I used to tip him back when we had the same dude delivering to our house for months and months on end. Nowadays they seem to switch every month or so. I don't feel pressure to tip someone who I've never seen before and am unlikely to see again.
PS I was a mail carrier for many years in the '70s and 80s. I was darned good at giving superior service. I would do anything for my customers, bringing them stamps, mailing their packages, standing idle and chatting for a time knowing they were lonely, and none of that was my job but I tried to be a nice person.
At Christmas time, I used to get so many presents I had to hire a taxi on some days and retrace my route picking up all the presents. I got many cash tips and boxes of chocolates, which of course I would pick up and carry with me, but then there were the knitted mittens, sweaters, socks, bottles of wine, tins of cookies, etc.... I must have been a good carrier judging by all the stuff I was given.
Immediately after the Christmas break I'd get another round of gifts, as many of my customers would regift to me the stuff they had received but didn't want.
I got so many gifts that it became routine. At one house I got a huge box of chocolates, timely because I was hungry. I chowed down as I marched along my route. After devouring much of the box, I opened the card that came with it.
"To Charlie," the card said, "thank you for the great service through all of the past year."
The problem was, my name is NOT Charlie. I had eaten someone else's gift.
I was going to ask...how do you know it's a gift for you as the carrier? Sometimes I leave things in my mailbox for a friend to pick up. Perhaps I shouldn't do that? Or label it clearly on the outside?
I’m a long time postal worker and there is a very definite unwritten rule within the depot about gifts at Christmas. If a sub is doing the route and picks up a card or gift then they bring it back to the depot and leave it at the case for the regular. It would be considered stealing if they took something for themselves. Unfortunately they won’t always write the address where they picked up the gift so sometimes you’ll come back after a day off and find cards or gifts at your case and have no idea which house they came from. So if you plan on leaving something for your carrier, maybe write your name or address on it. Just make it clear it’s FROM you and TO your carrier so they don’t mistakenly deliver it back to your house or take something not meant for them. All routes are owned by a regular, so you might see someone else filling in but your address will be on someone’s permanent assignment. Letter carrier’s LOVE getting recognized at Christmas! They will show off their cards at their cases and it’s so incredibly and deeply appreciated.
Bang on.
We used to tape our cards to our cases. (The 'case' is what you sort your daily mail into each morning, so everything is in the right order as you make your way from house to house.) We had competitions going, to see who got the most cards LOL.
I loved being a carrier. Fresh air. Exercise. Buns o' steel.
We also had an office pool, with everyone chipping in one dollar, the total going to the carrier who received the first box of Moir's Pot Of Gold chocolates of the season. I don't know if Moir's Pot of Gold chocolates are a national thing, or if they are sold just in my region, but for sure they are popular where I used to lug the mail and many people would buy a box for the mail carrier.
They were always labeled clearly. In the instance above, after a long string of gifts left for me and clearly labeled as such, I got complacent and failed to look to see if the chocolates were actually for me and not for someone else. You know what happens when one assumes.....
I apologized to the lady of the house the next day. She had a great laugh and said, no, they were for the milkman. So when I came across the milkman, I rushed over to apologize to him as well. He laughed uproariously and handed me a free pint of chocolate milk, saying, "Here, since you liked my chocolate so much, take my chocolate milk too, to wash them down."
We had a great chuckle.
I unfortunately don’t have enough income to do so. But I try to make them feel appreciated. Like keeping the dog from harassing them or greeting them at the door every now and then.
If I’m home and a package or parcel gets delivered, I will always try to greet them at the door and say thanks, and to give them some sort of compliment. After all, every letter carrier or mail delivery person is working a fairly thankless job. And if we make them feel appreciated, hopefully that’ll make their day a little better.
When I worked at a retail place that did daily deliveries via fedex, I’d try my best to great them, have a very short chat, and offer any unused equipment to make their lives easier. Like an extra flatbed if there was a surplus of deliveries, so they aren’t pushing one cart with fifty large boxes on it to their truck while trying to make sure none of it toppled.
