Christmas Tips

[Danny]

Tip? How Much?

Garbage
Recycling
Mailman
Paper boy/girl
Maid
Housekeeper
Valet
Chauffer
Nanny
Cook
Personal Trainer
What else?

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danny Tip? How Much? Garbage (see below) Recycling N/A. Mailman (see below) Paper boy/girl N/A. Maid N/A. Housekeeper N/A. Valet N/A. Chauffer N/A. Nanny N/A. Cook N/A. Personal Trainer N/A. What else?

The only two of these that I have are the mailman and the garbage men. It is not customary to tip either, here. DONE!

[Leonidas]

Mail carrier and trash dudes are the only ones on the list for me as well. Tipping for other than restaurant wait staff or heavy deliveries is not a common practice here either.

Trash dudes get cold beers and/or water during the summer so I consider them taken care of. My mail is delivered to a central set of boxes in the neighborhood so I rarely see the carrier. Plus, tips (with the exception of restaurant staff) are for people who do their job well, and even above the call. My mail carrier is a lazy bum and never delivers large packages or certified letters to my door, she just leaves a pickup notice in the box and I have to go the post office to get whatever it is. The notices all claim that they attempted to make delivery at my home (a total fabrication). No tip for lazy service.

You forget hairdresser/barber. I've heard the rule is that if you tip at least 10% on every visit that you shouldn't feel obligated to tip extra at Christmas, but I always do because I really appreciate the quality of her work and her upbeat and friendly demeanor. Haircuts are usually $20 and I always tip $2, so on Christmas I usually go $10 or $20 for a tip.

That reminds me, I need to go in the morning and get my hair cut.

[Moemg]

I tip my hairdresser and my yard guy . I just double my normal tip which is 20% for my hairdresser and I tip my lawn guy one months service . They both deserve it .

[Goonie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by W2R The only two of these that I have are the mailman and the garbage men. It is not customary to tip either, here. DONE!

Same here...the only ones we have that are on the list are the mail and garbage guys, and they're not normally tipped around here. I usually only give tips to wait staff at restaurants, and to bellboys that have to wrangle our luggage at hotels when we go on trips. I normally leave 20% to 25% for wait staff, and a couple bucks per bag for bell boys (maybe a little more if they're really quick about getting the luggage to our room). Oh, and if I visit a shoeshine stand, I'll tip the shoe shiner a few bucks.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goonie Same here...the only ones we have that are on the list are the mail and garbage guys, and they're not normally tipped around here. I usually only give tips to wait staff at restaurants, and to bellboys that have to wrangle our luggage at hotels when we go on trips. I normally leave 20% to 25% for wait staff, and a couple bucks per bag for bell boys (maybe a little more if they're really quick about getting the luggage to our room). Oh, and if I visit a shoeshine stand, I'll tip the shoe shiner a few bucks.

Yeah, stuff like that or the hairdresser du jour at Supercuts get a tip, but valet? Both housekeeper AND maid? Chauffeur? whew - - that is not my lifestyle, thank goodness. I would be broke. I think Danny must live a much different lifestyle than mine.

[redduck]

Mailman: $50
Gardener: $50
Kid who waters the lawn once a week: $20
Barber: regular tip of $7 on $28 haircut.
Paper delivery guy: $20

[donheff]

I never heard of tipping the postal or garbage people - I suspect the Post Office may prohibit their employees from taking tips. You would have to tip all the garbage guys to be fair. For us that's 3 per truck and we have both a garbage and a recycling truck. I tip the paper guy $25 but that is traditional - they leave you a self addressed envelope to make sure you understand We tip our housekeeper quite a bit (including payments to SS and a Roth IRA) but she has been with us for almost 25 years, providing day care for our daughter and then switching over to housekeeping around the neighborhood. We made sure the other neighbors who employ her pay into SS.

[Moemg]

I just remembered . I also tipped my gym instructor . I take the same class three times a week so I tipped her $30.

[Orchidflower]

A couple years ago we had an exceptional mailman and, yes, you are not supposed to tip Federal employees, but we gave him $10 or $20 (can't remember exactly). He seemed so happy about it, but I am sure we were the only ones as this is such a conservative area.
I've never normally tipped the garbage, mailmen or UPS guy, BUT we do offer drinks (Cokes or cold water) in summer to them occasionally. I'm glad to see someone else here does that, also.
Never tipped the lawn guy either. My bad? We use a corporation, so I just never tipped.
However, wait staff--if we eat out during a holiday like Xmas or Thanksgiving--I always tip about 25%-35%-40% as a thank you. I feel that's warranted for working on a holiday day when you know they would rather be anywhere else but work.
Our tips have run: Maid who used to do exceptional work above and beyond ($100); paperboy ($20); hairdresser ($25-45).

[TromboneAl]

We just put a cake in the mailbox for the postman. Someone gave it to us, but we regifted it.

[TromboneAl]

Cook and maid got tip last night.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl Cook and maid got tip last night.

I think somebody should tip the musicians! Then everything will go full circle.

[Charlotte]

Paper boy - $20
Housekeeper - $100 (equal to price of one cleaning)
We don't tip any of the others on your list.

Not sure if it's a "tip" or not, but at my kids' elementary school, we gifted a $20 giftcard to every teacher, assistant teacher, after-school teacher that each kid interacts with (8 staff members in all).

[aaronc879]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchidflower A couple years ago we had an exceptional mailman and, yes, you are not supposed to tip Federal employees, but we gave him $10 or $20 (can't remember exactly).

Postal carriers are not allowed to accept cash gifts but you can give a gift up to $20. F.Y.I., no mail carrier will turn down a cash gift they're just not technically supposed to accept them. I don't tip my mailman because I don't tip people who make more money than me.

[Danny]

Maid/Housekeeper
Valet/Chauffer
Cook/Baker
Personal Trainer/Massage Therapist
Private Duty Nurse
Personal Assistant/Finance-Taxes Wizard
Gardener/Snow Remover

I don't currently have these functionaries, but fantasize about having some or all of them when I'm older and have trouble doing things on my own.

I would like to have the problem of figuring out how much to tip them

[Buckeye]

$10 to the paperman and his paperwoman for 3 months of service.

We tipped our OH cleaning lady $50 (two week's pay) for her last cleaning as we moved out.

A lump of coal to our FL postman who is a grumpy jerk who wears an invisible sign around his neck that says "stay the F away from me." He looks to be in his early forties but I guess that means he could have been deliverying mail for 20 years. He definitely projects "I hate the world and everyone in it."