N/A Tipping

jordane93

jordane93

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Sep 9, 2013
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Long Island, NY
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Jordan
TIL that people tip their home heating oil delivery driver, mailmen and garbage men. Is this a thing now or have I just been cheap my entire life?
 
I have tried to tip the mailman and garbage dudes in the past but I don’t seem to have a regular mailman these days so I bailed on that and the garbage dudes make decent enough money so I bailed on that as well. But yeah, that’s been a thing for a long time as far as I know.
 
I used to gift our paper delivery kid $20 at Chrsitmas; neighborhood kid and never missed a delivery. Got a new person two years ago and they can’t seem to make it a month without missing a delivery. Complained enough that a new person took over around Thanksgiving.

I gift my landscaper $50 at Christmas because he’s the same guy I’ve used for the past five years, is ridiculously reliable, communicates proactively, and goes above/beyond without asking or charging. FrEx, he usually trims back the shrubs as soon as they start to look unwieldy and doesn’t even mention it. I’ll drop an extra $20 when that happens, too.
 
I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to hand the garbage truck driver a case of beer every once in a while. I've never considered tipping them since I've been an adult.
 
jordane93 said:
TIL that people tip their home heating oil delivery driver, mailmen and garbage men. Is this a thing now or have I just been cheap my entire life?
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The first time I ever heard about tips to a garbage man was when I was dating my wife. Her dad owned a private refuse business and she told me about the large tips that people would leave on the various routes around Christmas time each year. They'd pool the tips and divide it up among the guys. It had never occurred to me that you would give them a tip for a service you paid for, but I suppose it's no different than tipping your waiter. However, I've never tipped our trashmen and my wife has never even inquired about doing so. I probably would give them something extra if I had a bunch of odd items that didn't fit in the trash bins, but I normally dispose of that stuff myself by taking it over to the family business' shop lol.
 
I always leave a gift or tip for our letter carrier at Christmas, partly for the great service and mostly because my father was a letter carrier so I had inside knowledge of how hard it is

I only occasionally tip the sanitation crew, both because I’m not sure it is expected, and I just plain forget.

It has never occurred to me to tip the fuel oil delivery guy. I don’t know when he’s coming, and I’m never here when he does. And our fuel oil bills are terrifying as it is.
 
I get the “mailman of the week” so no tips.

Never considered the trash driver since they have a grabber on the front of the truck that picks up the trash cans and dumps them in the truck. And I don’t tip machinery.

Plus I have to wheel them to the curb and back. They should tip me.
 
I used to be super "Mr. Pink" on this subject, but I had a client give me an annual bonus last year. I do Corp-to-corp contracting, so it was literally a company tipping another company. I was actually puzzled by it for a long while.

I interpreted it as a signal to raise my rates, so that's what I did. Nothing says "I want to spend more!" than splashing around tip cash for no reason and with no added incentive.

I wouldn't even know how to tip my garbagemen. Mine have the auto-claw too, so I am not sure what I would be rewarding them for? I don't think they're paid poorly to drive a truck around the neighborhood.

The heating oil one I can sort of see. I imagine if oil became scarce, then you'd be assuring your place on the "remember me?" list on some hard winter. But that's living in a Dostoyevky novel. I'd sooner move than be in a position where I needed to juice my heating oil vendor to ensure service :)
 
I gave a family $5 sitting on the cold corner while driving, clearly just bused up here from Mexico. They said thank you.

At the grocery store, I asked the homeless man if he liked shrimp cocktail, he said yes and I gave him a package of peeled shrimp and cocktail sauce. He didn’t say or gesture anything….

I was in the store and someone came up to me (I did not look nor initiate conversation with this person) asking for “food, not money” and I said no, they started shouting at me and making a scene saying that bad things were coming my way. I actually felt a bit scared and was disturbed for a few hours after that.

Anyway I did a few small things to give to others as I was in the Christmas spirit, but usually I do not, mostly because of the second and third encounters, maybe jaded, but I’ll act on it when I feel in the mood to do so, not because someone demanded it or because someone else did it.

Do what you wish to and what feels right to you, when you change to follow a new trend or what you feel others are doing, then that’s when you lost yourself. You give because you want to give and it feels right.
 
