On January 20th, I received a THIRD letter from my newspaper carrier soliciting for a holiday tip. An excerpt from the letter:
“Those customers who have not done it yet and those who are still in the process of sending me their warm wishes are kindly requested to do so at your earliest convenience (and preferably before all the New Year sales are over for my shopaholic wife!!!!)”
It seems that somewhere around the time that teenagers who delivered the paper to your doorstep and collected payment from the customer personally were replaced by adults who drive by and throw the paper in your driveway (if you are lucky) and collect payment electronically it became OK for carriers to send holiday letters informing customers where they can send a holiday tip. While I find it rude for anyone to even suggest they are due a tip or gift, I’ve come to accept this tipping practice as standard, at least in my area of the country.
But for a carrier to send THREE such letters pressuring customers for money (two before Christmas and this one well into January) is blatantly crass in my opinion. My trash collectors, postal carrier, hair stylist, house cleaner, and babysitter did not send me such letters. Why is it acceptable for a newspaper carrier to do so? 0122-13
It’s not acceptable. It’s blatant begging. When someone so conspicuously demands a tip, I begin to wonder if the level of standard service I should expect from them will decline in quality as a form of retaliation should I fail to tip.
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I only do electronic papers any more, but the HomeTown Rag and PrettyBigUTown Fishwrap provided the carriers with holiday cards and tip envelope enclosures the carriers would address and usually stamp, and insert in one delivery before Christmas. We would use those envelopes to send a tip. The smart carriers were the ones who signed the cards and invested in stamps, I think. I had a vehicle paper route for a while, as an adult. Great part time job for a student, right? I found it difficult and exacting work, very poorly paid, and with school and being a TA, I just could not keep up the pace. I think our carriers earned those tips. This fellow? No. Just no. One card plus return envelope I can see — carriers don’t collect door to door and haven’t for many, many years. Most people never see their carriers and never know their names. Once — sure. More than once? And in January? No.
Shalamar, sounds a lot like what I did to survive once…
I had three routes during college in very cold northern state. I was at the mercy of when the papers were dropped off at the dump point, usually about 3:30 am but some mornings it might be 6:30 or later. I then hauled between 170 and 230 (depending on daily or Sunday) newspapers with a wagon or dolly about a mile to my first route, and started the slog. If it was Wednesday that was when all the fliers came out, and Sunday was a thick one. Those old canvas bags, if you got three papers to the bundle instead of 30, that meant walking the route with the dolly in snow, in ick, it didn’t matter, and a pair of bags slung across your body like a pack mule. Some on some of the routes, if they didn’t see their paper by 6:00 they started calling the paper (we were supposed to have until 9 am but…). It was the days of brick cellphones so no way to contact me until I got done. Then call in and take the cr*pola from Circulation. Yes I was out there, I probably got to their door as they hung up… In summer it was trudge with a couple hours of being the center of a mosquito cloud, in winter snow was often over knee deep as nobody ever seemed to shovel their walk. One INSISTED that the paper be inserted in their mail slot and that meant on a thick day having to take their paper into 4-5 chunks, fold it and stuff it in the slot (and their dog would shred it so they’d call anyway). And one fellow on the end of one route that never shovelled and if he didn’t see his paper by 6 am he’d swear a bluestreak at me from the other side of the door. (else his family got up and got to the paper before he did). On Christmas morning on a Wednesday, it had blizzarded about 2 feet and of course he didn’t shovel and they didn’t dump my papers until 6:30 so I was superlate… aka 8:30 to his door, and he swore at me and I spoke up and said I had no choice they dumped my papers 3 hours late and I’m past my KNEES out here in snow at -20 on christmas morning… never did hear him swear at me again.
At that time daily and sunday cost a whole 7 bucks a month, and I had a number of ‘just skating by’ in their expensive little culdesac and only time I could catch them home to collect was a howling storm… and I better carry about $700 in change as I would be offered a hundred to pay for 3 months (about 20 bucks) and they bet I couldn’t break it so they didn’t have to pay. Pouring buckets, wind that’d turn over a VW and I could catch them all home and guess what, I could break their $100 bill. Some of the expressions were priceless. Yes I’d call their bluff, they owed, and I was going to give them their change, you’re welcome.
