Gift for your mail person

[awkwardpenguin]

Looks like USPS has doubled down on gift restrictions for their carriers:

"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."

Anyone have any great ideas for a small gift for our mail carrier?  We have the same carrier most days and he deals with delivering 3-5 packages a week for us, so I want to thank him.

[Deleted]

Is this a thing? A gift for your mail carrier? Because uhhh, ours is not nice and not deserving of a gift. She rings the doorbell after I've repeatedly ran her down to ask her not to, she stuffs too-big packages into the mailbox b/c she's too lazy to come down the driveway, and our post office is only open 9-1 M-F. If I wasn't a SAHM I'd never be able to mail anything. And I'm supposed to tip this person?

[imojoebunny]

That's annoying. We do not have a regular mail person this year, so I won't be giving a gift, as I usually do, since is someone different everyday. If I had my old mail person, I would be annoyed. I used to give her a Kroger gift card, since everyone buys groceries.

Maybe coffee or good pasta and a better jar of sauce,

[Deleted]

These handwarmers are great: www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=52295&cat=2,40725,45454

But really, you can likely sneak a gc if you want to.

And no, I don't give my mail person a gift. It's not done here, and we don't have a consistent one.

[cincodemayo]

How do you give them a gift? I want to do this this year but am not usually home when he comes. If I put something in my mailbox with a note, will he take it?

[oswin]

So how do you give things to the mailman anyway? Do you put up the outgoing mail flag and just address it to your mail carrier? I actually want to give ours something those year because he's been really nice and he's had to deliver a lot of packages down our long driveway.

[Deleted]

Dec 10, 2015 10:09:05 GMT -5 cincodemayo said:

How do you give them a gift? I want to do this this year but am not usually home when he comes. If I put something in my mailbox with a note, will he take it?

Yes.

Also our newspaper delivery person sent me an envelope with his home address on it.

[fashionx]

Dec 10, 2015 10:05:48 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

Is this a thing? A gift for your mail carrier? Because uhhh, ours is not nice and not deserving of a gift. She rings the doorbell after I've repeatedly ran her down to ask her not to, she stuffs too-big packages into the mailbox b/c she's too lazy to come down the driveway, and our post office is only open 9-1 M-F. If I wasn't a SAHM I'd never be able to mail anything. And I'm supposed to tip this person?

If I were friendly with and knew my mail person well I'd consider it. I'm with you though, I haven't and don't tip mine. She always is very loudly talking on her Bluetooth, walks through our yard and over plants/flowers rather than using the sidewalk, stuffs packages into the mail slot, which for us is on the house, next to the front door. So its less work to just stick it in the doorway. Sometimes she doesn't take the letters I leave out for her to take.

[Deleted]

Dec 10, 2015 10:10:06 GMT -5 oswin said:

So how do you give things to the mailman anyway? Do you put up the outgoing mail flag and just address it to your mail carrier? I actually want to give ours something those year because he's been really nice and he's had to deliver a lot of packages down our long driveway.

Last year I called and asked for his name. I actually have forgotten it so I'm going to call again and do the same thing. Then I leave it sticking out of the mailbox addressed to Bill the Postal Carrier.

[awkwardpenguin]

I'm on a first name basis with him, see him a few times a week, and he tracked down three packages I accidentally sent a few doors down from me when we first moved in earlier this year.

A gift is not obligatory, but seems like a nice thing to do if you have a relationship.

[aspentosh]

We have always just given our mailman cash. Last year I gave him more than $20 because his wife needed a mobility scooter and he was a GREAT mailman, especially with all that I mail.

This year I don't know what to do since he retired (yay for him!) but now his route has been taken on by a few different people.

[redheadk]

Dec 10, 2015 9:56:32 GMT -5 gravytrain225 said:

I always chime in these threads that my husband is a mailman. I'm 99.99% sure this will not be enforced. He's already taken gift cards from other customers.

Ok good, because I was planning to give our mailman a gift card. He is SO MUCH BETTER than the our old one. I don't want to give him a travel mug!

ETA: I'm giving cash to our trash people, too. They are great. I pass them on the road all the time in the neighborhoods and the driver goes out of his way to make sure other traffic can move around him easily. They come get our cans if we forgot to pull them out. They make sure lids are closed or turn cans upside down if it's raining or rain is expected. They pick up any and all trash that falls out onto the ground. Our old trash company at the old house (1 mile away) was awful. They'd block the whole street, leave the can lids wide open on rainy days so you came home to a can full of garbage water, left tons of trash on the yard street that we'd all have to go pick up on trash days, etc. 