There is a difference between a tip and a gift. Outside resteraunts I only tip if someone is providing a service and went above and beyond somehow. I’m not tipping the garbage man that sits in a truck all day just picking up trash cans with a claw and not providing anything above what I already paid for. I did use to give a gift to our mailman at our previous house. He lived down the road and even when the driveway wasn’t yet plowed our mail was always delivered to the mailbox next to the door. That’s going above and beyond in my opinion and deserves to be recognized. At the new house the mailman drives right up to the street side mailbox and if the roads are not completely dry after a snowstorm he skips the road. We no longer leave a gift as he has’t done anything except the bare minimum to deserve one.
 
The US Mail doesn't deliver in my part of the county.

The garbage company misses so many pickups that I am considering dropping them and using my moms city garbage pickup.

Although I get propane from the same company, it is hardly he same driver 2 times in a row.

And yes, you are cheap... :lol:
 
kmacht said:
There is a difference between a tip and a gift. Outside resteraunts I only tip if someone is providing a service and went above and beyond somehow. I’m not tipping the garbage man that sits in a truck all day just picking up trash cans with a claw and not providing anything above what I already paid for. I did use to give a gift to our mailman at our previous house. He lived down the road and even when the driveway wasn’t yet plowed our mail was always delivered to the mailbox next to the door. That’s going above and beyond in my opinion and deserves to be recognized. At the new house the mailman drives right up to the street side mailbox and if the roads are not completely dry after a snowstorm he skips the road. We no longer leave a gift as he has’t done anything except the bare minimum to deserve one.
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I know a lot of the tips on the garbage route often come from people who aren't able to wheel the cart out themselves anymore. The crew will go up to the house and grab it, and then return it up by the house. Their trucks have a hydraulic flipper for the carts, but they're out in the weather dragging the carts up to the rear of the truck each time. No arm being controlled from inside the warm cab, lol.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I know a lot of the tips on the garbage route often come from people who aren't able to wheel the cart out themselves anymore. The crew will go up to the house and grab it, and then return it up by the house. Their trucks have a hydraulic flipper for the carts, but they're out in the weather dragging the carts up to the rear of the truck each time. No arm being controlled from inside the warm cab, lol.
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Ours won’t get out of the truck if the can isn’t reachable by the arm. If the recycling can is too close and they can’t grab it they won’t even move it over a foot and will just skip the house that week
 
kmacht said:
Ours won’t get out of the truck if the can isn’t reachable by the arm. If the recycling can is too close and they can’t grab it they won’t even move it over a foot and will just skip the house that week
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Sounds like they really go the extra mile :lol:
 
SoonerAviator said:
Sounds like they really go the extra mile :lol:
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Mob run.business here in CT. No incentive to do anything but the bare minimum as there is no competition allowed other than bringing the trash yourself to the transfer station.
 
Back in the day when the trash guys used to actually come into your garage to carry the cans back to the truck, my Dad would give them whatever liquor gifts he'd received and didn't want. (Also "back in the day", all the corporations gave gifts to the executives of other corporations, and it was liquor, as often as not. Dad hired me one winter to make the gift deliveries... his was a small business with big customers, it was pretty neat as a 17 year old kid to walk into the NBC and other corporate presidents' office and say, "Merry Christmas," and hand him a bottle of expensive Scotch or whatever.)

kmacht said:
Mob run.business here in CT.
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One of my flying buddies had a trash business in CT... when I knew him he was semi retired, owned one truck and drove it himself on one route in Bridgeport. He said that indeed, all the commercial trash business was mob, but residential was not, which is why he stuck to residential.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
I tip the hotel room cleaning staff; have had conversations with others in the past, they disagreed.
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I generally won't tip hotel staff if I'm at a Hampton Inn or similar, as they don't generally do much of anything out of the ordinary. I do leave tips when staying at more luxury-oriented hotels when the rooms have a bit more of a personal touch and are arranged/tended to daily/multiple times per day like with turndown service.
 
Jim_R said:
I remember when I was a kid, my dad used to hand the garbage truck driver a case of beer every once in a while. I've never considered tipping them since I've been an adult.
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Was it empty?
 
I've been using a lawn service for a few years now, they come in on a regular basis to fertilize and kill weeds. The current guy is really personable, and we usually end up chatting a while whenever he's over. He does call ahead, too, in case I want to cover or otherwise protect anything like tomato plants - he doesn't have to, but I asked him to and he does.

His last visit of the year was late Nov sometime. We ended up talking for a while again, and I went ahead and gave him an extra few $ for the extra effort he shows towards me and my lawn. The guy seemed honestly stunned that anyone would do that. I'm guessing I'll get more extra attention next year.
 
GaryM said:
I always leave a gift or tip for our letter carrier at Christmas, partly for the great service and mostly because my father was a letter carrier so I had inside knowledge of how hard it is

I only occasionally tip the sanitation crew, both because I’m not sure it is expected, and I just plain forget.