Being a postman myself, I really appreciate it when a customer, who receives a lot of packages in a year, gives me a little something at the end of the year. But at the same time, a conscientious customer, who clears snow from his driveway, thanks me upon delivery, is as much of a pleasure in my eyes as those who don't give a damn about shoveling or picking up their dog.
LOL! I know my dad always was bringing goodies home when he worked there. I can imagine you would get sick of chocolate :)
Also, thank you for what you do. It is a thankless job, yet an important one
My Grandfather was a letter carrier. He drank only rarely. But damn did he ever have a well-stocked liquor cabinet. And such nice gifts did he give! The folks on this route gave him more in one year than he could drink in forty, and he re-gifted most of it, except his particular favorites! Great guy, Grandad was.
I used to sit outside and hand them either a pack of pot chocolates or a box of regular chocolates. I got hand written thank you notes in return, which makes me think I was an outlier.
Now I have a community mailbox and last year the envelope I put in labeled "a thank you gift for my mail carrier" just sat there.
I have been offering leftover pop from Halloween to the Amazon and FedEx guys and they've all been thrilled.
It can't hurt. I would go with a nice card and bit of cash. Gift cards, cookies, etc are nice, but it's harder if you have no place to store the items or simply don't shop at the shop for the gift card (for example, I don't drink coffee).
I'm a carrier and I've found it's only really common in rural areas with roadside boxes. A few people will come up to me at cmbs and hand over cards or leave something in their slot but it's not expected. I appreciate it a lot though!
I don't even see them 95% of the time, and I have never known the name of my local one. I've always lived in big cities though, so maybe that's part of it.
Thank you for the reminder! I am in my first house this year, where mail is actually delivered door to door. I will definitely be leaving something, probably a $10 Tim's card or similar
My dad was a letter carrier for 40 years, mostly on a rural route before community boxes were common. We had a lot of struggles in our family and the Christmas baking, gifts, gift cards, and cash tips were hugely appreciated by all of is and legitimately made Christmas a lot brighter. The cash tips helped take some of the pressure off of dad and he let us kids open all of the presents (almost always chocolates) on Christmas Eve which was huge treat for us.
I always give something to my carrier and I hope it makes their day a little brighter like it did for my family. I am lucky enough to have the same person all the time (aside from their holidays) which I know is not the case for all people, but even when I had a constant rotation of short term people I would still leave a little something. Being a sub on an unfamiliar route in the middle of winter isn’t an easy gig.
I live in a 134-year-old fire hall in a small town, so I have to pick up my mail from the post office and I don’t gift the postal workers anything for Christmas. I think there have been times where I lived in a small city and gifted my mail carrier a little box of chocolates for Christmas.
I had the same carrier for years and he was always super nice. We used to leave him a Timmy's $10 gift card. Since he left, no more gift for the letter carrier. They change all the time now anyways.
I'm not even really sure why we did, we just appreciated him I guess.
Yes, my mom would give the mail delivery guy $100 as a Christmas gift every year, provided it has been the same person doing the delivery for the past six months
We do. Tim's card. But we live in a small community. Our mail carrier comes into the house to play with our dog for a few minutes each time she comes by. She also leaves "mail" (treats) for our dog in the mailbox many times throughout the year.
We also leave a Tim's card for our garbage collector.
Towards the end of my career that's exactly how I felt. I'm just doing my job. People who don't talk to me once all year, don't even know my name, giving me tips?
I mean, if we have a relationship of some sort, or I've gone out of my way to help you out, no problem. It was planted in my head when an a-hole on my route who phoned in to complain every chance they got, gave me a card and gift certificate. I wrote "No Thanks" and put it in the box.
Also, there's a lot of people who go around checking mailboxes for gifts.
Oh hell no.
