Gratuities for Sanitation Folk
 

We’re now fulltimers in the Villages.

At holiday time, I’d like to recognize the terrific service we get from our trash pickup people.

I’d like to hear advice regarding your tipping thoughts & practices and whether you give to both the trash pickup and recycle folk; are they separate crews generally?

Thanks in advance!

I don’t tip sanitation workers unless they’ve picked up something extra from me and then I lay in wait to catch them. They don’t make a great wage, but they do make a reasonable one. I don’t sanitation crew and recycle crew are the same guys, but who knows.

The ones I do tip are my newspaper carrier and the mail carriers, unless they are actual postal employees, which is only the case at a few of our mailbox stations. You can tell if they are subcontractors (lowest bid) or USPS employees by looking at the vehicle parked at your station. If a private vehicle, then a subcontractor. Their bids usually come in below minimum wage. Stinks but .....

Others that should get Christmas bonuses are your regular, non-owner hairdresser, cleaning people, others who provide a regular, personal service to you, a regular, favorite food server. I usually give a plate of goodies to the fire department and my gate attendant. All others are on their own.

What terrific service is it they do of what you speak ? They’re doing their job, what their supposed to do. It’s a binary job, either they do it or they don’t. No tip is necessary.


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They work hard in a thankless job. I do tip them and they are surprised and grateful.

I'm old school...........It's the Holiday Season.........

I tip the Sanitation & Mail people and I use to tip the paper delivery "kids".

Most of the time they also received baked items.

I happen to have a cousin that is a sanitation worker in NYC. He works on a truck and picks up the trash door to door, what we used to call a garbage man.

Granted he does work an extra shift 2-3 times/mon. Last year he made $109k. I realize FL is not NY but how much less can a TV garbage man make?

I’m all for tipping when you have something extra large or heavy that needs to disappear. I’ve given them $20 from time to time when I need something like a television picked up and dropped in the truck. But holiday tipping of the garbage man is a phenomenon I had not heard about.

Up north it was a one man operation. Drive the truck, get out, load the garbage, back in the truck. I made sure that he got a bottle of top shelf whiskey at Christmas and a box of fine chocolates at Easter.

The problem here is that I have no idea of who's who and what crew. I never see them as they are gone before I'm up and about.

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Absolutely. these folks work hard and they are efficient and consistent.

I agree. They have a job and it is their employer's responsibility to pay them a fair wage, not me.

Be generous with everyone, if you can.

They are so much better than other places we have lived and less expensive.

:read: Here's last years thread:https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...highlight=tips

Probably one for every year..... can't figure out why!!! Tip what you want or don't want. :confused:Why ask someone else?

I agree.....why ask?

I would suspect they belong to a union in NYC. Florida isn't like that and I doubt they make as much.

I have tried to tip trash and recycling people in the past, here is the problem, on 2 occasions the envelope I had attached to the trash ans recycling bags disappeared when the first truck went by, and the second truck got nothing.......As noted above, many times one or both of these pickups are before I am out the door, so if someone has as alternative, let me know.

My good friend worked a rural route for the post office in Pensacola. Was paid to work until 5pm but normally done at 1pm. Said he was paid $68,000 for the work. Don't think he needed a tip.

USPS employees aren’t even supposed to accept tips. Subcontractors are not employees of any one.

I give the trash guys and the mail staff $20. Means little to me and lots to them.

I tip the mailbox subcontractor and the newspaper carrier. As a kid delivered papers so always tipped my carrier. The old saying "let your conscience be your guide " seems to sort of work here.

We don't know if the trash/recycle crew is the same all the time or not. I don't think they are. We do tip the newspaper delivery person, our landscaping crew (always the same guys) and the non USPS mail person.

all year long i give them a cold bottle of water or Gatorade.
i do this quit frequently all year long.
I also do this for my lawn care people every week that they come to mow.
They only mow every 3 weeks but they even check every week to be sure everything is ok, even though they know its been dry and the grass hasn't grown.
I know they are looking for a cold bottle of Gatorade.
I don't mind and they appreciate me keeping there favorite flavor on hand.
It makes my day and theirs as well and i never have to worry about getting the service i pay for and more.
A little kind heart goes a long way. There are to many entitled jerks that don't care about these folks and i do the same for the garbage pickup's as well.
Try it and you will be surprised at their gratitude.

Entitled jerks ! Really ? The last time I looked I pay for this service with the sanitation fee I pay monthly whether I leave out trash or not. That’s not being entitled, it’s what I PAY for.


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Tipping
 

I am sort of foreign to this idea of tipping all these service folk. It was not done where I am from. I also worked service type job and never got a tip. When I finished comforting a grieving family, a sick patient or a scared child, I never got or asked for a tip. It was the job I signed up for and I did it the best I could.
Is is because they are not paid enough. I really would like to know your thinking.

It's the Holidays

or

Merry Christmas

or

It's better to give than receive

or

Thank you.

or

Here is my tip for them. Fix the leaking hydraulics on your garbage truck.

I agree. Tipping is not warranted in this case, and calling someone a jerk for not tipping is absurd. I also don't like the fact that all of these workers and others are receiving cash money and bypassing the income tax rules. Employers should pay a fair wage and follow the law with respect to reporting and paying taxes.

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl: B. L. T W. = BREAK LOOSE TIGHT WAD! Make believe it was your child or grandchild doing a service, I'll bet that lubricates your offering out of your cobweb filled pockets.

I gave at the office. Tipping is charity. If you’re working, you don’t need my charity.


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It is a common misconception that restaurant servers are exempt from the Federal minimum wage. They are not exempt. The employer can pay them as little as $2.13 per hour. However, if they do not receive tips so that their total income exceeds the minimum wage, then the employer is required to pay them additional money so that they make at least the minimum wage. So, they are fully covered by the minimium wage law.

That’s a big 10-4 good buddy. Now I have a good argument when I catch my wife overtipping !


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Yepper...............I didn't want to tell Wio, I thought I was getting a tip.

:jester:

You get NOTHING ! Lol


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:$:

$20.00 bucks a man. And say Merry Christmas.

Amen. Be generous with everyone, if you can.