My postman is soliciting gifts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's Christmas. Didn't you know you have to tip everyone? You have to tip the cashier at the grocery store who rings you up. You have to tip the people at your leasing office when you drop off your rent check. If you own, you must send a tip to the lender with the check for your mortgage payment. When you go through a drive-thru, tip. When you pump gas, go in the station and give the cashier a tip. If you go to the dentist, slip the girl at the check-in counter and the dental technician a $20, and give the dentist himself the cost of a tooth cleaning on top of your bill, as a tip.

That sounds like a fine idea.

[Anonymous]

While I agree in part with what you are saying (soliciting gifts is tacky, tacky, tacky), this thread in total reads like Scrooge's diary.

[Anonymous]

Do many people get the same mail carrier and UPS guy every time? We don't - if we did I would tip, like I do for the trash collectors and paper deliverers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While I agree in part with what you are saying (soliciting gifts is tacky, tacky, tacky), this thread in total reads like Scrooge's diary.

I don't see it that way. In my non-profit arts/humanities world, plenty of educated professionals make fractions of pennies on a lawyer/lobbyist's dollar, especially in the first halves of our careers. We feel privileged just to be practicing our professions at all because there aren't many opportunities out there these days.

Some of these people hinting for tips are actually better compensated than we are. Our levels of disposable income bear no resemblance at all to those of people whose work supports or sustains the creation of wealth, even if we share the same social backgrounds and levels of education.

A lawyer or lobbyist may believe she's reading Scrooge's diary, but I'd say she needs to more realistically calibrate her expectations for the rest of us-- who likely have a lot less money than she believes we ought to have because she simply can't imagine how little we work for! We can pay for the actual services we use, and figure in for tips according to a conservative assessment of who can appropriately expect tips. But we can't just go handing out wads of cash just 'cause it's the holidays because no one has handed us any kind of a (monetary) holiday bonus!

[Anonymous]

I got a card from him in my mail today with his full name on it, I assume so I would know who to address the card to?

I don't really want to tip him. I'm in a townhome on a court and my mail goes in a box halfway down the block. He barely throws packages on the porch when they do arrive, most of the time he crams them in that tiny box.

I did tip my cleaning crew, but I assume they're not making nearly as much as my postal carrier. I also give small gift cards to daycare/pre-k teachers. Nothing for the trash guys, I have no idea how many there are and, again, I'm on a court so my stuff goes in a pile with several other homes.

And now I remembers I need to get something for my hair stylist.

[Anonymous]

When I was growing up we bought a case of Johnny Walker Red at XMas and the postman, newspaper delivery, trash collector etc each got one....

[Anonymous]

Nope.

Usps lost my service years ago.
I put a note on my mailbox that I will no longer check the mailbox. After a few days of just flyers (I don't do regular mail for anything- via the internet is all I need). My mail person couldn't fit anymore in. guess he/she stopped? Not sure won't check it.

Usps sucks as a service

[Anonymous]

Today, less than a week before Christmas, with the skies darkening and looking like it might rain, my mail carrier left a large envelope marked "Photos" outside my front door, instead of putting it between the front door and glass outer door. We don't have a portico, so if it had rained, the photos would have gotten wet.

This is pretty typical of how he puts zero extra effort into mail delivery. He's friendly but never does anything to make sure the mail is protected from the weather. In past years we've given him a tip, but I'm starting to get a little pissed off and wondering what exactly he's done to deserve a tip.

[Anonymous]

Mine has sent out something for the past 2 years that we have lived in this house. It annoys me as well, and makes me feel uncomfortable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd not send him anything then after the holidays ask him if he liked what you sent him. When he replies he didn't get anything, tell him it must've got lost in the mail - and blame the post office.

HAHAHAHAAA!!!!!

[Anonymous]

I would give a gift if it was the same person everyday. Growing up we had the same postman deliver every day for years. He always received a gift, not a tip. Like a pp, the gift of choice was usually wiskey.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope.

Usps lost my service years ago.
I put a note on my mailbox that I will no longer check the mailbox. After a few days of just flyers (I don't do regular mail for anything- via the internet is all I need). My mail person couldn't fit anymore in. guess he/she stopped? Not sure won't check it.

Kramer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope.

Usps lost my service years ago.
I put a note on my mailbox that I will no longer check the mailbox. After a few days of just flyers (I don't do regular mail for anything- via the internet is all I need). My mail person couldn't fit anymore in. guess he/she stopped? Not sure won't check it.

Usps sucks as a service

I don't get this. Do you not ever mail anything? Or do you just send everything FedEx and UPS? If you purposely find alternate ways of having your mail delivered outside USPS, and not ordering catalogs or free things that get delivered to you is one thing, but not checking your mailbox - you're just being a nuisanace to your carrier who has to put up with your mail that may or may not have requested.

[Anonymous]

It is illegal.. Drop the card back off at your post office, attention Postmaster.....