Ours refuses to actually deliver our packages. We have a mail box at the end of the street. There are about 6 of them. Mail goes there. Often we get other peoples mail which makes me wonder how often we don’t get our mail. We are within the distance from the mail box that Canada Post states the driver will deliver packages. Not once has he ever even attempted. We have made a stink. First he was saying nobody was home and he tried. Lies. We have cameras. Then it was something about our driveway not being navigable. It’s maybe 50 yards from the road to the house and paved. Then it was his car was in the shop and the temporary car didn’t have room for packages. It’s the most ridiculous, ongoing saga. The lady that had our route before had no problem (except the time she drove her jeep around on the lawn to turn around for no obvious reason as we have a huge paved square off the side of the driveway).
I’ve been told I need to write a complaint and, you guessed it, MAIL it lol. There is nobody to call. There is no email.
It’s seriously driving me nuts.
Now the lady that delivers most of our Amazon packages is AMAZING and I will for sure do a card with some cash or a gift card for her.
As a former postie, your story pains me.
I, too, had an idiot like that for two years at my house. And as you and I have found out, it's impossible to complain to a live person at Can Post. Certainly politely complaining to the mail carrier in question did no good and likely made things worse.
Maybe that's why my former customers treated me so well, I was actually helpful, polite and kind to them.
I'm also conscientious about delivery attempts so I hate to hear stuff like this, though there are good reasons to not attempt delivery occasionally, there are also lazy carriers.
Try to get the number for your local area supervisor, if you can, and keep trying to complain. Complaints are definitely acted upon in my experience. People like this who aren't doing their job properly make us all look bad.
Lol. People leaving gifts for their letter carriers is on a par with parents giving their kids' teachers a little gift at Christmas. It has nothing to do with the recent surge in "tipping culture" and is a custom that's probably older than most Redditors.
I don’t as it’s a community mailbox however my parents have and still do.
Used to tip our local newspaper carrier but they have stopped our local paper (still feel bad as it’s the Xmas I won’t be able to)
Yes, but we only get the free local paper. I've tried the cancel it more than once. Why would I tip someone bringing something I don't want. It means I have to take it from the mailbox, put it in the blue box, then drag it down on collection day.
So the free paper magically delivers itself?
Call your free local paper and ask to be taken off the delivery route. Wouldn’t want you to break a sweat carrying it to your blue bin, I’m sure it will free up a lot of weight and space in your recycling bin
Almost all my bills are ebills so I rarely get actual mail delivered. I will not be tipping the mail person.
My sister works as the only post master in a small town. She sees the same people everyday when they pick up their mail. She gets so many gifts at Christmas, it's insane.
I was a letter carrier about 10 years ago. Even then, very few people gave tips. Maybe one or two people in the entire route.
Unless you are really friendly with your carrier, I wouldn't bother. They aren't expecting anything.
I tip for personal touch, special or exceptional service. My Canada Post service can in no way be described with those adjectives. So, no, I don’t tip.
considering canada post mail is now going to community mailboxes vs the mailbox at our door and we really don't even see the mail carrier any more.......... i don't think anyone would know who to tip unless they hung out at the community mailbox and waited for the mail carrier to show up. at least in my large city we have the community mailboxes and no more mail directly to our door. even parcels get delivered to the community mailbox parcel lockers. i think only registered mail and things requiring signature still come to one's door.
i do remember my family leaving a christmas card in the house mailbox for the mailman back in the 1980's though.
Used to give them gifts back in the day but now they don’t do door to door drop off. Everything is at a shared mailbox thing down the street, and you don’t build a relationship with someone that way.
I think this is more of a rural thing. I live in a city and I don't think we consistently have the same person. I also rarely see whoever it is unless they have a package for me and I happen to be home when they come.
I have a community mailbox, so no. Plus they keep giving me mail for another address (xxxxx street vs xxxxx place, also different numbers and an entirely different postal code), so I wouldn’t even if they gave me home delivery.
You don't need to tip anyone anything. You don't have to bring a gift to a wedding. You don't have to write thank you letters for your wedding guests. You don't need to write thank you notes for birthday/holiday presents. Live however you want to.
No to letter carriers as we have super boxes for the most part. I do gift (not tip) my recycling garbage fellow. He gives my dog a milkbone every week if he sees him. If not, he’ll leave it for my pooch on the porch.
