Gratuities

This is turning into the new Mexican Restaurant thread.

Have you people ever thought unless they are specifically asking for a tip that they might just be wishing you a Happy Holiday's or Happy New year just to be nice. Ya know some people still do that right??

I give a Christmas present to the mailman and paperboy - usually a gift card to a local business. Last 2 years was to Zavotski's. that's all they get from me.

^ Good idea!

I guess I'm stingy. The paper delivery guy gets $5. Period. With him its more of a protection payment.

The ONLY time he commnicates about why the NYT or the USA Today wasn't delivered or some other delivery misshap with the Blade occurred that was beyond his control, is right before Christmas. I, too, get incomplete papers. About a month ago I got two Sunday advertising sections for the Blade and no other sections.

I used to tip the mail carrier $20. We had the same regular carrier for years and she did an outstanding job. That changed about two years ago and now we might not see the same carrier for more than a couple of days. We do get good service though, even with the constant changing. I wish I could find a way to thank them properly.

A tip is earned...we always give our mail carrier something at Christmas, but the last couple of years, the gift we left for him was not taken. Turns out, he was on vacation and the substitute didn't think it right to take it. Since it was goodies we made for multiple people, they were stale by the time he got back from vacation.

We used to tip the Blade carrier however they changed carriers 4-5 months ago. Now we find papers in the shrubs, under cars, etc. No tip this year because the service is nowhere near what it was before.

We've had the same Blade carrier for years. He is fantastic -- that paper is always on the front porch, usually very close to the door. He always sends us a Christmas card. We always send him $25.

Used to tip the mail carrier, when she was a regular. But haven't done that in years, since she was reassigned and we've had many carriers who change frequently.

As for tipping in general, ever since 2008, I've made a point to tip more than the usual 20%; seems like an easy way to help people who might be struggling in a down economy. An extra two, three, four, five bucks on a restaurant tab won't kill me (we don't eat at fancy places), but it might really help that server that day. (All bets are off, of course, in the case of exceptionally lousy service, but that seldom happens.)

Glad some of you have Blade carriers who give a shit.

The carrier that delivers to my mother's house can't seem to get the paper any farther than 4 feet from the street....whether that's in the driveway or on the lawn. Especially fun for 74 year old mom to navigate on snowy/icy/rainy mornings. But she's not special...everyone in the neighborhood has asked nicely, talked to, insisted, and complained to the carrier to no avail. This is not a neighborhood with 50 foot long driveways or other obstacles to normal delivery--it would just take 3 seconds extra to pitch it on the porch.

Mom gave the postman a cash tip. Even her dogs like the postman. Blade carrier is out of luck. I don't care if he's making squat--you do a job right or don't do it. I'm sure it would be much more efficient for the postman to deliver the mail like this guy, but he still does his job correctly.

lfrost, yeah i considered that it was a casual greeting until I got note #2 in which he said, "Your Christmas Tips are appreciated as I only get .10 per paper" and mentioned (which I knew) that the Blade doesn't pay for supplies or gas. He included his name and address, the first I knew he was a new carrier.

Our previous carrier was great. When he began the route he included a sticky note on a front page that included his name and phone number. He requested that we call him rather than the Blade if we had a problem. Each of the several years he delivered the paper I tipped him with a $25 gift card to Applebee's. I do the same for our long-term mailman.

None of that was done by our current carrier. Delivering our paper is very cushy. He drives up our driveway and two steps away is our porch. He could easily put the paper below the door sill that I can easily retrieve.

I'm not angry even though I dislike missing sections or negotiating snowy steps at 6 a.m. to get the paper when he is only an arm's reach from my door. I feel that if I tip him for poor service I will never get good service.

I've been lucky to have a great mail carrier for many years. Though I've had numerous Blah carriers over the years, they've all done a good job - almost always landing the paper on the porch just under the front door within easy reach. Both get $40 each at Christmas.

I would like to know why people tip the owner of say a bar or restaurant when they are relying on their customers to pay their help?