Amethyst Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 (edited) We never see our newspaper carrier. He always comes before we’re awake. He’s been our guy since we moved here 13 years ago. Dh and I have this discussion every year. I remember my brothers being newspaper carriers years and years ago - 1970’s. They had to collect every week. Some people would tip a dime, or a quarter, maybe there were even a few that gave a tip of a dollar every week. But we pay our subscription online and don’t give a tip weekly (or monthly or ever). The only tip we give is at Christmas. So with my brothers’ history I always want to give more than dh. $30 is ridiculous if you divide by 52 weeks. I think a minimum of $50 is appropriate, but I don’t even think that is enough. So I’m curious, if you don’t mind sharing, how much do you tip? Edited December 13, 2023 by Amethyst Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Marmalade Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) I was a rural carrier for two years and Christmas was the best time of year! Almost all of my customers left me a holiday tip. Some of them were smaller- just $10 or $20, but I had a quite few big tippers who gave me $50 to $100. I also received quite a few gift cards to local businesses, gas cards, and a good number of delicious homemade treats. I had around 75 customers and my second Christmas they gave me almost $2000. ETA: I appreciated each and every one and made sure to give them all thank you cards. Edited December 14, 2023 by Lady Marmalade 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted December 14, 2023 Author Share Posted December 14, 2023 44 minutes ago, Lady Marmalade said: I was a rural carrier for two years and Christmas was the best time of year! Almost all of my customers left me a holiday tip. Some of them were smaller- just $10 or $20, but I had a quite few big tippers who gave me $50 to $100. I also received quite a few gift cards to local businesses, gas cards, and a good number of delicious homemade treats. I had around 75 customers and my second Christmas they gave me almost $2000. ETA: I appreciated each and every one and made sure to give them all thank you cards. That’s nice to hear. This guy always leaves the paper right at our door, no matter the weather. I imagine he doesn’t have as many customers as he used to since people aren’t doing newspapers as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted December 14, 2023 Author Share Posted December 14, 2023 21 hours ago, Lady Marmalade said: I was a rural carrier for two years and Christmas was the best time of year! Almost all of my customers left me a holiday tip. Some of them were smaller- just $10 or $20, but I had a quite few big tippers who gave me $50 to $100. I also received quite a few gift cards to local businesses, gas cards, and a good number of delicious homemade treats. I had around 75 customers and my second Christmas they gave me almost $2000. ETA: I appreciated each and every one and made sure to give them all thank you cards. One other question… when were you a carrier? Years ago? Or relatively recent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 Wow! If he’s leaving it right at your door, I’d tip at least $50. That’s amazing service in this day and age. I did that over 45 years ago when I had a route. We no longer get a physical paper, but when we did, no one ever walked it up to our door. They just threw it and it landed wherever and usually made a loud thunk. And trying to get replacements for missed papers was always a pain. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Marmalade Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 16 hours ago, Amethyst said: One other question… when were you a carrier? Years ago? Or relatively recent? Recent. I delivered papers from June 2017 to August 2019. A good carrier is a gift and worth leaving a nice tip for. The stories I would hear from my customers every time they gave me a little something, thanking me... I had several older people who told me when I left that in the 20 years they'd been receiving the paper, the two I delivered for them were the best years of service they ever had. It was a little sad to hear, because really, it's not difficult to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QueenCat Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 Usually, I give $25 for Christmas, as I only get Sunday delivery. This year, NADA. My carrier is skipping me at least every other week. I keep getting told the route is full of substitutes... and keep getting credited for missed weeks. I don't even want the physical paper but our local paper only does digital with at least one day a week of the paper edition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeany Posted April 10 Share Posted April 10 I've been giving $20 at Christmas time but started thinking about the job and figured that isn't enough so I started tipping $2 a month besides. I figured if everybody does something for the carrier, it ends up making a big difference to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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