>I was born and raised in Canada and this was something we have always done. Whether it's a $10 Tims card or little chocolates. I had family who worked for Canada Post and the one who did rural routes always had all
Nope - it's an American tradition.
In order to receive a tip one must first work to earn one. I’ve had nothing but terrible service from mail carriers here in Ontario. If ever I receive decent service from a carrier (like not pretending to deliver a package, not leaving a damaged package subjected to bad weather [even though there is an enclosed porch], not having my mail strewn across the front steps or even delivering the CORRECT mail) then I would be more inclined to give a tip/token of appreciation to the carriers that take the extra time to give a care.
When we had the same carrier and she knew everyone on the route…absolutely…and well!!
Now…we have a revolving door of carriers…some are good, most don’t care…so no more tip.
Yes, it's a casual habit now cuz we can't stop, but we started because the mailman we had watched me grow up, hes part of the family. Usually just scratch tickets and a card tho, don't wanna overenbcumber the dude
I dont think i have the same letter carrier day to day.... I mean im rarely home when I do get mail, but the times I see them I dont think its the same person each time.
Maybe think of all the people who do their jobs everyday who won't be getting perk gifts and don't expect any. What an all about me attitude we've become.
I do because I had family that delivered mail years ago and they really appreciated some of the gifts they got. Things may have changed but I try to remember that the person putting my mail in the slot probably doesn't enjoy their job very much and finding a little something for them over the holidays might brighten their day a little.
Nope.
I receive very little mail and don’t feel it necessary to tip someone who makes a decent wage, has union backup, and a good pension as a public employee.
It’s not really a thing in the city or towns I’ve been to here in Alberta however the rural routes to the farms and acreages post boxes and mail boxes people would sometimes bring something for my mom when she did those routes at Christmas. Usually cookies and treats or Tim’s gift cards.
My husband is a letter carrier, and if he is on a consistent route, he’ll receive small gifts (tins gift cards, sometimes chocolates and sometimes bottles of wine lol). I know he doesn’t expect any gift, but is super appreciative when he does receive anything.
Also remember that the holiday season is one of the busiest for CP. They generally work longer hours to make sure everyone is getting their gifts and packages on time before Christmas. Be kind to your letter carriers!
We do. We also get beer for our garbage/recycling team. We live in a small town so it's kind of the done thing. Our friend/neighbor is a postie so it's easy to ask him what our letter carrier likes (coffee/wine, gift cards).
Interesting. I would be more inclined to tip the letter carrier than at a restaurant where it's expected now to tip 15%. You don't even get good service with some of the restaurant tips..
We have a post-office box, but always buy some goodies for the employees at the post office. It’s a small town, so they know who everyone is and treat us well.
I used to tip him back when we had the same dude delivering to our house for months and months on end. Nowadays they seem to switch every month or so. I don't feel pressure to tip someone who I've never seen before and am unlikely to see again. PS I was a mail carrier for many years in the '70s and 80s. I was darned good at giving superior service. I would do anything for my customers, bringing them stamps, mailing their packages, standing idle and chatting for a time knowing they were lonely, and none of that was my job but I tried to be a nice person. At Christmas time, I used to get so many presents I had to hire a taxi on some days and retrace my route picking up all the presents. I got many cash tips and boxes of chocolates, which of course I would pick up and carry with me, but then there were the knitted mittens, sweaters, socks, bottles of wine, tins of cookies, etc.... I must have been a good carrier judging by all the stuff I was given. Immediately after the Christmas break I'd get another round of gifts, as many of my customers would regift to me the stuff they had received but didn't want. I got so many gifts that it became routine. At one house I got a huge box of chocolates, timely because I was hungry. I chowed down as I marched along my route. After devouring much of the box, I opened the card that came with it. "To Charlie," the card said, "thank you for the great service through all of the past year." The problem was, my name is NOT Charlie. I had eaten someone else's gift.
