Holiday Card from Mail Carrier

[1Kflyerguy]

In todays mail, i received a holiday card from our mail carrier. Its preprinted with a postal truck on the front, then hand signed. Seems like its official or at least an organized thing. Not sure if that was supposed to prompt me provide a holiday gift or something.

I do tip / gift a lot of our service providers, but our mail carrier changes all the time, and to be honest i would not recognize the current one.

I have never received this before, is it common, and have others received a card from your carrier?

 

[Luvtoride]

yes, it is common and I get one every year. TIming is sometimes after I give a holiday tip or like this year, a bit before.
We have had the same postal carrier for years, so we do tip every year.

Now, what about your trash collectors and HOW do you tip them? My collection day was today and when I saw them coming from my window perch while I was riding my Peloton, I tore off, put on shoes and ran out and handed them envelopes. It is well worth it as they bring my trash bins back to the side of my house, each collection day.

 

[Luanne]

I've never gotten one from our mail carrier (from what I understand we don't even have a regular one at this time) but I do get one from the guy who delivers our newspaper.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

yes, it is common and I get one every year. TIming is sometimes after I give a holiday tip or like this year, a bit before.
We have had the same postal carrier for years, so we do tip every year.

Now, what about your trash collectors and HOW do you tip them? My collection day was today and when I saw them coming from my window perch while I was riding my Peloton, I tore off, put on shoes and ran out and handed them envelopes. It is well worth it as they bring my trash bins back to the side of my house, each collection day.

Interesting, will check with my wife, but don't ever recall getting one.


As for the trash collectors, in our city they do everything from the truck. We have special bins provided by the city, we place them in the street. The truck swings by and arm picks up the bin and dumps it. The driver never gets out of the truck unless you do something wrong and they need to leave you a citation with our uncollected trash. I have no idea if we get the same driver each week or not.

 

[dioxide45]

You can tip your USPS mail carrier with a gift in value to $20 per occasion but no more than $50 in the year. Or at least they can't accept more than that. Also, no cash or cash equivilents (like gift cards);

Employee Tipping and Gift-Receiving Policy

 

[dmbrand]

I was informed by our postal carrier that they are only allowed to accept a $10 or less gift, so I insert a gift card for that amount into a Christmas card and tape it to our mailbox. I always receive a thank you note within the week. Our trash/recycle delivery is consistent, so we often stand outside in our driveway when we hear them coming down the road, and then hand them a card. We are retired, so we have more time on our hands.

 

[jackio]

My husband is a retired letter carrier. He had special postman Christmas thank you cards made up each year, and gave them to his patrons that tipped him for the holidays. I think sending a card prior looks like the carrier is looking for a tip.
He used to receive cash, boxes of candy, cookies, and lots of bottles of wine and liquor. Sometimes he received special postman gifts, like ornaments. He had the same route for many years so some of his patrons were like family to him. He would rejoice in their happy occasions like births and weddings, and mourn during illness and deaths.
He never missed the job after he retired, but he sure did miss his patrons.

 

[Dori]

My hubby was a letter carrier for 32 years. At Christmas time, he made sure send each customer who generously gave him a tip or a gift, a thank you card. He really appreciated their thoughtfulness.

Each year, we slip some money in a Christmas card for our letter carrier.

Dori

 

[Passepartout]

I thanked our letter carrier this morning for his tireless devotion. He's a nice man and I will leave him a remembrance. Our usual UPS guy came by today, too. We often forget what these folks do for us to make our lives easier.

 

[Luvtoride]

I thanked our letter carrier this morning for his tireless devotion. He's a nice man and I will leave him a remembrance. Our usual UPS guy came by today, too. We often forget what these folks do for us to make our lives easier.

Good point. Maybe this thread should be directed toward all Holiday Tipping and the folks that make our life easier!
I now drive to my job in NYC and park in a garage near the office. Without question, tipping the parking attendants who take care of my car is a new tipping priority this year.
I'm not sure about UPS and Amazon drivers as I rarely see them and am not sure if its ever the same ones.

 

[Timeshare Von]

We have never received such a card, but also have a revolving door of postal carriers. Some days we get our mail before 10am . . . and others it's after 6 or 7pm!

 

[AnnaS]

We tip our letter carrier and she gives us a thank you card within a week or two. I always offer a water bottle during the hot summer days (if I am around). She is not with us 100% of the time but she is our "regular" carrier. I start looking out for her about two weeks before Christmas. I won't leave it in my mailbox just in case she is off for whatever reason.

We don't tip sanitation only because we have no idea if we even have regular men picking up. They come all different hours of the day/night.

 

[DRIless]

I received a card in my roadside mailbox that I assumed was from the mail carrier with nothing on the envelope, unsealed, with nothing written inside. Is it even legal to put items in mailboxes that aren't actually real mail?

 

[SandyPGravel]

Our USPS regular carrier leaves treats for our dogs, almost daily, year round. So we(sorry, THEY) gift her a Dunkin' Donuts gift card every year.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Sounds like many people have a longer term relationship with their mail carriers that we do at my house. I check with my wife, and she does not recall getting a card at home in previous years, but she said they have received them at her work for a while. She seems to interact with the mail carrier there a lot more, and the office does give the carriers gifts throughout the year. She mentioned they gave the carrier one their poinsettias just last week.