To Tip or not to Tip?

Bella56

Tipping seems really old fashioned to me, especially as it seems to benefit mostly men and not women. Think of all the really hard, smelly jobs lots of women do (I'm thinking of all the women working in care homes who clean up defecation off floors, walls, people for minimum wage) and they aren't tipped. Great teachers are given little gifts or cards, not money. And most of us aren't even allowed to accept tips in our jobs, no matter how great we do.

punkpink

Bella56 wrote: »

Tipping seems really old fashioned to me, especially as it seems to benefit mostly men and not women. Think of all the really hard, smelly jobs lots of women do (I'm thinking of all the women working in care homes who clean up defecation off floors, walls, people for minimum wage) and they aren't tipped. Great teachers are given little gifts or cards, not money. And most of us aren't even allowed to accept tips in our jobs, no matter how great we do.

My mum working in a learning disability care home and she gets presents/gift cards from the familys, again though i suppose its down to personal choice.
She received a £10 tesco giftcard yesterday...

nibs

punkpink wrote: »

would a christmas card with money in it be the right way to tip?
It seems a bit uncomfortable to just hand money to him when he puts the letters through the door

Thats how I do it

MandM90

Bella56 wrote: »

Tipping seems really old fashioned to me, especially as it seems to benefit mostly men and not women. Think of all the really hard, smelly jobs lots of women do (I'm thinking of all the women working in care homes who clean up defecation off floors, walls, people for minimum wage) and they aren't tipped. Great teachers are given little gifts or cards, not money. And most of us aren't even allowed to accept tips in our jobs, no matter how great we do.

DW used to be a Health Care Assistant, then a care worker as a teenager (so about 6/7 years ago) and in both jobs she received presents and sometimes money from patients/family of patients. Don't know what it's like now though.

For our teachers the class rep collects £15 from each mum, which is optional but we do join in, and get's them £75 worth of JL vouchers or something. Obviously they are paid (and probably well because it's a private school) but they are lovely and really go above and beyond so I don't mind in the slightest as it's only once a year. I probably could only get them something quite naff for a fiver each, anyway unless I bake something.

I like to bring biscuits/sweets to the salon/nail place I've been going to for years (lately they've been teaching me Vietnamese :rotfl:) and also when DD was in Nursery we gave something to nursery workers as I know how appalling their pay is and they all seem to be there from about 7.30am -6.30am running around after our 'little darlings' :eek:

Fruball

I don't understand the comments from people saying that they wouldn't tip because they don't even see them... Doesn't mean they are not there or that they don't do a good job.

I used to tip binmen at Christmas as they used to take the bins if I forgot to drag them down to the pavement (all of 3 metres)... now they don't bother so no, they won't get a tip.

Postman doesn't turn up until very late in the day, might not be his fault but I expect my post before 2/3pm. Also, we seem to get different ones, they often deliver the wrong post too so no tip for them!

Milkman - I so rarely use them and they don't deliver until long after I have gone to work... no tip there either.

If the binmen took my bin off the grass, the postman delivered at a reasonable time to the right address, and the milkman turned up before I woke up (as when I was a child) then they would all get tips! As it is, the only tip they would get from me is "Must try harder"

I think a fiver each is perfectly fine for a tip and used to put mine in with a christmas card.

PolkaDotsAndLace

I think it really depends - when I was younger we used to get milk and papers delivered, and they would always get tipped at Christmas (that said, they'd always put a nice card through the door from them as well) Don't think we tipped the postman. I remember raking it in the Christmas I did a paper round (1999ish?).

Now I live with my OH we don't - for a start we don't get papers or milk delivered, and don't see the postie much (who's usually a different one each time I do see them, so I don't know regular they are really) or the binmen.

If I got a regular, good service from someone then I probably would think about tipping someone, since it's what I remember as the norm, but we don't. I'm 25.

Murtle

I tip our postie, if I don't think I'll be there when he comes I tape the card to the door with Postie written on it. Did similar when we had a paper boy.

Wouldn't tip the binmen here, I find them horrible. Never a cheery word or an apology for blocking me in on the driveway, or blocking the roads.

I suddenly liked the idea of giving a bottle of whiskey but understand the point of having to carry it wouldn't be fun!

There are even some courier company drivers that I would consider tipping considering how much they deliver here.

I saw the binmen tipped as a child, but as mentioned before that's when they used to fetch and empty the bins and return the empty bin back where it belonged. Now, we feel very privileged if they empty the bins into their truck, not all over the floor.

Postie will be getting a tip this year, minimum of a fiver...I can't tip in coins in an envelope!

MandM90

Frugal wrote: »

I don't understand the comments from people saying that they wouldn't tip because they don't even see them... Doesn't mean they are not there or that they don't do a good job.

No, it doesn't. But how do you tip someone you never see? :rotfl:

lagi

I think our binmen do a good job but they come so early i have never met them, are they the same team that do the recycling as well??? But postie this year has been superb. I came on here specifically to see what the going rate of tipping was as didn't want to offend him but still very aware that i am a moneysaver so can't afford to go wild.

So if £5 is reasonably acceptable i would have no problem doing that. Agree it would be far easier for them to carry notes as well as their round.

MessyMare

To be honest, our binmen aren't great, and the postie...well..I think he hates me after several times where parcels have been left on the front doorstep (no porch or covering, and in full view of the road), where he's knocked and dumped (I literally had my hand on the doorhandle when he dumped it and left - perhaps a matter of seconds after he knocked) and one case where he *threw* a parcel containing a new tap over our 7ft iron gate. And didn't leave a card. So we didn't find it for three days.

The people who I would love to tip are the ladies in the post office where I take all the work parcels, I've never been in such a fast moving post office queue and the majority of the staff are hugely helpful and cheerful. Rare to find in a post office round here! Not sure how to do it though, cash won't go far so I'm thinking some sort of biscuit-sweet-mince pies idea?