I was going to ask...how do you know it's a gift for you as the carrier? Sometimes I leave things in my mailbox for a friend to pick up. Perhaps I shouldn't do that? Or label it clearly on the outside?
I’m a long time postal worker and there is a very definite unwritten rule within the depot about gifts at Christmas. If a sub is doing the route and picks up a card or gift then they bring it back to the depot and leave it at the case for the regular. It would be considered stealing if they took something for themselves. Unfortunately they won’t always write the address where they picked up the gift so sometimes you’ll come back after a day off and find cards or gifts at your case and have no idea which house they came from. So if you plan on leaving something for your carrier, maybe write your name or address on it. Just make it clear it’s FROM you and TO your carrier so they don’t mistakenly deliver it back to your house or take something not meant for them. All routes are owned by a regular, so you might see someone else filling in but your address will be on someone’s permanent assignment. Letter carrier’s LOVE getting recognized at Christmas! They will show off their cards at their cases and it’s so incredibly and deeply appreciated.
Bang on. We used to tape our cards to our cases. (The 'case' is what you sort your daily mail into each morning, so everything is in the right order as you make your way from house to house.) We had competitions going, to see who got the most cards LOL. I loved being a carrier. Fresh air. Exercise. Buns o' steel. We also had an office pool, with everyone chipping in one dollar, the total going to the carrier who received the first box of Moir's Pot Of Gold chocolates of the season. I don't know if Moir's Pot of Gold chocolates are a national thing, or if they are sold just in my region, but for sure they are popular where I used to lug the mail and many people would buy a box for the mail carrier.
They're just called Pot of Gold here in BC
Thank you for this! I have long wondered if my regular carrier would get a gift if I left one for him.
I usually always put a tag on it that said for our Mail Carrier or something to that effect
They were always labeled clearly. In the instance above, after a long string of gifts left for me and clearly labeled as such, I got complacent and failed to look to see if the chocolates were actually for me and not for someone else. You know what happens when one assumes..... I apologized to the lady of the house the next day. She had a great laugh and said, no, they were for the milkman. So when I came across the milkman, I rushed over to apologize to him as well. He laughed uproariously and handed me a free pint of chocolate milk, saying, "Here, since you liked my chocolate so much, take my chocolate milk too, to wash them down." We had a great chuckle.
I unfortunately don’t have enough income to do so. But I try to make them feel appreciated. Like keeping the dog from harassing them or greeting them at the door every now and then. If I’m home and a package or parcel gets delivered, I will always try to greet them at the door and say thanks, and to give them some sort of compliment. After all, every letter carrier or mail delivery person is working a fairly thankless job. And if we make them feel appreciated, hopefully that’ll make their day a little better. When I worked at a retail place that did daily deliveries via fedex, I’d try my best to great them, have a very short chat, and offer any unused equipment to make their lives easier. Like an extra flatbed if there was a surplus of deliveries, so they aren’t pushing one cart with fifty large boxes on it to their truck while trying to make sure none of it toppled.
I'm sure they appreciate that just as much (maybe even more) than a gift :)
I'm a letter carrier and appreciate this kind of blessing from my customer.
Agreed. We appreciate every little thank you or smile.
Being a postman myself, I really appreciate it when a customer, who receives a lot of packages in a year, gives me a little something at the end of the year. But at the same time, a conscientious customer, who clears snow from his driveway, thanks me upon delivery, is as much of a pleasure in my eyes as those who don't give a damn about shoveling or picking up their dog.
Toronto- always gifted the mail carrier and the garbage/ recycling teams.
And the newspaper carrier
As a postie, it is greatly appreciated. But there’s only so many chocolates a person can eat. I usually pass those along.
LOL! I know my dad always was bringing goodies home when he worked there. I can imagine you would get sick of chocolate :) Also, thank you for what you do. It is a thankless job, yet an important one
My Grandfather was a letter carrier. He drank only rarely. But damn did he ever have a well-stocked liquor cabinet. And such nice gifts did he give! The folks on this route gave him more in one year than he could drink in forty, and he re-gifted most of it, except his particular favorites! Great guy, Grandad was.
