Tipping binmen at xmas

[yeknomyeknom]

I'm hoping to skip the - why should we tip them, public servants, don't rate the service spiel and get in the holiday spirit early.

I like our bin men. My son likes to look at their truck and they are friendly and efficient. I'm from Belfast and its traditional to tip there and I would like to do so here. Is this par for the course? What's the going rate? Do you give it to them in a card?

Scrooges need not respond :)

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

I only have one question , as there is the green , brown and blue bins all done by three different refuse men , do you tip them all ?

[yeknomyeknom]

Hmmmmmmm. Good point! Hadn't even considered that.

[MrBen]

End of thread.

[????]

All very 80s. I'm pretty sure you don't tip any of them anymore it's against their contracts of employment to take tips. Please correct me if I'm wrong and I'll remove the post( don't want to deprive them of an allowed tip!)

[Penguin68]

I think that there are in fact 2 teams, one who is brown bin every week, one who alternates blue with green (I see them each week so I can be sure that's true on my road) - so catching both teams in one day will cover all 3 bins. It's best, if you can, to tip them (if you intend to) directly - leaving money in a card is open to misappropriation. But if you're not about, an envelope taped to the inside of the lid - which they should always see when they put the bin up for emptying, might be OK. If you are tipping direct, give the money to the driver if you can - I know of a problem when one of the loaders started pocketing, not pooling, tips he got.

I don't think everyone, or even most people, do tip around me (I may be wrong on that)- but that shouldn't stop you (doesn't me) if you think that's the right thing to do. They're not public servants anyway - they work for the private contractor Veolia - and work over most, but not all, bank holidays.

Edited to add - they certainly haven't turned down tips over the last 25+ years I've lived in ED

[MrBen]

To all binmen. I have the address for poster ????. Please PM me for details.

[red devil]

I would be happy to tip them if they could be arsed to put the bins back where they found them...

[MrBen]

Middle class fear is responsible. That is all.

[yeknomyeknom]

Just a recap on the original post as a few posters seem to have strayed.

yeknomyeknom Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm hoping to skip the - why should we tip them,

> public servants, don't rate the service spiel and

> get in the holiday spirit early.

>

> I like our bin men. My son likes to look at their

> truck and they are friendly and efficient. I'm

> from Belfast and its traditional to tip there and

> I would like to do so here. Is this par for the

> course? What's the going rate? Do you give it to

> them in a card?

>

> Scrooges need not respond :)

[Mrs TP]

When we lived in Lambeth (ok some 15yrs + now) one of the binmen had a notebook and wrote down all the tips they received at Christmas so they could be equally divided. The other binmen could see exactly what was happening and all seemed happy. Our Southwark binmen have never seemed to expect a tip in the same way they did in Lambeth.

[*Bob*]

Isn't this already covered by the 12.5% optional gratuity added to our Southwark council tax bill?

[vicki08]

I've always tipped bin men and postman at Xmas

[Penguin68]

Red Devil wrote:-

I would be happy to tip them if they could be arsed to put the bins back where they found them...

On my road a 'forward man' pulls bins into the road often 5 or more minutes before the lorry arrives; he also consolidates rubbish from less than full bins to reduce the time taken to empty them when the lorry arrives - so, to be fair, the bin-men returning the bins won't have known exactly where they all started out from.

[egoode]

I've never heard of tipping binmen or the postman as someone else suggested. I'm not even sure how I'd do it given I'm not home when they come by. I do tip my cleaner though at Christmas.

[steveo]

I like to give all my staff a little something

[Southeast Twenty Stu]

egoode Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've never heard of tipping binmen or the postman

> as someone else suggested. I'm not even sure how

> I'd do it given I'm not home when they come by. I

> do tip my cleaner though at Christmas.

Don't want to divert the thread too much, but out of interest, how much do you tip your cleaner? I've been wondering what might be appropriate.

[Lollipop]

A friend of mine makes gifts (cakes, truffles), wraps them nicely and leaves them in a basket by the bin for all of them to help themselves - including the postman. I thought that was a nice idea

[Doodle1]

Hi All.. I never tip any off my staff or employees they are lucky to have a job....

If I did they would only spend it on fags and lager.

Don't bother.

[KidKruger]

"so, to be fair, the bin-men returning the bins won't have known exactly where they all started out from."

To be fair, even with nos painted on the bins they still end up in wrong front yard, nowhere near the spot in front yard where they were wheeled from.

[Countrlass22]

very kind you think of tips for bin men

great idea re bins not back where from stick a cheap number label on with road name does trick

[KidKruger]

Ex-Telegram Office employee ?

[tfwsoll]

Many firms whose staff deliver public services have rules about accepting gifts from their punters, although back in the 60's and 70's there were stories of people being harassed by binmen if they didn't give them a tip at Christmas (as immortalised in Lonnie Donegan's My Old Man's a Dustman).

When my mum came to England in the late 40's, the postman used to deliver on Christmas day and it was traditional to offer him a snifter rather than money.

[uncleglen]

We always used to tip the binmen when they lifted the bins because it was generally thought that if you didn't your rubish would be on your front path for the whole of the next year!

[Mrs TP]

When I was growing up in the late 70s early 80s my best friend's dad was a postie and my friend used to tell me how he got drunk and got loads of choccies and cakes once a year on his round with all his Christmas tips.