To not give the postman a Christmas bung

[MurkyMo]

...to not give the postman a Christmas card with a fiver in it. Husband wants to but I say no. As for the bin men, not a chance !

What do you do?

We tip our wheeler bin cleaner because he’s ace at locating our errant bin (frequently goes AWOL after being emptied and left in the wrong place by the bin men) cleaning it, and putting it back on our drive in exactly the right place. And we tip our fish monger who brings fresh fish weekly that was caught within hours and NOT shipped all the way to China to be packed before coming all the way back to be put in Tesco’s freezers!

Not a chance. Bin men are shite and leave more than they pick up.

As for the postman, what’s one of those, haven’t seen one for days.

I never tip anyone, we have a minimum wage here.

I trained as a hairdresser as a teen and am now in my 40s. I always received tips. My mum always tipped the bin men and postie. It HAS always been a thing. Just not people you knew

But if you saved up what you gave throughout the year… you could treat your children to something? Or extra supper for you @SurvivalInstinctsOfABakedPotato

Our postman’s brilliant. He’ll get £20 in a card. Ditto our milkman, and the bin men.

Yes! The postman is in the village every day but we personally don't receive anything through the mail bar the junk crap once in a while that everyone gets. No bank statements or anything like that -it's all online. I don't think I've had actual post for me or the family in over a month.

Years ago (over 30 years!) we always gave the bin men something, usually a 6-pack of beer, and when we used a milkman we always left him a box of chocolates or a bottle of sherry, but when he retired we started just buying milk from the supermarket. Nowadays we don't bother.

My child has plenty and so do I! We have clothes on our backs and food in our kitchen. In all honesty I'd rather use the extra for someone else in a small gesture.

We give our gardeners a tip, and also the window cleaner. Postman seems to deliver when he feels like it, and never see him. Bin men leave recycling behind and a mess.

I think the "point" of an annual tip to these guys (and not the Tesco checkout girl) is that they come to our doors every day (not in some cases, but in most) in all weather.

In the 80s my mother would ALWAYS tip the postie, the milkman, and binmen. Back then it was always the same people, and they all did the job for many years. People rarely went sick. Now you could get anyone. The binmen always had the cheek to knock and say "just wishing you a merry Christmas!" Then hung around for the tip. I always hated that as a kid.

This year we are tipping the Ringtons guy, as he is absolutely amazing, and will always leave me the biscuits I love if we are out during his rounds - he knows my faves and will always leave them at the door, and he knows we will pay him in 2 weeks' time when he's back.

I would have given the Evri driver a tip as he is wonderful, but he's just stopped coming and been replaced by a grumpy sod.

The postie is a tough one - he is lovely but he was away for about 8 months and has only just returned so hasn't really done a great deal this year.

Wow

Each to their own
from what you described i would prefer to save for my child 🤷‍♀️

Maybe your family didn't. My mother always tipped the hairdresser and the junior when she used to go to the hairdresser weekly in the 1959s/60s. My parents also tipped the milkman, the bin men and the paper delivery boy at Christmas, as well as giving a small Christmas bonus to the gardener and cleaning lady. It's certainly not a newfangled Americanism.

It really has. A quick Google will take you to Hansard from over 40 years ago and a debate on how posties' tips/gifts (or Christmas boxes as they used to be called) should be treated by the Inland Revenue.

I can remember my mum tipping her hairdresser in the late 60s. And my postie friend (who I've known since we were teenagers in the 70s), has always received tips and gifts. It's not American and it's not from the last 20 years.

In the old days certain professions were tipped because their wage was very low, this was before the minimum wage which gives an equal wage to all low paid professions so why would you tip some and not others.

The milkman, I'd forgotten that! Yes, he always got a tip too.

Agree. The whole tipping culture is dumb.

taxi drivers expect tips despite often earning more than a bus driver who doesn’t get tips.

waiters expect tips, but a cashier at Tesco doesn’t.

they’re all pretty comparable jobs, why should some get extra money that’s essentially “begged” from customers?

I’ve always found it bizarre.

My postwoman will get £20 , I see it as a Christmas gift rather than a 'tip'.
She really is so pleasant and helpful . The bin men change every week so nothing for them .

I never give anything to any delivery person, or the bin men. Once you start you can't stop, and it will be expected, then you'll be ill-thought of if you try and stop it.

Also, whilst risking sounding like a dickhead, I would rather give nothing than give five pounds. I can't think of anything you could buy with it. Couldn't even get a pint of beer or a glass of wine in the pubs around here for a fiver! 😬

Our bins our collected from a communal area. I'll leave their tip in an envelope on my bin. I am pretty sure they will not remember year on year if I do or don't leave a tip.
With our old postman he may have remembered that I always gave him a fiver in a card each year, but I'm sure didn't think anything of it if I didn't do so.

If the binmen left our bin anywhere near our house after they emptied it they might have gotten a tip!

I have a friend who has become a postman. He walks 15 miles a day! I had no ideas it was that much. He brings up the Evri parcels thrown at bottom of steps for older customer. I think a post person coming to your door is part of our community fabric that we are undermining even though I use inpost etc. lockers myself. I don't know my post person as never in when it arrives but having a friend in the role has made me think about it more and I would tip if I knew them.

Should I expect netball teams I umpire for to give me Christmas tips? Like postmen, they pay me to be there, in my shorts, in all weathers.
(Yes, I know, they're out in the same weather!)

And aren't some people offended by receiving tips? I was reminded of this dialogue in the film of the Railway Children, when he delivers a hamper:

Peter: I'm sorry I don't have tuppence to give you, like Father does.
Perks: Just stop that, will you? I wasn't thinking about no tuppences.

The 🎄tips to postmen, milkmen, etc. used to be called ‘Christmas boxes’ and were certainly a ‘thing’ in the 50s and 60s - as I am old enough to remember. And not just for ‘rich’ people - my folks certainly weren’t rich.