It has never occurred to me to tip the fuel oil delivery guy. I don’t know when he’s coming, and I’m never here when he does. And our fuel oil bills are terrifying as it is.
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When we had the same mailman(woman) I’d give her a gift certificate for a massage at a reputable massage therapist. She definitely needed it lugging all the boxes during the holidays. But she retired and we seem to have a different mailman every week.
 
SoonerAviator said:
The first time I ever heard about tips to a garbage man was when I was dating my wife. Her dad owned a private refuse business and she told me about the large tips that people would leave on the various routes around Christmas time each year. They'd pool the tips and divide it up among the guys. It had never occurred to me that you would give them a tip for a service you paid for, but I suppose it's no different than tipping your waiter. However, I've never tipped our trashmen and my wife has never even inquired about doing so. I probably would give them something extra if I had a bunch of odd items that didn't fit in the trash bins, but I normally dispose of that stuff myself by taking it over to the family business' shop lol.
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My mil tips the garbage guy who works for a WM contractor. It buys you some goodwill. If the cart is not at the curb, he'll hop out and get it. If it's snowy, he wheels it back to the house. If there is bagged trash after the holidays, it disappears even if it wasn't tagged. Do you have to do it, no. Is it a $50 well spent, you bet.
 
schmookeeg said:
I used to be super "Mr. Pink" on this subject, but I had a client give me an annual bonus last year. I do Corp-to-corp contracting, so it was literally a company tipping another company. I was actually puzzled by it for a long while.

I interpreted it as a signal to raise my rates, so that's what I did. Nothing says "I want to spend more!" than splashing around tip cash for no reason and with no added incentive.

I wouldn't even know how to tip my garbagemen. Mine have the auto-claw too, so I am not sure what I would be rewarding them for? I don't think they're paid poorly to drive a truck around the neighborhood.

The heating oil one I can sort of see. I imagine if oil became scarce, then you'd be assuring your place on the "remember me?" list on some hard winter. But that's living in a Dostoyevky novel. I'd sooner move than be in a position where I needed to juice my heating oil vendor to ensure service :)
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We're getting closer to that Dostoevsky thing every day...
 
You might not realize how out of touch tipping culture is in the US. My big moment was when I got a tip request at a grocery store credit card machine. In a self checkout lane.

Tipping is ok if something is done to earn it. But if you're doing the minimum action we have to do to conduct business, why should I tip you for doing the job. If you didn't do those things, I wouldn't pay you anything.
 
We tip wait staff because they’re generally paid below minimum wage and it’s understood that the difference will be made up in tips. Those other jobs aren’t exempt. I don’t mind a gift card or a twenty for our mailman, but start tipping every service worker and it adds up.

I tried to to tip the lineman after getting fuel off the truck and he declined, as it’s a city-run FBO and he’s a municipal employee. I think that’s the only time I’ve ever not used self-serve.
 
ateamer said:
We tip wait staff because they’re generally paid below minimum wage and it’s understood that the difference will be made up in tips. Those other jobs aren’t exempt. I don’t mind a gift card or a twenty for our mailman, but start tipping every service worker and it adds up.

I tried to to tip the lineman after getting fuel off the truck and he declined, as it’s a city-run FBO and he’s a municipal employee. I think that’s the only time I’ve ever not used self-serve.
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It's weird -- the below-minimum-wage thing is no longer true in CA, yet the restaurant check tip suggestions have nudged upwards and start at 18% nowadays.
 
TIL in IL the tipped worker minimum wage is $8.40/hr.

To the OP - my old regular mailman I'd give Christmas gifts to, gift cards, booze, etc. We knew the guy and had a good and trusted relationship. But when he retired, we did not do the same to the numerous temps. I'm sure when I build a relationship with the next person I'd probably do the same. I also tip my hair stylist.
 
ateamer said:
We tip wait staff because they’re generally paid below minimum wage and it’s understood that the difference will be made up in tips.
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And in most states if the tips don't add up to minimum wage, the employer is required to make that up to minimum wage. (I am aware that there are different circumstances where this does not apply)

And a lot of employers don't make it up, and sadly a lot of minimum wage earners are not aware that their employer are required to make up the difference.

I used to carry a pocket full of $5.00s just to tip linemen. Some took it, some refused.
 
I am available to receive tips right now, Venmo, Paypal, mailed checks, cash, wire transfer, gold coins.
Let me know, I'll help you set it up.
 
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