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[quote=Anonymous]One reason we don't generally tip mail carriers is that they are prohibited from accepting cash and cash equivalent gifts (gift cards) from customers. They can accept gifts valued up to $20 as long as they do not receive more than $50 in gifts from one person in a year.

I think part of my mental calculation when tipping is the person's likely wage and benefits. There are a lot of companies that say they offer great pay and benefits (like Starbucks), but then they set their employee schedules and vesting requirements at such a ridiculously high bar that few employees qualify. There are also many exceptions to eligibility, such as locking seasonal or temporary employees out of benefits eligibility. In other cases, the employees' cost burden to buy into benefits, like health insurance, is such a high percentage of their income that no one uses these supposed perquisites. Essentially, few hourly workers are compensated well by their employers. Companies that hire their laborers as full-time, salaried employees generally offer fairer pay, benefits, and some opportunities for advancement.

In the contemporary era a lot of people are contractors, not employees. Most people who grocery shop for you, deliver white goods to your home, drive you around town, or bring you food are contractors. While the company that dispatched them may charge you a hefty fee, the workers do not see any of that fee. (Take my word for it, I was a seasonal employee of a company that charged $125/hr. for personal services. I saw $15/hr. of that.) When you order from Home Depot or Lowe's, for example, the people who deliver your new dishwasher do not work for the store. They work for delivery and logistics companies who got the gig by being the lowest bidder to the big box chain. The same is true for "white glove" set up fees; Anthropologie, One King's Lane, or Macy's aren't hiring, supervising, or paying the people who come into your home. (This is part of the reason why scheduling deliveries and sorting out problems is such a nightmare.)

I also think about who is classified as a "tipped wage worker" in the law. Anyone who customarily receives more than $30/month in tips can legally be classified as a tipped wage worker. Employers can pay those folks less than minimum wage, and the workers are expected to make up the shortfall in tips. Legally, if tips fall short, employers are obligated to pay the difference between tipped minimum wage and minimum wage. In practice, employers engage in a lot of time theft and employees' only cost effective means of combating the practice is to quit.  It is, therefore, so important to tip your hairdresser, manicurist, doorman, valet, etc. well because they might otherwise receive nothing or next-to-nothing for their work. [/quote]

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