I've just given the bin fella £10 with "have a beer later"
He seemed stunned at this and was showing all the others with a massive beaming smile.
I thought it was a normal thing to do. Up in Liverpool it was just what you did....
Is it more a northern thing ? Do you do ?
My postie rang the doorbell loudly at 6.40 this morning waking up the whole house when dropping off a small parcel that could have sat happily in the porch so he can get in the sea if he wants a tip!
We have an excellent Postie, so we leave a bottle of wine out for him.
Currently tip the postie - a tenner & sometimes a bottle of wine and a card. We live on a rural lane and leave our bins and recycling 400m away on the main road so never see our binmen.
Growing up our postie, binmen and milkman would all get a tip. I did a milk round and we were very well tipped at Christmas. This was in Chester.
I thought it was a normal thing to do. Up in Liverpool it was just what you did….
Is it more a northern thing ? Do you do ?
It used to be a normal thing to do in Glasgow - although I think that may have been much reduced once wheely bins came in. I believe some people still do it with paperboy/girls but definitely not the norm any more over here in middle class East of Scotland suburbia. Of all the people who come to my house like that the only ones I actually recognise (so are consistently the same person) are the postie and window cleaner (who has disappeared without trace for several months).
My postie rang the doorbell loudly at 6.40 this morning waking up the whole house when dropping off a small parcel that could have sat happily in the porch so he can get in the sea if he wants a tip!
Or he could have taken it back to the sorting office and made you pick it up!
We have a great postie and DPD driver.
They both get a bottle of wine at Christmas. They really appreciate it and are really helpful.
If you get a lot of deliveries, then it's a no brainer to me.
Growing up our postie, binmen and milkman would all get a tip.
Same here, and from pretty much the whole street. Hardly seems to happen these days.
One of my neighbours leaves my postie a card (no idea if there's a tip in it) every year. I know this as it ends up in my recycling bin every year! First year I was curious why my empty bin had a card in it.
Our postie is tremendous. Friendly, helpful, chatty. Looks after the old folk too. He’s definitely getting a tip and a card.
Bin men not so much!
Bin men get a large selection of biscuits - postie gets nothing other than a Christmas card (may be a free coffee) as he's more of a colleague.
We tip the postie. He's great always friendly and helpful, so will usually leave a parcel somewhere sensible if they can. I dunno whether it's cause or effect, but I'm gonna keep tipping them at Christmas!
On the housing estate i live, a few people used to give the postie a couple of quid. So everyone could get involved they setup a 'go fund me' type page.
Turns out the postie is getting a £1300 tip this Christmas.
Personally, i dont tip (in all walks of life, unless someone has really gone beyond the call). No one gives me extra for doing my job.......
I've got a tip for my bin man - if you fail to get the rubbish/recycling into the truck, please pick it up instead of leaving it all over the road.
I used to tip the binmen/women at our last house in beer. They were great - always popping into the garden to get the bin if I forgot to leave it out.
I’ve got a tip for my bin man – if you fail to get the rubbish/recycling into the truck, please pick it up instead of leaving it all over the road.
I expect they give a better service to the people who tip them 😉
Yeah, binmen and recyclists get packs of Twix and Snickers from time to time when I feel grateful
I expect they give a better service to the people who tip them
That sounds like a protection racket! 😀
As someone who is on the receiving end it’s a nice gesture that is appreciated. I don’t expect tips, just a thank you would do, but it’s nice to know that when you’re out grafting in all weathers that some are thankful. Almost makes the moans the rest of the year worth it
Our MyHermes man is great. We often have a chat and he is a genuinely nice bloke. He will be getting some beers from us over the next week as a thank you.
We had the same postie at the old place for 15 years, he used to get a tip every year.
The Gousto delivery delivery driver is the only constant who'll get a tip this year.
I always leave a slab of lager for the binmen, usually pays dividends as ransos pointed out, a few quid for the postie, Xmas was a lucrative time when I was a lad on my paper-round!
Yep, we tip the Postie/DHL lady, she is great, super helpful.
Yeah, tip the milkman. The Hermes lassie might get a tip, I've seen her alot this past year.
That's how she ended up with Hermes
Postman, binmen and milkman all get a tip at Christmas. This year we’ve added the Hermes guy as he’s always great and as others have said he’s had an extraordinary year.
We’re in Worcestershire but we are from the northeast, so not sure about the territory behaviour.