I never asked for a tip or expected it. I just hoped that I could catch that one home for once and collect 4 months finally…. The one place that swore I hadn’t delivered them for four months and the circulation department always sided with the customer and I got stung for that….
Circulation finally decided that I had to post $250 a route out of my own pocket to cover nopays and skipouts (run 2-3 months worth then move or something and leave me stuck, paper was going to make me pay for it). Oh, I wasn’t allowed to toss from a car, I had to go put them in the door or their mailbox or whatever. Only satisfaction I got out of it was managing to hustle a bustle on a thinday, and getting everyone’s yipyap (little dog) up about 5-5:30…. on a Saturday.
Fifteen months, don’t know who they got to do it after I gave up, and I sure bet my routes realized how nice they’d had it.
In later years I did have lawn toss delivery to me except I said sidewalk or front porch else my sprinklers would nail it (so they would baggie it so they didn’t have to bother on aim) and I would buy a year’s worth at a time (solid gold customer to circulation, nobody had to collect). And I would meet them one morning in Dec and hand over something (like a huge chocolate bar) for tip. Yes I appreciated them getting up at that hour and bringing me my paper.
(where I had to the door mail delivery, I would also tip the mailman, and a sixpack for the trash guys.
Where I live now my paper is electronic, my mail is at the postoffice 4 blocks away, and city trash goes into small dumpsters set strategically on curb all about town and emptied at least once a week, so I no longer tip) I tip waitstaff, valets, the hotel maid…
It is very crass what that delivery person did, and I’d go to the paper and turn over the three letters to the Circulation department.
Wow, what a gimme pig.
My first job was delivering Sunday newspapers. At Christmas, I bought little cards for everyone on my route and wrote a short message like ‘Happy holidays from your Sunday papergirl’. When I did my deliveries next week, I was genuinely surprised to see that some people had left tips! I just thought the cards would be a cool thing to do considering I’d been visiting their houses for a year.
When the newspaper increases its monthly subscription fee, I feel that the carriers are already compensated for the high price of gas to deliver by vehicle. They don’t have to bill or collect anymore-the paper takes care of that thru automatic bank drafts. I would ignore the request. I will not tip a newspaper carrier period. Sometimes my paper has landed under our cars or in other inaccessible places. From time to time my neighbors steal my Sunday paper for coupons.. Newspaper guy better just be grateful he still has a job-many people are cutting off their paper subscriptions in favor of the Internet as a news delivery service. Antagonizing your customers by blatantly begging for tips is a pretty good way to lose them.
@barbarian and you base that on what? Just because the subscription fee has been raised does NOT mean pay has gone up. Case in point one of the local papers pays 300 a month. Not a week not every two weeks a MONTH. That is 10 bucks a day with the occasional tip. You really think gas plus everything else is really going to get covered on pay like that if that is their only source of income?
Your paper getting jacked is not the carrier’s fault. Put up a motion detector light.
OP: Leave the carrier a tip. “Here’s your tip, begging is rude. Have a nice day”
I used to subscribe to a major US city paper but as its quality and quantify declined I send my cancellation notice in with the payment coupon.
The paper continued to arrive and I wondered why it was taking so long to disconnect us…
Then I got a call from the delivery person, why wasn’t I paying. I explained I had sent in the cancellation notice a couple months prior.
He informed me that if I read the very tiny print on an attachment that came along with the bill (not on the bill proper) that it said I had to contact HIM to cancel, not the newspaper (or its collectors) instead.
He said he’d like to explain it to me in person, I said fine. He drove over, showed me the notice (he used highlighter on it, which helped) and asked me to pay all the outstanding charges. I showed him my original subscription where it stated I would contact the paper to cancel with my payment notice.
He was very angry. Told me it wasn’t just him…he hired people to deliver the papers, he had paid them, he had paid for the papers and he expected me to pay him right then…that he was taking his own personal time to come to explain the matter to me and he was missing a session with his personal trainer.
