Do you all give a holiday gift to your: milkman, paper carrier, letter carrier, trash collector, mechanic, hairdresser?

I always tip my hairdresser well (and I only go to her every three months), so I don't give her a gift. We don't have a letter carrier, as we pick up our mail at the post office. I sometimes bake cookies or pumpkin bread and drop it off at my mechanic's garage if I have time and I'm in the area. There are several guys who work there and they have all worked on my car. We pay for our trash pick up (it is not provided by the town), but I don't gift him.

I have a milkman and I usually put twenty dollars in a card. However, he never says thank you when I see him or even writes a note. We get two newspapers, the local and the "big" newspaper. I pay the local guy monthly and I always include a good tip in the check.

Now, our big daily paper I just started subscribing to this year. My credit card is charged once a month for the paper. I picked it out of the box the other night and there was a card paper clipped to it with a note stating that it had been a "tough year" for he and his wife. There was an address on the card. So, I sent a card with a check for twenty dollars. Well then, Sunday, I get the paper and there is a card attached to IT with a DIFFERENT person's name and address. I called the paper and they told me that the Sunday edition is delivered by a different person, and that some people take ONLY the Sunday paper. Well, I didn't feel that I could give LESS than twenty dollars, so I sent a card to THAT person with a check for twenty. Honestly! I never even see these people, as they deliver the paper before dawn, however, their cards were "hints" to get a gift. I gave because they DO go out in all kinds of weather and never miss a day.

Where does it end, tho? Everytime you think that you are done....Yikes! LOL!

By Jjb on Tuesday, December 19, 2006 - 07:08 pm:

I normally tip the hairdresser extra when I get my haircut around the holidays and that's it. We have a different mailman every week, our garbage collectors are terrible and don't pick up when they should (it's a constant battle with them), and we don't get the paper. I think if someone goes above and beyond their job, or you have a relationship with them then a small gift is nice, but if you never see them and the service isn't great I wouldn't. I think you should give a gift because you want to, not because it's expected (but I don't always follow this rule as you can see from my other post).

By Breann on Tuesday, December 19, 2006 - 07:47 pm:

We always give something to our UPS guy. We order a lot of stuff via the internet, so he's here all the time. I don't tip the mailman, because he never gets out of his car. He'll just leave large packaged on top of the mailbox. Lazy = no gift.

I think you have to be careful with the situation you are encountering with the newspaper. You never know who is behind it, especially if you don't associate with the deliverer. It could just be someone that wants to make a quick buck.

By Reds9298 on Tuesday, December 19, 2006 - 09:50 pm:

I give a tin of homemade goodies to my mailman.

By Andi on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 - 06:49 pm:

I gave the UPS guy and our mail lady each a $5 gift card to starbucks and a Christmas CD that we made.