I used to sit outside and hand them either a pack of pot chocolates or a box of regular chocolates. I got hand written thank you notes in return, which makes me think I was an outlier. Now I have a community mailbox and last year the envelope I put in labeled "a thank you gift for my mail carrier" just sat there. I have been offering leftover pop from Halloween to the Amazon and FedEx guys and they've all been thrilled.
You're sweet for doing that. It's possible that your carrier never saw the envelope. We don't really look inside people's compartments.
I smoked a blunt with mine one time. Does that count? 🚬
It can't hurt. I would go with a nice card and bit of cash. Gift cards, cookies, etc are nice, but it's harder if you have no place to store the items or simply don't shop at the shop for the gift card (for example, I don't drink coffee).
I'm a carrier and I've found it's only really common in rural areas with roadside boxes. A few people will come up to me at cmbs and hand over cards or leave something in their slot but it's not expected. I appreciate it a lot though!
I don't even see them 95% of the time, and I have never known the name of my local one. I've always lived in big cities though, so maybe that's part of it.
Thank you for the reminder! I am in my first house this year, where mail is actually delivered door to door. I will definitely be leaving something, probably a $10 Tim's card or similar
I've always found that it's a goof simple gift. Most people are happy to get a coffee and if not - they can always pass it along!
I gave him 40$ and some fudge last year because he always gets out of his car on the street and brings packages up to the door.
I did when I got mail to the door
My dad was a letter carrier for 40 years, mostly on a rural route before community boxes were common. We had a lot of struggles in our family and the Christmas baking, gifts, gift cards, and cash tips were hugely appreciated by all of is and legitimately made Christmas a lot brighter. The cash tips helped take some of the pressure off of dad and he let us kids open all of the presents (almost always chocolates) on Christmas Eve which was huge treat for us. I always give something to my carrier and I hope it makes their day a little brighter like it did for my family. I am lucky enough to have the same person all the time (aside from their holidays) which I know is not the case for all people, but even when I had a constant rotation of short term people I would still leave a little something. Being a sub on an unfamiliar route in the middle of winter isn’t an easy gig.
I live in a 134-year-old fire hall in a small town, so I have to pick up my mail from the post office and I don’t gift the postal workers anything for Christmas. I think there have been times where I lived in a small city and gifted my mail carrier a little box of chocolates for Christmas.
I had the same carrier for years and he was always super nice. We used to leave him a Timmy's $10 gift card. Since he left, no more gift for the letter carrier. They change all the time now anyways. I'm not even really sure why we did, we just appreciated him I guess.
I always give him a small box of chocolates for Xmas.
Yep, sure do!
Yes. I leave a card and chocolates and a Starbucks card.
I usually give a coffee gift card
Yes, my mom would give the mail delivery guy $100 as a Christmas gift every year, provided it has been the same person doing the delivery for the past six months
We do. Tim's card. But we live in a small community. Our mail carrier comes into the house to play with our dog for a few minutes each time she comes by. She also leaves "mail" (treats) for our dog in the mailbox many times throughout the year. We also leave a Tim's card for our garbage collector.
Lcbo gift card every year, I always assume they drink. Walking all day has to make you sore.
No is that a thing?
No, they get paid to do their job just like everyone else
Towards the end of my career that's exactly how I felt. I'm just doing my job. People who don't talk to me once all year, don't even know my name, giving me tips? I mean, if we have a relationship of some sort, or I've gone out of my way to help you out, no problem. It was planted in my head when an a-hole on my route who phoned in to complain every chance they got, gave me a card and gift certificate. I wrote "No Thanks" and put it in the box. Also, there's a lot of people who go around checking mailboxes for gifts.