This reminds me of the old joke that ends "Well, my husband said give the driver a tenner and **** the rest of 'em.'
That’s how she ended up with Hermes
That gave me a giggle.
My postie sent [i]me[/i] a card. Quite bizarre. Does that mean I have to give him one in return?
The binmen round here are grumpy sods who won't give you the time of day.
Try saying something like "thank you" or "good morning" and you either get ignored or given a weird look.
After yet another bin day when they've left the bin on its side 2 houses away and a small heap of spilled rubbish in the road, I don't much feel like tipping them!
i tip all of them. you get what you pay for.
Do you do ?
People don't tip me for working so no, I never tip.
I could tell our binmen were angling for Christmas tips this week as they actually put everyone’s bins back at the bottom of their drives, rather than halfway down the road.
I expect they give a better service to the people who tip them
i tip all of them. you get what you pay for.
Chicken/egg isn't it. Do you tip them and the service goes up or do you reward them for giving above and beyond service? If the current service is mediocre do you tip in the hope it will improve or **** em? I bought my mum's house from her and she was a bit appalled when I said I wasn't too fussed about tipping the binmen (she'd rung me to 'remind me that 'we' tip the the binmen). These are the same binmen that would not empty a very old lady's bin unless she dragged it the last 2m to the edge of the lane from where it lived against the wall. Yep, get the 80 year old to do it, my legs can't handle those last 2 paces. That £20 didn't buy a lot of 'extras'.
We always used to buy Chris, our old postie, a present because he was awesome. A real local legend who knew everyone's name; would take the piss about another wiggle parcel arriving and carefully put the post in just far enough that it stuck out the letter box when my wife had back surgery so she didn't have to bend down. Here the postie changes really regularly - seems to be about a dozen that'll do it, so we havn't build up any sort of relationship.
I don't know what they are doing but someone in the recruitment or training teams at Tesco are doing great work as I don't think I've met a bad delivery person. All so friendly and helpful.
“Well, my husband said give the driver a tenner and **** the rest of ’em.’
Meh, well beaten, but it is a great joke. 👍
Postie gets a tenner - we know his name and everything...
Other deliveries there isn't enough consistency of who is doing the delivering - nor in the "performance" of the service.
Bin people - we don't ever really see or speak to them and they are "just doing their job" no above and beyond so no tip there.
When I was a nipper I did a paper round in the week and a milk round at weekends, the milk job was much more rewarding at Christmas than the paper one - relatively rural Worcestershire.
People don’t tip me for working so no, I never tip.
I remember people like you, from when I was a paper boy.
The last time one of my local bin men ask me for a tip I suggested they wear the correct PPE or risk a written warning but then I am one of their line managers!
Its not unusual for a well liked crew to collect up to a £1000 in tips on a good year and that is before you account for the booze, chocolates and biscuits they all receive. Our operations office is already turning into an overflow for the chocolates they have gotten sick of eating. I've already gone off Heroes and Quality Street.
Don't feel too bad if you don't tip the local bin men, they do quite well at this time of year. I predict not a single driver or loader will be off sick next week in our department.
Never tipped the postie; he seems to always give me my neighbours post.
Card and a tenner for the postie. He's a lovely guy, always friendly, always has biscuits for dogs, makes the effort to put parcels in the greenhouse if we're not in.
Binmen? Nope - easy life now. Bins are on wheels and they don’t even have to chuck it in the back of the truck! 🤪
I’d tip the paper boy/girl if we had one but even the papers round our way get delivered by car!
Window cleaner yes, bins no as they leave people's bins all over. Maybe it's a silent protest?
Teachers, after-school staff, sports coaches, music teachers all get something. Anyone who has to deal with my kids deserves a medal.
We used to tip the coal man, out every week whatever the weather, lugging huge sacks of ovals into our bunker. This year he fell off the back of his wagon, broke his shoulder and died in hospital. Turned out he was 77 years old.
Nope, not anymore. We seem to have a different postie every week & the bin men only do the basics. IE, if it ain’t in the bin it doesn’t go in.
I used to when we had the same postie for years & the binmen went over & above.
On behalf of my fellow Posties I would like to say a massive thank you to those of you who have said you tip the Postie. The rest of you tight b***s can go * yourselves! 🙂 Merry Xmas!....But seriously, tips are not expected, just a nice touch at this time of year.
Of the times I've been minded to do this a completely different person shows up for that delivery, never to be seen again in the future. So I haven't...
