I got my first Xmas card from the mailman!

Ralphy1

Ralphy1

Well-known Member
I have never met the guy as I live in a condo building with outside maiboxes. This seems like a blast from the past when something was given to the milkman, the paperboy, and the mailman who came to your door and who you knew personally. No mas, as they say, so no need to give the mailman anything but a greeting should I happen to see him some day...
 

I'm amazed that the USPS allows employees to receive gifts, the limit is $20.00 value and no cash.

I don't have any people that I feel obligated to tip or remember at Christmas anymore.

As far as Christmas cards go I sent one to an old friend in the hospital and I get two each year, one from an old friend who never writes anything in it and one from my CPA. This is a big change from my grandmother who used to set up a card table in the living room and work on her Christmas cards from the day after Thanksgiving right up until the 15th of December. She used to send and receive hundreds of Christmas cards and have them pinned to ribbons around both sides of the archway between the dining room and living room. Times change!
 
Yes, the list is shorter due to deaths and the change to email greetings...
 

When I get a glow on I listen to the Queen of rock, Little Richard, sing Long Tall Sally...
 
I've had a policy ~ to give a Christmas gift to the Trash man and the Recycle man ~ for years. They work hard for the money !

Hidin' in the trash can
I said to the Trash Man
"Help me get out of the city."

He said "You got ta' understand
I'm just a garbage man.
No body ever showed ME no pity !"
Johnny Paycheck

 
If I'm in the Christmas spirit, I'll give our mailman a $20 Starbucks card. He's a nice guy, we're nice to him and do quick chats if we're outside when we get our mail delivered. Amazing how much they know about the neighborhood.
 
As a retired mailman, I will tell you now, that Christmas gratuities dictated the kind of service you got from me. I always did my job "properly, to the letter", however for the customers that were friendly,and appreciative there was service beyond. Things like instead of leaving a notice for you to go to the PO to pick up a package,I would put the package in the garage or back porch. . I would pay your postage dues out of my pocket. I would walk hold notices and change of addresses thru the system instead of tossing them into the lineup. If you didn't want the pennysaver,I would'nt leave one."A firing offense" I would make an extra effort to get to your snowed in mailbox, instead of refusing delivery as the regulations require.

It didn't even need to be a real tip,just simple things like conversations knowing my name, asking about my family. In other words,make yourself a person to me and not just a mailbox.
 
I was thinking of giving my postal carrier some money for Christmas but sometimes there is a substitute that doesn't do the same good job.
 
I always give a gift to my mailman. I can't imagine walking outside all day in the hot weather of summer and the bitter cold of winter. I got my first Christmas card yesterday, from a Dentist I went to one time 5yrs ago. He even sent me a Birthday card in November. Honestly I hardly remembered seeing him. His staff should do a better job when they send out cards.
 
I give the newspaper delivery person a gift for the holidays, but we have different mailmen all the time too, I liked the good ol' days where you got to see one familiar face at your mailbox every day. I was talking to a retired lady in my neighborhood who used to work for the post office, she said they beg her to come in and work part time every year, because they don't want to hire the people needed during the season to fill the positions, so they're swamped. She's retired and not interested. As a result, the mailmen are put on weird shifts all the time and sent to neighborhoods off their normal routes. A lot of times I'm carrying a misplaced letter to a neighbor, that was accidentally put into my box.
 

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