I made some cookies for our UPS guy and our mailman and I got the Mailman a gift card for $20 to Dunkin Donuts (I sure hope he drinks coffee!)
My tip/gift to my UPS guy is $40. Is that too much/little money?? He’s a really nice guy and always has a smile on his face and is so nice to me that I thought that was alright and now I’m second guessing myself.
Any advice/suggestions??
TIA 
I honestly don’t know this 100% to be true, but i am nearly certain that they are not allowed to take gifts. Not the postman anyway. I think they can probably take the cookies but not the money. I would do some checking to be sure. The USPS guy is a govt employee though and I think that there are rules against them accepting gifts thought.
Not much help but it does stick out in my head as true thought. :??
aah it is amazing what i can find when i take the time to google…lol. here ya go…
DELIVERY SERVICES
[B]U.S. mail carrier[/B]Gifts under $20*
[B]UPS[/B]Company policy discourages drivers from accepting tips, but they can accept something of nominal value. Tipping guides offer $15 as a guideline, but the amount and choice of gift are up to you.
[B]FedEx[/B]Company policy does not permit cash tips, but a gift worth up to $25 is okay.
[B]Paper carrier[/B]$15-$25 for daily delivery ($5-$15 for weekend delivery)
*Civil servants are not allowed to receive cash tips. But if you wish to recognize your mail carrier, the U.S. Postal Service asks that your gratuity not exceed $20 in cash value.
Wow… this is the first time I have heard of this… so I haven’t a clue on propriety… My mail is messed up [I]almost [/I]as much as right… and UPS… my guy – if it’s just one or many I haven’t any idea… they just drop, knock and run… I see legs getting into a truck…
Brendajos beat me too it, but yes; your mail carrier can accept small gifts. I don’t tip my mailman because he is a mean grouch who will honk for me to come get my packages rather than walk up to the door and he will return packages to the PO if I’m not there to come down the hill. I have no idea what his issue is (besides laziness) but I just don’t give him a gift each year.
We no longer get the newspaper daily. If we want one we will buy one from the corner sellers and they usually end up with a dollar per paper since we don’t bother with change. They are usually homeless people trying to work their way off the streets. We made an ecological decision to quit getting the paper and besides our old newspaper guy would actually ASK for a yearly bonus. He would tuck a cheap holiday card in our paper around this time of year and add a note that said, “Cash or Wal-mart gift cards are especially appreciated.”
When I used to do pampered chef I would tip my UPS guy all the time. I knew when he was arriving and would make up small plates of yummies for him. Since I quit doing PC I haven’t had a UPS delivery, so dont’ see him
I DO take a plate of cookies to the people down at the POst Office. I like them. They are helpful and friendly. They know me, I know them. And I take cookies down to the LYS as well even though it isn’t my favorite place to go.
Okeedoke folks, I already knew about the guidelines with the USPS so that isn’t my problem, [B][U]my problem is the $40 - is it too much or too little?? [/U][/B]
And my mailman is wonderful! He takes my packages to my [B][I][U]BACK[/U][/I][/B] door!!! And we have a dog!!! :teehee: Such a brave soul he is…
Isn’t anyone else giving their UPS man/woman a tip this year???
Anyone??? 
I only see our UPS man 3 or 4 times a year. My mailman on the other hand is the sweetest guy on Earth. He even knows our dogs name and pets him when he has to deliver a package.
I’d think that you’d have to recieve a LOT of packages and pick-ups to tip $40. JMO
I guess it depends on how often you see him and how many deliveries he brings to your house. If he brings you things or does pickups several times a day it might be ok, but if he’s just your regular run of the mill UPS man, $40 might be a bit much because, really, he’s just doing his job. My dad was a postman and he would always get gifts every Christmas from his mail customers. Usually he would get cookies, candy, or gift cards or certificates to local restaurants. When he did get money, he usually never got over $20, and he always went out of his way to deliver things where he knew it would be the easiest for people to get them.
Well, it sounds like you think it is enough, that he does a good job, and seems to go above and beyond the call of duty. If you want to give him more, and have the funds to do so without going into debt, then do so. It is really up to you.