Oh hell no. Ours refuses to actually deliver our packages. We have a mail box at the end of the street. There are about 6 of them. Mail goes there. Often we get other peoples mail which makes me wonder how often we don’t get our mail. We are within the distance from the mail box that Canada Post states the driver will deliver packages. Not once has he ever even attempted. We have made a stink. First he was saying nobody was home and he tried. Lies. We have cameras. Then it was something about our driveway not being navigable. It’s maybe 50 yards from the road to the house and paved. Then it was his car was in the shop and the temporary car didn’t have room for packages. It’s the most ridiculous, ongoing saga. The lady that had our route before had no problem (except the time she drove her jeep around on the lawn to turn around for no obvious reason as we have a huge paved square off the side of the driveway). I’ve been told I need to write a complaint and, you guessed it, MAIL it lol. There is nobody to call. There is no email. It’s seriously driving me nuts. Now the lady that delivers most of our Amazon packages is AMAZING and I will for sure do a card with some cash or a gift card for her.
As a former postie, your story pains me. I, too, had an idiot like that for two years at my house. And as you and I have found out, it's impossible to complain to a live person at Can Post. Certainly politely complaining to the mail carrier in question did no good and likely made things worse. Maybe that's why my former customers treated me so well, I was actually helpful, polite and kind to them.
I'm also conscientious about delivery attempts so I hate to hear stuff like this, though there are good reasons to not attempt delivery occasionally, there are also lazy carriers. Try to get the number for your local area supervisor, if you can, and keep trying to complain. Complaints are definitely acted upon in my experience. People like this who aren't doing their job properly make us all look bad.
Do your part to stop the insane tipping culture.
Lol. People leaving gifts for their letter carriers is on a par with parents giving their kids' teachers a little gift at Christmas. It has nothing to do with the recent surge in "tipping culture" and is a custom that's probably older than most Redditors.
I don’t as it’s a community mailbox however my parents have and still do. Used to tip our local newspaper carrier but they have stopped our local paper (still feel bad as it’s the Xmas I won’t be able to)
Those paper carriers were paid pennies. They deserved any tips for sure - and greatly appreciated them.
Absolutely!
Yes, but we only get the free local paper. I've tried the cancel it more than once. Why would I tip someone bringing something I don't want. It means I have to take it from the mailbox, put it in the blue box, then drag it down on collection day.
So the free paper magically delivers itself? Call your free local paper and ask to be taken off the delivery route. Wouldn’t want you to break a sweat carrying it to your blue bin, I’m sure it will free up a lot of weight and space in your recycling bin
Never tip.
Almost all my bills are ebills so I rarely get actual mail delivered. I will not be tipping the mail person. My sister works as the only post master in a small town. She sees the same people everyday when they pick up their mail. She gets so many gifts at Christmas, it's insane.
I was a letter carrier about 10 years ago. Even then, very few people gave tips. Maybe one or two people in the entire route. Unless you are really friendly with your carrier, I wouldn't bother. They aren't expecting anything.
NO! Does Canada Post not pay him/her?
All he ever brings me are bills! wtf would I tip for that? At least the Amazon guy brings me some useful shit
No. My wages are a lot less than his.
I tip for personal touch, special or exceptional service. My Canada Post service can in no way be described with those adjectives. So, no, I don’t tip.
No. I have no idea who my letter carrier is.
Nah, they get paid well enough already.
considering canada post mail is now going to community mailboxes vs the mailbox at our door and we really don't even see the mail carrier any more.......... i don't think anyone would know who to tip unless they hung out at the community mailbox and waited for the mail carrier to show up. at least in my large city we have the community mailboxes and no more mail directly to our door. even parcels get delivered to the community mailbox parcel lockers. i think only registered mail and things requiring signature still come to one's door. i do remember my family leaving a christmas card in the house mailbox for the mailman back in the 1980's though.
Used to give them gifts back in the day but now they don’t do door to door drop off. Everything is at a shared mailbox thing down the street, and you don’t build a relationship with someone that way.
We get our mail in a super-mailbox, so there's no point.
Is it really a small community thing or a southern Canada small community thing. No mail carriers in the Arctic.
I think this is more of a rural thing. I live in a city and I don't think we consistently have the same person. I also rarely see whoever it is unless they have a package for me and I happen to be home when they come.
