I just moved into a new luxury bldg with 18 staff members from concierge to handymen. My roommates and I decided to just tip the ones we really talk to or who have helped us with any problems and we are varying it accordingly. Per person (there are four of us) we are giving $80 so total $320 spread out over about 8 people. I wish we could give all 18 but we're not loaded! lol. Even though the holidays are tight this year, these people really did do their jobs and are deserving of their tips, no matter what amounts they may receive.

I dont really know our mailmen or UPS delivery guy so who knows what we'll do about that...

Pleeeeeeeease don't forget to tip your waitress. For the most part, we honestly do try to bust our butts to make sure you enjoy your meal, to the extent that it is within our control. We're broke. Some of us have kids, some of us are paying our way through college, some of us just need to eat occasionally. Pretty please, with sugar on top, be nice to your poor little waitress.

I don't tip the mailman or anything like that. I guess that makes me a bad person... but I never see my mail man. And he always delievers my mail to my neighbor. But that's just a side note... even if I did know him, I still wouldn't tip. I always tip my waitresses/waiters... how much depends on the service. And I tip my hairdresser when I can throughout the year. So I don't feel the need to give a special tip or gift during the holidays.

Boy I sound like a Scrooge.

Thank you Bluebird, I'm a waitress too.

Yahoo actually ran an article recently telling people which tipped workers it was most important to tip, and put waiters at #2 (below bartenders), saying that waiters get a base pay of $4.60/h, and almost %70 of their income comes from tips.

In Texas, waiters get $2.13/h, and our hourly pay gets taxed based on our total income (including tips). We're lucky if we get paychecks.

I don't think anyone should worry about whether it's the holidays or not, people should recognize that any workers that are allowed to take tips have a lower hourly wage because of that, and if they aren't getting tipped, they probably aren't making enough to pay rent.

I always tip anyone that takes tips, and I always tip well, unless they did a particularly poor job. I wish others would do the same.

P.S. Verbal tips don't count! We live off money, not words. "You were a wonderful waitress" doesn't pay my electric bill.

$2.13 an hour? jeez louise. Well I will make sure to tip when im across the pond!

We usually tip here (UK) if there was alot of us, or we were rowdy or the service was good. We always throw the change in the pot at the pub. But its not such a huge deal here.

Well, American corporations like to do anything they can to avoid paying their workers.

First of all, I always tip waiters/waitresses. Do people really not do that? If I get horrible service (which is rare), I still tip $1 or $2.

There's no way that we can all tip everyone that articles say you should. Most people just don't have the money.

I'm getting my hair done next week, and I'll probably tip a little more than usual since it's the holidays, but I'm not giving a big tip for the year since I tip every time. I'm giving homemade cookies and chocolate covered pretzels to security guards in my building. With mailmen, it just depends on if you see them around or talk to them- if so you might give them a little something. We occasionally spoke with our old mailman, and we'd give him cookies.

I tip my mailman. My dad is a mailman, and he receives some serious gift cards.

I flip a couple goodies to my mailman and UPS. I also have a ton of magazine subs, and receive and send many many packages.

If I'm not getting gifts for my friends, I don't see why I'd tip people I wouldn't normally tip throughout the year. Obviously if I go out to eat, get my hair done, or get tattooed I will tip.... because I always do. But I'm certainly not going to go search for people and give them holiday money. This practice always confused me, to be quite honest. I figured it was a rich people thing after watching Curb Your Enthusiasm.

yeah, like Foxie said, I tip the people I always tip through the year and don't go searching for extra people. I never see my mailman, should I wait for him at the curb? Maybe. I do tend to give extra around christmas, which is out of my pocket because I don't get a christmas bonus

oh you would be surprised how many cheapo's out there don't tip their servers....I make 3.50/hr as a cocktail server in a casino with free drinks and there are soooo many people who don't tip on their FREE drinks...In my opinion if u can't afford to tip me a measly $1 you should not be stuffing them into a stupid machine. Ugh I can get really fired up about this esp when I wait on the same people every night I work for nothing!

i wish that i could afford to tip folks this year but i dont have any money it's really sad. i think that there's a lot to be said about giving some type of tip or gratis to people who really work hard for you throughout the year, but sometimes it's just not within our means.

i've read some of the posts above about how people are thinking about giving to the people that they know the most and who've helped them the most and that's probably the best way to do things. i was watching this story on Taxi TV this morning on my way to work and they were talking about how a lot of people rely on the holiday tips to supplement their income for the year, and this year it's going to be really hard for them. i can completely understand that one.

I've never tipped people more during the holidays. I don't see my mailman and it's not like live someplace with a doorman. I always tip my hair stylist and waiters when I'm out.

I used to be a server and when the economy was good I loved working the hoildays. But the last 2 years I was a server it was really crappy. People thought $5 was a great tip for a table of 8! I live in Nebraska and people only usually tip 10%, but still it's the holidays, I need to live too!
This year I gave our mail carrier a gift card to a grocery store. He's the first mail carrier that would talk to me, he would also ask if I wanted certain letters since the names didn't match ours, so he got rid of a bunch of junk mail.

Don't you just hate that about the Midwest, blue?! I finally trained my parents to tip 15 - 20%.

I tipped my hairdresser 30% instead of the usual 20% this holiday season. (it might have been more had I liked the cut better!)

I try to avoid my hair stylist during the holidays I tip her enough during the year anyways. I always tip well in restaurants, but what I can't stand is that in certain places, the waiters/waitresses expect the tip and give you subpar service. Not cool. I still give them between 15-20% and just never go back again.

I've never even seen my mailman...do I just leave an envelope with cash/gift certificate in my mailbox? I also like to give money to the cleaning ladies in my building, they do such a great job.

What if you go see a new hairstylist for the first time during the holidays? Normal tip??

I always bump up my tips around the holidays and in a weak economy.

My hairdresser, I feel more personal with, so in addition to her usual $60+ tip, I am giving her a gift as well... just don't know what yet.

My BF and I factor tips for our server into the cost of going out to a restaurant or club and we don't go out if we can't afford to leave a decent tip! Seriously, having been a waitress before, I usually tip a little BETTER at the holidays, not less. Its a time of year to be as generous to others as you can. For the mailman and garbage collectors, I leave a bag with homemade cookies and caramels. My son's teacher gets a bag of caramels too, and a book for her classroom. Our office assistant is getting a Subway or Starbucks gift card from me, and my babysitters ( who are in high school) are getting a $10 bonus or iTunes card. We donated to charity FIRST this year, before buying presents and even though we are having a little less under the tree this year, we all feel pretty good about that. I'm not trying to sound all holier than thou, but I really don't mind dropping that extra dollar on the table- your waitress probably needs it just as much or more than you do!