Do You Give These People Christmas Gifts????

Updated on December 20, 2011
M.O. asks from Barrington, IL
15 answers

We have fabulous "service" people in our lives.

Hairstylist? - use the same person every 4 weeks
Mailman? - He delivers all packages/oversized items to our door and waves at the kids
Newspaper delivery person? - nothing great, but she included a "note" with her name and address on a printed sheet with our paper every December
Who else???

Wondering if I "tip" them or give them a gift certificate/card somewhere and how much????

What can I do next?

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Featured Answers

T.K.

answers from Dallas on

I tip and give them baked goods and treats. My thought is they would like more money to buy for thier family, rather than another bottle of scented hand lotion. :)

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M.R.

answers from Seattle on

Normally - no.

I'm fed up tipping every frigging person I run across in my life..no one tips me for all that I do...

We give generously to charities instead.

I think we need to stop the crazy tipping in this country. I would only give a tip if there is a personal relationship that has developed with these service people.

I'm must be in a pissy mood, like PMS and a headache....because I'm sure I would answer differently if I felt a bond towards any of the people you mention.

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J.B.

answers from Houston on

Nope. None of them. Family only.

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C.S.

answers from Las Vegas on

I don't. Personally I think it is all going too far (my opinion). The only people outside of my family I purchased a gift for are my daughters ice skating coach, teacher, and prayer partner. The coach received a frame, photo of the two of them and a pair of warm gloves, my daughter's prayer partner at school has done a great job of guiding her through her first year of school and I got her a pair of pajamas and slippers, and her teacher, I participated in a cash wreath.

However, if you have the time and money get them something practical so it doesn't get tossed.

5 moms found this helpful

M..

answers from Detroit on

I havent been to my hair stylist since October (sigh) but if it were Decemeber I would give her a bigger tip.

My mail lady is a wack job

The trashmen are mean. My son is obsessed with the truck and he will stand there and frantically wave at the jerks and they look at him like hes crazy.

If they were nice, then, yeah, I would probably do gc's to the grocery store.

3 moms found this helpful

M.L.

answers from Houston on

I can't even give most of my relatives/close friends gifts ,so I don't usually go out of my was to tip/gift someone unless they have gone above/beyond for us somehow.

But, when I worked at a salon (I'm a hairstylist) most clients would bring in a tin of fudge or cookies or whatever for the salon to enjoy. (We were a close knit salon), or they could also give a little treat just to their stylist too. Christmas week was always awesome, a table in the front had tons of treats that we could all share and we even shared with customers.

The mailman would be easy to gift, just stick something in your mailbox, a little giftcard for $5 or $10 or little goodie bag of candy, gloves... but I have heard that legally they can't accept gifts, but many still take them. As for the newspaper person no clue how you would catch them.

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K.P.

answers from New York on

Housekeeper gets $100 in a card b/c I could not live without her.

Daycare/preschool teacher $100 in a card and $75 to the school to buy lunch for the teachers.

My secretary. She's amazing and does things before I have to ask. She makes it possible for me to work remotely without missing things in my office. I do a $100 spa gift certificate for her (shared with the other woman she works for).

Mailman $10 Dunkin Donuts gift card b/c he knows that we are having a baby and brings the mail to the door so I'm not waddling across the street with the ice. He did this with our older child too and lets him "check out" the mail truck when we're home.

No one else. We used to do the garbage men, but there's only one now and they don't even have to get out of the truck anymore. Hope this helps.

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B.B.

answers from Missoula on

Just FYI:
Mail carriers working for the United States Postal Service are allowed to accept the following items during the holiday season:
•Snacks and beverages or perishable gifts that are not part of a meal.
•Small gifts that have little intrinsic value (travel mugs, hand warmers, etc…) and are clearly no more than $20 in value.
•Perishable items clearly worth more (large fruit baskets or cookie tins) must be shared with the entire branch.

Mail carriers working for the United States Postal Service may not accept the following:
•Cash gifts, checks, gift cards, or any other form of currency.

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A.M.

answers from Phoenix on

All teachers, pre-school, classroom elementary, dance instructors, drum teacher, bus drivers and the mail man. Most got a Starbucks gift card. Mail man got a Sub Way gift card and the pre-school teachers got a gift card to a store of their choosing! I don't tip the trash men because I pay out of my own pocket every month for them to service us. I don't get the paper so I don't have to tip there either, but if I did get the paper I would tip in cash, probably $15-20. I also don't go to the salon in December, so I've never had to give an extra tip there but I always tip generously through out the year!

At Jim...You sound like my husband! Hehe...little does he know....

2 moms found this helpful

L.A.

answers from Austin on

Hairstylist is the owner of a business so I always set up a time to bring her a dinner for her and her family in January.

Mailman, we have no idea who will show up each day. A long time ago we had a great Mail lady and gave her all sorts of treats. Gift Cards, Ice Chests, gift card to a neighborhood sandwich place.

Newspaper person - no. We order online now so we do not even know who ours is.

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M.R.

answers from Dallas on

Honestly giving all these people a gift is weird to me... but thats just me I guess! lol

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☆.A.

answers from Pittsburgh on

Newspaper guy is tipped cash with the bill.
Hairstylist gets a bigger tip around the holiday.
I do believe that, by law, postal workers cannot accept cash--so goodies or gift card.

Bus driver!

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B.G.

answers from Champaign on

I just asked a question about the school bus driver. Guess I didn't see yours.

I do tip them. Teachers, garbage men, mail lady, daycare workers, etc. Everyone is getting a $10 gift card. It does at up, but I do believe it's very important to show them how much I appreciate them. Not just that they do their jobs, but that they do it with kindness and compassion. The compassion applies especially to the teachers and daycare workers, but really it's our way of saying that we do notice what they do for us.

We don't have a lot of money. This is just something I feel is important, so I budget for it. I think for the most part they really aren't going to remember those who don't tip them. But they will feel appreciative when they are remembered.

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C.M.

answers from Washington DC on

the ONLY people I give gifts to are my kids, husband, parents and my sister. that's it. We have a very tight budget and so that is all we can afford to give gifts to. I don't even give gifts to my best friend of 12 years and her kids. We just can't. I think if you can afford it, why not give to everyone on your list? but if you can't, then don't.

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E.M.

answers from Los Angeles on

I think it's totally appropriate to give a Christmas card but I think a tip or gift card would only be appropriate for the newspaper person. depending on your relationship with her I wouldn't give more than $10.

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