I opened my sunday paper this morning to find a christmas card from my carrier. Inside the card was a self addressed envelope (no stamp) to the carier. Was this a hint that I should send them money? I get the paper ONLY on sunday mornings. I have never seen the carier. I have never tipped the carier or given them a Christmas gift. I suppose there will be alot of arguement about this, but I am not sure what exactly they did this for. I dont give a gift to my mail man or UPS man or anyone like that. Am I suppose to? Its hard to afford buying for my kids.

Please dont hollar at me.

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Don't feel bad I too don't tip carriers, mailman, paper man( Even if I was getting the paper I still wouldn't tip ). The only people I do tip is waiters and waitress. I also might get flamed for saying this, but these people are paid well Sometimes 2 times what my husband makes and I don't feel I should have to pay for a service they picked to make a living doing. I have yet to see a starving mailman or UPS person ( I know around here as my family has a life long friend husband is a mail carrier and she works in the post office they BOTH make over 22.50 an hour ) and my husband has a life long friend that works for UPS and he makes over 20.00 an hour. To me thats more than enough to support yourself or a family. As far as a new paper carrier, Well don't really know how much they make as it's based on how many papers they deliver and they also get mileage. But I'm sure they have to be making pretty good or else with the high gas prices and insurance they would find a better paying job. I do know me and my 1st husband had a paper route when we both lived in Fla and we made pretty good money back then. 2.00 per home per week plus .20 per mile. That did add up to good money as our route had over 80 homes and we also worked a long route. But things may have changed now vs. 20+ years ago. But any hoot, You are not alone in this and to be truthful I wouldn't tip for a service that would place a envie inside my paper. A tip should be a offering that YOU feel is valid.

A lot of people do tip their carrier and, in this day when you don't ever see the carrier (unlike when they used to collect each week door to door), many have no clue how to reach their carrier. So I think it's common for carriers to do this and I wouldn't take offense. When I took the paper, I would send the carrier $25.00 at the end of the year. BUT, I don't think there's any reason to do it if you can't afford to or don't want to, just toss the envelope away. I'm sure plenty of people don't, and there's no reason you should feel you need to. I don't think tipping for ANY service is required, ever.

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I used to tip the carrier. He/She used to get my paper pretty close to the front door, but whoever we have now just drops it at the far edge of the driveway. I normally bring out some sodas & cookies to the trash guys when I can catch them.

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We don't get the newspaper delivered...we just buy it on Sunday. I used to tip the mail carrier until I got fed up that he didn't even say "thank you" so I stopped doing it. If I was in that situation and my newspaper carrier put something like that in my newspaper, there's no way I'd give him anything. I think that's really rude and tacky! He's basically asking for a monetary gift. I don't like that. You should only give him something if you feel like you want to do it. ~Lisa

we get the same envelope. We do not tip. I DO tip the mailman during the holiday season when I have lots of pkgs for my business to be picked up BUT the tip is a nice bar of Ghirardelli chocolate...not money. I tip people who pay rate expects and/or relies on tips to make a decent living...ie: waitresses and waiters. They make less than minimum wage and tips make up for the rest. I know people who tip their trash man. I don't . Tipping is way out of control. Don't feel bad about not doing it. It's not a job that I feel should be tipped

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We have received the Christmas card as well, but I have yet to tip him. Back in the day (ok, like 25 years ago) I was a newspaper girl. We did have to stop and collect pmt. I did get tips, but don't recall that they were ever enough to write home about.

Ours leaves a Christmas card with a return address as well. I usually mail her a $10 tip. We only get the Sunday paper.

OT to Toonces - what is your avatar - No "L" ?? It's probably something obvious and I'm just oblivious, but I don't get it.

cj/

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noel I think.

I just want to add that I do tip regularly...always 20% when we go out to eat. We just came back from a trip and we always tipped the hotel employees, tour guide, etc. It just rubs me the wrong way when it seems that someone is asking for a gift. ~Lisa

Our paper carrier puts a self addressed envelope in the paper every month, so you can send in your monthly payment to her. Some people pay every 3 months or pay by credit/debit card or send directly to the newspaper, but she would have no way of seperating everyone's paper so everyone gets the adddressed envelope. Maybe this is a new carrier and they do it this way?

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My son was a carrier from the age of 11 to the age of 16. He got up every single morning of the year no matter the weather or how he felt. He rarely asked for a ride unless it was extra snow or he was sick.
He always put the paper where people wanted it and sometimes he could throw it on the porch but in most cases he had to walk up and put it somewhere specific.
I ALWAYS tip $3 a month on a $15 paper bill.
I think the least a paper customer can do it tip 25 cents a month.
Even though you only get the paper on Sundays the paper carrier has to go every single week to bring it to you and put it where you want it and they do not get paid very much.
If it is not a hardship for you please consider tipping like everything else good you do it will bring you back good.
My son never put in envelopes but maybe nobody remembers especially with the hard times.
The paper carrier also has bills and a family to buy presents for.

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I don't get the paper delivered to the house anymore, but when I did I would tip a little every 3 months (there was a place on the bill to leave a tip for the carrier.) and a little extra at Christmas time. Now mind you, my carrier was a disabled man from our church. I know his mom. We always got the paper on time and on the porch nice and dry. He also would leave me all his extra Sunday papers (like 5). So yeah, I tipped him! The person before was pretty lousy, paper on the walk, wet, sometimes very late. That carrier didn't get tipped.

I usually get something small for my mail man too. The regular guy is great. I get a lot of freebies and I have packages picked up at the house too. He's getting a bunch of dog treats I got free at K-mart doubles. I thought that would be kind of cute. We don't have a dog, but I couldn't pass up the free doggie snacks. . lol. I'm so bad.

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My paper is thrown out the window of the car the carrier drives. Its in my driveway under my car or at the edge of the street every Sunday. they dont get out of the car, they dont ask where do I want it. I dont get a bill, I pay it automatically via credit card each month thru the home office of the paper. There have been times I didnt get a paper, and had to call to get one.

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I think if you get exceptional service from your newspaper or mail deliverer, and you appreciate that service, then by all means show your appreciation.

When I lived in the country, I'd tip both my UPS driver and my postal service worker because they always went over and above their job description. Now that I'm in town, my mail is late/missing, I get other people's mail and I never know where the paper will show up. Nope, no tips this year.

I tipped my newspaper person this quarter for Christmas. I normaly don't tip them. I was getting really bad service for a while so didn't think they should get anything. Now that the service has improved I gave a small tip of $5. I think it is extremely rude to ASK for a tip. I would have thrown the envelope in the garbage and not thought twice about it.

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The envelope in the paper is the norm around here. You either send something or you don't. Like I said in my previous post. If the carrier even makes an half-hearted attempt to get the paper near the house I would probably send something, even if it was a $5 Starbucks card. But, like the previous posters said, whoever is delivering for me now barely gets it in the driveway, mostly it's almost on the street, like they drop it out of the car as they go by.

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Am I an idiot or what? (Don't answer...)

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

The mystery solved! I would have never thought of that.Clever!
(About the noel, I mean)

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