I might have been more understanding but the ‘missing a sesson with his personal trainer’ did it.
I told him that my original contract was the the -_ Times and since it appeared that he was a subcontractor and the Times had not informed me of the change of business relationship, I was not bound by any changed in the contract he had made. If he could provide me with a copy of a notice from the Times stating there would be a change and I had the option to continue under the new terms or cancel my subscription (not accept the new terms) than I would take up the matter with the Times and perhaps agree to pay a portion of what he considered due.
He was very angry when he left, throwing the bill at me and told me he’d never deliver a paper to me again. I suppose he meant if I decided to resubscribe…because I had already said I didn’t want a paper delivered to me.
I do seem to remember a cutsey card left in the mail box (not mailed) which I disregarded.
When I was young I lived in a small town without local delivery. I remember seeing a card in the mail box (in the post office) wishing us a merry christmas and sort of soliciting a gift. Since there were about 5 people who worked there I suppose they expected to receive money which they could split.
My mother commented that they had guaranteed jobs and that was more than most people had.
@Jewel – Should it matter to the customer what the job involves? Surely, the customer is paying a subscription fee, which is the end of his obligation to the newspaper company and everyone involved. It is the employer who owes their workers a fair salary, not the customer.
My carrier also includes a Christmas Card at the beginning of December, with a self addressed envelope. However, when I get my bill, it has a spot for a tip for the carrier on it and that is what I use. There is no need to send it directly to the carrier that way. I’m sure that other papers have the same thing. Very crass to send three “gimme” letters.
I too, think tipping has gotten completely out of control, and should be eliminated. Waitstaff should get paid a decent salary – it’s always been unfair that they get paid less than minimum wage, and it’s even more unfair now, when restaurants have to guestimate tipping (which may or may not have occurred) on the w2′s, etc. Service should be good. Those who don’t provide it should be disciplined, re-trained, or fired.
It seems now that half the world seems to feel they’re entitled to tips. The barista, the massuese, the housekeeping staff, etc. There’s no logic. Why am expected to tip the woman who rubs my back but not the dental hygenist who cleans my teeth? And apparently, those who expect tips expect a certain amount of tip as well…..posting “helpful” calculations of how much 20% of your massage is, for example. So, even though the therapist (who normally gets 1/2 the total fee for a massage) is getting $50 for her hour of work, (more than I make, mind you), I’m being prompted to throw in an extra $20?
What’s next? Do I need to tip the person who tells me where to find the shoe department at the department store? do I need to add a percentage to my groceries or clothing bill to tip the cashier?
I get a daily newspaper. I have the option of leaving a tip online once a year, which I do. I must have a good delivery person, because my paper is consistently on my porch every morning.
As for tipping mail carriers, that isn’t allowed, but you can give them gifts. I usually give a gift card to Starbucks or DD every Xmas.
I don’t tip letter carriers. And I don’t tip garbage men either. Sorry–that’s their job. If I see them I thank them. Just thanks should be enough I think. I don’t know about letter carriers but garbage men are paid pretty well from what I understand. Why not just pay them more? They have to be outside in all weather.
I’d like to know what the difference is between this person ‘begging’ for tips and wait staff, who are under the expectation that you *owe* them tips – and the admin of this site who states that not tipping wait staff is stealing from them. As someone who lives in a country where tips are not common or even expected, wait staff are rarely tipped, and usually only for great/exceptional service. I agree that this man is crass in the extreme, but extremely baffled as to why this has people upset but other forms of expected tips do not.
Shoegal said: “Having your paper delivered is a service that you have to pay for, right? I think it is standard for paper carrier to put this sort of message in their papers during the holidays. ”
It’s standard for the carrier to put some sort of holiday/thinly veiled request for tip message in the paper. It is NOT standard to explicitly request a tip, three times, and blame it on your shopaholic wife.