[momin2013]

Sheesh. All you people with mail delivery to your actual house (and pick-up too, WTF?). We have to go to a big communal mailbox station thingy down the street and unlock our individual box with a key. I've never even SEEN the person that drops it off.

[awkwardpenguin]

Dec 10, 2015 10:13:43 GMT -5 gravytrain225 said:

Dec 10, 2015 10:09:05 GMT -5 cincodemayo said:

How do you give them a gift? I want to do this this year but am not usually home when he comes. If I put something in my mailbox with a note, will he take it?

Yes. I feel annoying that I know all of the mail carrier gift questions haha. Just throw it in an envelope with a simple Merry Christmas! Or Mailman! on it and they'll take it.

It's totally helpful!  I am adding "knows everything about USPS" to your entry in my spreadsheet.

[fashionx]

Dec 10, 2015 10:27:09 GMT -5 gravytrain225 said:

Dec 10, 2015 10:25:57 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Wait, what? They are required to traipse through your yard instead of using a walkway?

Yes. It's quicker that way. I'm rolling my eyes with you.

Ok I had no idea, but that's crazy! We've had to fill in so many patches in the yard from holes created from her walking through, especially in rain or snow. And if just the yard... But stomping on flowers? That is so stupid!

[jeaniebueller]

I would like to gift the ups guy. He was awesome and used to leave treats for our dog. The mailman? Not so much.

[ssmjlm]

Please all, don't break the gift rule with anyone who is a federal employee. We can and have gotten into serious trouble for taking things that were outside the rules.

As someone who deals with people who want to do work with the Government on a daily basis I realize it's different when it's your mailman, but they are still bound by the rules and regulations of any federal employee.

/off soapbox

[mrssandro]

My mailman leaves me nasty notes all the time. He wants me to check my mail daily and it doesn't always happen. So I am not really eager to give him anything.

[mlt]

I had no idea there were restrictions. I always tip in cash. I just leave a card with cash and his name on it taped to my mailbox.

[ssmjlm]

Dec 10, 2015 11:12:01 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

Can you give, say, a $20 gift from Target with a gift receipt so they/their spouse can just return it and get the $20 next time they go to Target? lol

#loopholes

There's rules on that as well.

#thankyouannualethicstraining

[oswin]

Dec 10, 2015 12:20:05 GMT -5 gravytrain225 said:

Dec 10, 2015 11:02:07 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

But it isn't like they can't get by the car or even have to squeeze! Their driveway is at an angle so when they have extra cars parked at the end of their driveway it prevents the mail truck from pulling up to our box. But a person could easily get to it. If they can walk to a house, why can't they walk to a mailbox! 

Don't be jealous of my MS Paint skills. Imagine 3-4 more  cars. I've only depicted the problem car.

You are hilarious.  I just talked to my husband about the reasoning why. He said that mounted routes, where you drive to the mailbox, are timed perfectly to not get out of your truck. The walking routes are timed differently than the mounted routes. The picture totally helped me explain haha

Does that mean that my mailman is delayed on his route every time he has to drive down my driveway to deliver a package as opposed to putting the mail in the mailbox? Or do they plan for some amount of delays for delivering packages on driving routes?

[JayhawkGirl]

My gift is not filing a formal complaint with the numerous photos I have of her shoving packages in that don't fit, her pulled up on my yard on my sprinkler head yet again after asking her - very nicely, numerous times- to not drive up in our yard - and then her telling me, and I quote, "I'm not paid to get out of the vehicle" as to why she was shoving stuff in. A few minutes later, she walked up, looping back with a box she had to bring up to the porch, as often happens. Oh, so you DO get paid to get out of the vehicle. I nearly lost my mailbox trying to get an Amaxon box out of it she shoved in this fall. A huge lands end bag left sticking out my box was a lovely funnel pouring that day's rain straight into the rest of my mail.

Our mail is constantly delivered wrong. She dropped my neighbor's unemployment info (clearly marked) on the ground and left it to blow away. We got a new zip code this year and were all hoping for a new carrier. No such luck.

I don't want to make her life difficult. GMIL was a postmaster. FIL retired from USPS shortly after I met DH. We have a sweet spot for postal employees. I've told her this, and told her I really don't want to deal with a formal complaint. She has gotten better since that convo. For now.

So I continue to talk to her, ask nicely, and take pictures.