For me, I don’t tip any of these people. They get paid [I]very[/I] fairly for doing their jobs (even when they seem to do “more” which btw, every UPS/USPS guy used to act like that–all helpful and friendly and now, they simply don’t) they don’t need any more of my $$, especially the PO–it cost me $20 to mail Christmas cards this year:wall: and it is going to cost me almost $100 to send gifts:evil:. I find that those are riduculos prices for an organization whose CS gets worse and worse with each yearly price increase.
Sorry, package delivery personnel and companies rant off:teehee:
I hear you! Hehe. I know someone who’s husband is a mail carrier and she’s always telling me how he spends most of his afternoon at a bar or hanging out at a park (if it’s nice) once his route is done, cuz if he goes back to the office he’ll have to do more work. :doh
When I was living alone, I was in the habit of tipping my mail carrier (who I’d never eve seen, since I don’t get much mail and wasn’t home when it was delivered) and I would either give them home baked banana bread, or giftcards to Dunkin Donuts, etc in varioius denominations. I was (and still am) really pretty broke and I was actually giving way gift card that I’d received as gifts myself because I wanted to make a nice gesture.
My coworker then spent a few weeks ranting and raving about all these “jerks” who gave her husband baked goods or gift cards as tips and how really…all he wanted was cash. And that he expected more like $50 (and that the $20 is just a guideline you’re supposed to go above) and blah blah blah. And that steamed me since his base salary is still a LOT more $$$$ than I make for doing more work!! :!!!:
Of course, I KNOW that my coworker and her husband are NOT representative. But I was still pretty irked and I’ve not made an effort to tip my mysterious mail carrier since.
I think whatever you can do is great and should be appreciated. $40 seems very generous so I certainly don’t think it’s too little, and if you get a lot of packages and think he’s earned it, go for it!
I live in the country and I have a mail-lady,And she has to use her own car and the post office is always telling them they have to delivery faster!Working for the USPS SUCKS around here in my neck of the woods.They only give her so much for milege and it never covers the cost of her gas.So I feel SORRY for my mail-lady!!! So I knit her a pair of fingerless gloves for Christmas.
My sister’s boyfriend works for UPS. He is allowed to get accept gifts for xmas. he works in massachusetts. Just to let you know The gifts are appreciated. Especially from his route regulars. He knows all his regulars by name. He always trys to leaves packages if its a home where it won’t be harmed by the weather.
Did you know that UPS trucks are not heated or air conditioned? yea that sucks. So it really brightens their day if they recieved gifts.
They ONLY gift he did not like was when he received a gift of porn from one of his regulars (and it was the freaky kind) and one lady who had a crush (which apparently went over his head) gave a way too intimate gift (underwear). but other than that, he has enjoyed them all, from cookies to gift cards, $5-whatever. give what you think he deserves.
I think if $40 seems fair to you go for it. We see our UPS guy maybe 2x a year, so we don’t bother. We always give our mailman,trashguys, and paper guy soemthing homemade. This year they are getting cookies and a small ornament.
Our mail carrier goes above and beyond. I was thinking about doing some fingerless gloves for him but my other Christmas knitting has been taking up all of my knitting time. So he will be getting them if I can squeeze them in!
Might want to ask some of our foreign KHers what they think of our prices! We still have a very good price for sending a letter or package 3,000+ miles. I can send a card to my friend in Hawai’i for only 41¢. That’s a bargain in my book. And with the new flat rate boxes, woot! $9 and it can weigh a TON and still get there within a week. I know that it needs improvements, but for what we are getting it is still a bargain!
That is absolutely insane about the heat/air thing!!! Thank you so much for replying, I feel better about the money. I had DH ask some of his co-workers and they said that they would like to be our UPS driver :teehee: . That was funny. Since it’s just me and DH for christmas and we don’t really do it anyway (gifts I mean) since we buy stuff all year long for ourselves, I thought since he’s such a great guy and all that that amount would be okay and now I feel even better about it!!
Now if he would just show up!! He’s late! :teehee:
Thanks everyone!!! 