Shalamar said: “Thank you – I’ve been getting pretty uncomfortable with some posters’ responses that seem to indicate a belief that delivering newspapers is easy. It’s not. I mentioned the weather in my previous post. How many times have you woken up, seen that the weather is atrocious, and thought “Ugh, I don’t want to go to work in THAT?” When you’re a newspaper carrier, you’ve got no choice. ”
Yeah, that’s irrelevant. Most of us don’t get to look out the window and say “Ugh, I’m not going to work today.” Newspaper carriers are no exception. And as for early morning hours and difficult working conditions, I also wouldn’t want to be a firefighter, nurse, bus driver, tollbooth operator, or any number of jobs with odd hours and tiresome conditions. But we don’t tip them.
Barbarian said: “When the newspaper increases its monthly subscription fee, I feel that the carriers are already compensated for the high price of gas to deliver by vehicle. ”
You are mistaken. This fee does not go to the carriers. In fact, many carriers don’t get a “salary” at all. They are independent contractors who are charged by the paper for their newspapers, and then they sell them to the customers. Your assumption is like saying “The price of pizza went up, so I feel the delivery driver is compensated fairly.”
I have never had the paper delivered personally but I remember my parents having it done and the kid would collect each week and my parents would include a tip with that payment. I am not sure they gave extra at Christmas but I am sure they did. I can’t even imagine receiving a letter like the one this writer received. Even if I had intended to give a gift, that would certainly discourage me from doing so.
The first ‘notice to send warm wishes’ would be a card warmly wishing the paperman a happy holiday. The 2nd and 3rd would be forwarded on to the newspaper. I doubt theywould find this acceptable, particularly if you inform them that it will result in a cancellation of the subscription.
Why do people accept these jobs, dislike the pay, and demand more? Yes, the job is a challenge and you realized that when you took it on. My job has specific challenges and that is no one’s problem but mine.
When I was 11 years old, I had a paper route, delivering for two streets’ worth of homes about two blocks from my own. Every day, directly after school, I would change out of school clothes and immediately go take care of the papers. Every Saturday morning, I would lug the doubly-heavy bag of weekend papers and take care of that, while the neighborhood slept. True, I was merely earning pocket money, while adults doing this today are no doubt trying to pay the bills. But on the other hand, I did not have the luxury of a car to help me deliver, and also an 11-year-old has an entirely different concept of job responsibilities than an adult. Personally, I would much rather tip the child than the adult, simply to encourage a child’s growing sense of responsibility (and no, not just because I once had that position). But certainly not everyone did, and I would never have dreamed of ASKING, just as I would not as an adult carrier. It’s just not something a polite, well-brought-up person does, period.
TheKat,
The difference is that, in a very real sense, waitstaff are owed tips. Minimum wage laws are set up in this country such that the one category of workers who can be paid less than minimum wage are waitstaff. This is based on the expectation that, as a normal part of their working conditions, they will receive tips sufficient to make up the difference.
There is no such expectation for other workers.
How rude! That kind of thing makes me glad that tipping is not really customary here (in Australia). People sometimes do it in restaurants (if the service is good) but I’ve never heard of anyone tipping the newspaper delivery people. They’d have to do something extra special to deserve a tip and I can’t even think what that would be if all there job is is throwing a newspaper on the lawn.
I currently deliver newspapers with two different companies. As another person posted above, when the cost of the paper goes up, we do not get an increase. In fact in my 10 years of delivering, one of the companies has cut our rates several times. We are now penalized for wet, missed, incomplete, blown away, people calling in for an extra Sunday paper for extra coupons. It is a365 day job. There’s no exceptions. I showed up in active labor with my son and was asked what my plan was. To throw my papers as fast as possible. And that’s what I did. I have never sent out a card during the holidays asking for a tip. I know many carriers that do and make out quite well. I feel if a customer is happy with my service they will send me a tip. But if they want their paper porched or some other special service. I don’t feel it is out of line to expect some kind of compensation. I am getting paid for my time. As for people who believe this is an easy job. Try going in and throwing with both windows open, in -20° with 25 mph wind gusts. With the flu for 7-8 hours. It makes for a long night.
I am not sure if customers are aware of this but, for every tip that I receive when they add it to their subscription and pay electronically the company takes a percent for “processing” I would much rather them let me know they want their paper in a specific place and leave a tip if they chose to do so for me in the same spot I drop the paper.
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