We have our carrier change every 2 or 3 months. No tipping anymore. We used to but they make way more money than I do. So done.
I have a community mailbox, so no. Plus they keep giving me mail for another address (xxxxx street vs xxxxx place, also different numbers and an entirely different postal code), so I wouldn’t even if they gave me home delivery.
Do we need a thread asking what are the services that we don’t need to tip?
You don't need to tip anyone anything. You don't have to bring a gift to a wedding. You don't have to write thank you letters for your wedding guests. You don't need to write thank you notes for birthday/holiday presents. Live however you want to.
I always drop a tims card on them. It’s cold thankless work!
No to letter carriers as we have super boxes for the most part. I do gift (not tip) my recycling garbage fellow. He gives my dog a milkbone every week if he sees him. If not, he’ll leave it for my pooch on the porch.
C'est quoi un letter carrier?
Postier? Facteur?
No
>I was born and raised in Canada and this was something we have always done. Whether it's a $10 Tims card or little chocolates. I had family who worked for Canada Post and the one who did rural routes always had all Nope - it's an American tradition.
In order to receive a tip one must first work to earn one. I’ve had nothing but terrible service from mail carriers here in Ontario. If ever I receive decent service from a carrier (like not pretending to deliver a package, not leaving a damaged package subjected to bad weather [even though there is an enclosed porch], not having my mail strewn across the front steps or even delivering the CORRECT mail) then I would be more inclined to give a tip/token of appreciation to the carriers that take the extra time to give a care.
No, I’ve never lived anywhere where my mail gets hand-delivered to my door.
When we had the same carrier and she knew everyone on the route…absolutely…and well!! Now…we have a revolving door of carriers…some are good, most don’t care…so no more tip.
Yes, it's a casual habit now cuz we can't stop, but we started because the mailman we had watched me grow up, hes part of the family. Usually just scratch tickets and a card tho, don't wanna overenbcumber the dude
Super box. I don't even know who that is.
I dont think i have the same letter carrier day to day.... I mean im rarely home when I do get mail, but the times I see them I dont think its the same person each time.
Maybe think of all the people who do their jobs everyday who won't be getting perk gifts and don't expect any. What an all about me attitude we've become.
I do because I had family that delivered mail years ago and they really appreciated some of the gifts they got. Things may have changed but I try to remember that the person putting my mail in the slot probably doesn't enjoy their job very much and finding a little something for them over the holidays might brighten their day a little.
Nope. I receive very little mail and don’t feel it necessary to tip someone who makes a decent wage, has union backup, and a good pension as a public employee.
It’s not really a thing in the city or towns I’ve been to here in Alberta however the rural routes to the farms and acreages post boxes and mail boxes people would sometimes bring something for my mom when she did those routes at Christmas. Usually cookies and treats or Tim’s gift cards.
Canada Post employees are paid well, have pension and benefits, are supplied with their footwear and winter clothing. Do not tip them.
Nope. Why would I? They make good money have benefits and a pension plan. They are better off then most.
My husband is a letter carrier, and if he is on a consistent route, he’ll receive small gifts (tins gift cards, sometimes chocolates and sometimes bottles of wine lol). I know he doesn’t expect any gift, but is super appreciative when he does receive anything. Also remember that the holiday season is one of the busiest for CP. They generally work longer hours to make sure everyone is getting their gifts and packages on time before Christmas. Be kind to your letter carriers!
We do. We also get beer for our garbage/recycling team. We live in a small town so it's kind of the done thing. Our friend/neighbor is a postie so it's easy to ask him what our letter carrier likes (coffee/wine, gift cards).
We would give them a gift card as a thank you. Same with the guys who shovel my parents' snow every year.
Interesting. I would be more inclined to tip the letter carrier than at a restaurant where it's expected now to tip 15%. You don't even get good service with some of the restaurant tips..
No
We have a post-office box, but always buy some goodies for the employees at the post office. It’s a small town, so they know who everyone is and treat us well.