Page 9 | To not give the postman a Christmas bung

MurkyMo · 2025-12-18T06:38:12+00:00

...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?

XenoBitch · 18/12/2025 12:53

Lemonlimonade · 18/12/2025 12:46

Loads of workers are out working ‘in all weathers’ and even more working in cold warehouses… that’s their job and they get paid for it. What makes some jobs more valued than others?

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Not more valued but posties are dealing directly with you. Just like how people tip waiting staff but not the kitchen staff.

Leave a tip, or don't. It is up to you.

Squirrel60 · 18/12/2025 12:55

I do apologise for this, but ''To not give the postman a Christmas bung'' had me on the floor laughing!

Lemonlimonade · 18/12/2025 13:58

XenoBitch · 18/12/2025 12:53

Not more valued but posties are dealing directly with you. Just like how people tip waiting staff but not the kitchen staff.

Leave a tip, or don't. It is up to you.

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Tipping waiting staff originated in the US where waiters & waitresses earned ZERO salary and therefore relied on tips.

In the UK all staff, whether in the kitchen/warehouse or dealing with customers get paid a salary.

Zov · 18/12/2025 14:07

rainbowunicorn · 18/12/2025 10:12

You are ridiculous to even think that a postman's job is sticking some letters through the door.
In my area the postmen start at 6am. Unloading dozens of yorks and sorting it all into areas. They will then be out from around 8am to 3 or 4pm delivering. They are out in driving rain, hail, sleet and snow, high winds and every other type of weather. Delivering to people who have unsafe access, loose dogs in the garden. Rural area so they are delivering heavy parcels that they are constantly climbing in and out of vans, having to meet deadlines for specific deliveries. They are soaked through to the skin because the employer dosent give adequate water proof clothing. Average number of steps a day between 27,000 and 35,000 depending on how busy it is and how many drops they have. They are also picking up mail from postoffices and boxes, all timed to the minute so they cant be early picking up, nor can they be too late because if the mail dosent make it back to their office in time for the main pick up then it fails which will result in a disciplinary. There is nothing easy about the average postpersons job.

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Plenty of people work hard, not just postal delivery workers. 🙄 You are making it sound like they walk around the planet everyday in hurricanes, and 6 feet of snow, and are the hardest done by workers in the world. And they work 8am til 4pm? Actual wow! Many people work waaaay more hours than that.

And as some people have already said, some days they don't get any post in their village or area. We (rural village, 3.5 miles from the little town) only get it on 3 days of the week. (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only.) So they're not always out every day, and they do pick up the post from the postbox sometimes up to 20 minutes late, as long as they get it back to the sorting office for for when it closes, it doesn't matter.

And yes, of course they're going to clock up some steps, they're a flippin' postie! 🙄

We get it, you (or your husband, or one of your close relatives) is a postal delivery worker. YES they do a good job, but so do millions of others. They don't deserve a tip any more than anyone else.

Zov · 18/12/2025 14:08

rainbowunicorn · 18/12/2025 10:12

You are ridiculous to even think that a postman's job is sticking some letters through the door.
In my area the postmen start at 6am. Unloading dozens of yorks and sorting it all into areas. They will then be out from around 8am to 3 or 4pm delivering. They are out in driving rain, hail, sleet and snow, high winds and every other type of weather. Delivering to people who have unsafe access, loose dogs in the garden. Rural area so they are delivering heavy parcels that they are constantly climbing in and out of vans, having to meet deadlines for specific deliveries. They are soaked through to the skin because the employer dosent give adequate water proof clothing. Average number of steps a day between 27,000 and 35,000 depending on how busy it is and how many drops they have. They are also picking up mail from postoffices and boxes, all timed to the minute so they cant be early picking up, nor can they be too late because if the mail dosent make it back to their office in time for the main pick up then it fails which will result in a disciplinary. There is nothing easy about the average postpersons job.

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Plenty of people work hard, not just postal delivery workers. 🙄 You are making it sound like they walk around the planet everyday in hurricanes, and 6 feet of snow, and are the hardest done by workers in the world. And they are out til 8am til 3pm or 4pm? Actual wow! Many people are out/at work waaaay more hours than that.

And as some people have already said, some days they don't get any post in their village or area. We (rural village, 3.5 miles from the little town) only get it on 3 days of the week. (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only.) So they're not always out every day, and they do pick up the post from the postbox sometimes up to 20 minutes late, as long as they get it back to the sorting office for for when it closes, it doesn't matter. (Also, the postie who delivers our mail, in the morning, is never the same one who picks up the post at 4pm from our village postbox.. And that is only collected on Monday. Wednesday, and Friday too!)

And yes, of course they're going to clock up some steps, they're a flippin' postie! 🙄

We get it, you (or your husband, or one of your close relatives) is a postal delivery worker. YES they do a good job, but so do millions of others. They don't deserve a tip any more than anyone else.

.

PIbrekkie · 18/12/2025 14:15

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Zov · 18/12/2025 14:17

goldenmagicbiscuittin · 18/12/2025 10:28

Well said! 👏

If you want to randomly tip people due to some arbitrary internal moral code thats entirely up to you but fuck right off with all this judgy, performative "you sound miserable", "but.... its Christmas", "its the decent thing to do" bull crap which is a mere thinly disguised "I'm better than YOU".

Not everyone can afford to hand out tenners to every random person they come across in December and some of us are decent and friendly and kind to people all year round without bragging about it on MN or social media in general.

Bragging about how much you tip some people but not others isnt making you sound like the mother Theresa you think it does. It actually makes you sound like someone who wants praise lavished on them for giving someone something which makes you sound like a bit of a dick actually.

