Do you still give Christmas tips to workers providing a service?
With Christmas fast approaching, Richard Ault asks if we should still be tipping milkmen, binmen and other workers at this time of year
“IUSED to get bottles of wine and whiskey, tins of sweets and sometimes cash which had to be declared to the taxman,” says retired milkman Keith Simcock.
The three-time winner of Midlands Milkman of the Year retired last month after 36 years delivering milk on his rounds in the Potteries.
Keith says he was regularly tipped by customers at Christmas – but what is the polite thing to do in the 21st century?
Should people still give a Christmas tip to workers providing a service?
Keith, aged 67, of Meir Park, said: “Some customers used to tip quite a lot, and others not much at all – but it was all very gratefully received.
“I preferred gifts to cash, the presents were always very nice.
“When I retired, one of my customers gave me a glass cut trophy which said ‘Keith Simcock, the original, the best milkman ever’, which I thought was a lovely present.
“The fact that one of my customers had gone out to have it engraved specially for me.
“I’ve had bottles of Bailey’s in the past which I always enjoyed. Some people go overboard and it gets to be a competition.
“I tip to a certain degree, people who come to the door. I tip in restaurants, but I like to do it directly to the waiter or waitress, I don’t like it when a gratuity is added to your bill.”
In days gone by it was traditional to give a Christmas tip to tradesmen and anyone who provided a service to a house or business.
This was called a ‘Christmas box’. Originally it was an actual box with money or sweets. Later the term was used to refer to a small gift of cash in an envelope.
But that phrase has been all but forgotten over the decades. In fact, dictionary compilers say the term ‘Christmas box’ has rarely been used since the late 90s.
Traditionally, milkmen, postmen and binmen could all expect to receive a tip. Shop workers too could expect a little something from regular customers, while waiters, waitresses and bar staff anticipate a bucket full of tips at the end of a long shift.
Businessman Carl Gratty, who owns Gossip in Hanley, said: “The staff keep whatever tips are given to them. We have a bucket on the bar so customers can leave a Christmas tip for the staff.
“They work really hard. Bar work is not well paid, but they can get quite a lot from the tips.
“I think people do tend to be a little bit more generous at Christmas.
“When I tip I tend to do it when people come to the door.”
According to Debrett’s, the self-proclaimed authority on etiquette, there is clear guidance on Christmas tipping.
It suggests: ■ Nannies/au pairs – Equivalent of a week’s wages and a present, perhaps saying it’s from the children. ■ Cleaners – At least a week’s extra wages. ■ Milkman – A fiver wrapped up in a note saying ‘thanks and happy Christmas’. ■ Postman – ‘Some feel obliged to reward a regular postie’ – £5 would be generous. ■ Dustmen – Some councils have banned it. But it is ‘still common to thrust a £5 note in your dustman’s hand’.
Christine Hamilton, aged 57, of Abbey Hulton, said: “I used to tip the binmen, when we had the old bins and they had to carry them out of the yard. But I don’t now that they are wheelie bins. You never see the same people anyway.”
Christina Turnock, aged 38, of Hanley, said: “The binmen come early in the morning and I don’t see them, so I don’t tip them. But my mum gives her binmen bottles of whiskey.”