener, I never see the bin people and our post people are always changing.

Bottle of wine for hairdresser and pretty much always tip when I eat out or take a taxi .

I know ! That's more than I spend on family members !

No one. Never ever had a tip during 40+ years of work

Question to all those who tape cash/ chocs/ beer etc to the bins for the bin men. How do you know it gets to the recipients without being stolen? I have to put my bins out at night because they are routinely collected before 6.30 am and no way would any goodies be still there even if I were to put the bins out early doors I obviously live in a shitty neighbourhood

@LividSleep
Please don't worry . I don't think postal staff and bin workers will be expecting tips from most of the people they deliver to . I think that anyone who is on minimum wage shouldn't tip anyway as often the service staff who others are tipping earn more than they do in the first place .

I don't. I might buy the lady that does my eyebrows a bottle of gin (I know it's not much).

All year round if I am paying cash, I may round it up if I feel like it. Always tip a taxi driver where possible.

I don't tip for the sake of it, even in restaurants.

It wouldn't even cross my mind to tip really. If people set a price for work such as a gardener, that's the amount they are happy with. They gave that number, not me. If they wanted more they would ask for it.

All the talk on here about tipping hairdressers does make me wonder tho. Especially as she is a miracle worker.

I give a sixpence tip the street urchin who goes to fetch me the biggest turkey in the butcher’s window.

Nursery - a bottle of wine each for the staff, there’s eight

Primary school - also wine for the teacher and TAs

Cleaner - an extra weeks wages

Bin men - a box of Coke Zero cans - I’ve previously given biscuits but after a conversation they said they prefer things they can consume without touching the food item. Makes sense I suppose as they handle rubbish on their rounds.

We have a box outside our door in December with cans of drink and chocolate bars with a note for postmen and delivery drivers to help themselves.