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Yes, exactly! It's very likely the same people who post on Facebook to say 'I'm not giving any Christmas cards out this year, I'm giving to CHARITY instead!' 🙄

No one cares ... (And most people don't believe you anyway!)

Zov · 18/12/2025 14:19

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Sounds like they are. (And judging by how angry they are, it sounds like most people haven't given them a Christmas tip this year!) 😬

Zov · 18/12/2025 14:22

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Exactly. Apart from being out of date, and having no place in the 21st century, tipping is quite patronising. It kind of screams 'oh here you are you poor lamb, have five pounds from me, coz I know you are poorer than me..,'

PIbrekkie · 18/12/2025 14:22

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Vaguelyclassical · 18/12/2025 14:25

Notmyreality · 18/12/2025 06:48

That’s just you making a statement look at us we have money to burn.

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What a mean-spirited interpretation of somebody showing their generosity of spirit! The British sometimes have an astonishing gift for never saying anything nice if they can say something nasty. Sigh.

rainbowunicorn · 18/12/2025 14:33

Zov · 18/12/2025 14:07

Plenty of people work hard, not just postal delivery workers. 🙄 You are making it sound like they walk around the planet everyday in hurricanes, and 6 feet of snow, and are the hardest done by workers in the world. And they work 8am til 4pm? Actual wow! Many people work waaaay more hours than that.

And as some people have already said, some days they don't get any post in their village or area. We (rural village, 3.5 miles from the little town) only get it on 3 days of the week. (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only.) So they're not always out every day, and they do pick up the post from the postbox sometimes up to 20 minutes late, as long as they get it back to the sorting office for for when it closes, it doesn't matter.

And yes, of course they're going to clock up some steps, they're a flippin' postie! 🙄

We get it, you (or your husband, or one of your close relatives) is a postal delivery worker. YES they do a good job, but so do millions of others. They don't deserve a tip any more than anyone else.

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I never said anything about tipping. I also never said that other people dont work hard. I merely pointed out that it is not an easy job to the person I was responding to. You may want to read properly as I stated they start at 6am and dont usually finish until between 3 and 4. The first 2 hours of their day is spent unloading multiple lorries and sorting the mail.
You are also wrong. Nobody in my family or friendship group is postman or any other sort of delivery person.

PIbrekkie · 18/12/2025 14:34

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rainbowunicorn · 18/12/2025 14:37

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No

PIbrekkie · 18/12/2025 14:47

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Original poster

MurkyMo · 18/12/2025 15:20

Zov · 18/12/2025 14:19

Sounds like they are. (And judging by how angry they are, it sounds like most people haven't given them a Christmas tip this year!) 😬

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Never mind a Christmas bung!

OP posts:

BethBynnag86 · 18/12/2025 15:30

When I was a child, back in the 60's, I remember the binmen and the window cleaner actually knocking on the door asking for tips at Christmas! They used to refer to it as the 'Christmas Box'.

HugglesAndSnuggles · 18/12/2025 15:31

Luxio · 18/12/2025 06:42

No Christmas tips here. We're lucky to get post more than twice a week at most and on about 3 occasions this year our whole street has been missed during routine bin collections.

Maybe no-one writes to you? That being said, we don’t tip either.

Luxio · 18/12/2025 16:15

HugglesAndSnuggles · 18/12/2025 15:31

Maybe no-one writes to you? That being said, we don’t tip either.

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It's not because there is no post it's because they limit the deliveries to each street so they only deliver regardless of how many letters a few times a week. It's been happening for years and we're not even a rural area, quite the opposite. I'm always amazed when other areas actually have 5 days of deliveries.

winterbluess · 18/12/2025 16:30

Never even thought about tipping the postman tbh 🙄
I give the binmen a tenner though because they always take all my extra bags 😂

ohtowinthelottery · 18/12/2025 16:31

I haven't tipped the postman since we last had a permanent one and that was about 20 years ago.
We currently only get letter deliveries twice a week and that's not because there's no letters for us, it's because they only deliver packets/parcels every day and then you get a batch of letters on the day you do get a delivery.
I've never tipped the binmen. We've got wheely bins which we have to wheel to the edge of the drive. They move them about 2 meters onto the truck and then randomly scatter the streets bins back on the pavement.
Growing up, binmen provided a back yard/garden service where they came and collected your non wheeled bin from it's storage place, took the lid off, hoicked it onto their back and carried it around the front to the road to empty, before returning it to the back of your house and putting the lid back on. Now that was worthy of a tip!

Friendlygingercat · 18/12/2025 17:04

I give my regular postie a cash gift. However Im in business and he has done me a few extra favours over the years. I dont tip the bin men because I am single and only put the bins out every couple of months when they are full so I dont "know" the bin men.

TryingAgainAgainAgain · 18/12/2025 17:29

Friendlygingercat · 18/12/2025 17:04

I give my regular postie a cash gift. However Im in business and he has done me a few extra favours over the years. I dont tip the bin men because I am single and only put the bins out every couple of months when they are full so I dont "know" the bin men.

You have rubbish that has sat in your bins for up to a couple of months?!

BringBackCatsEyes · 18/12/2025 18:02

TryingAgainAgainAgain · 18/12/2025 17:29

You have rubbish that has sat in your bins for up to a couple of months?!

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I could easily only get my black bin and dry recycled emptied every couple of months. There is nothing that would go off in there. I guess after many, many months it would degrade and turn to mush.
The food bin....now that would be grim!

Fbfbfvfvv · 18/12/2025 18:07

My postie barely delivers anything, never see them on the street anymore, wouldn’t even know if we had a regular one or not. What I do know is I’ve had a lot of lost mail this year, so no, I won’t be giving mine a tip.