tipping UPS or fed/Ex driver for holidays

[VolunteerSign]

Obtuse? Isn't that like a very bright shade of lime green? Hate to ask but everything's slow here in the South Bob.

 

[Shovelhead]

"To Insure Professionalism / To Insure Promptness."

That should be a basic tenant of his job performance in the first place.
$30+ per hour and a lifetime of Teamster benefits....play me a song on the world's smallest fiddle!

 

[Fanaticus]

I saved up all the packages that got returned damaged by them. I'm going to take them down to the office and tell them it cost me more than $7000 to replace what they destroyed, and read off some of the letters pi55ed off customers wrote me, blaming ME, for the damaged items.

I'm talking boxes that have been run over by some sort of wheeled vehicle. Packages ripped in half. Packages bent in half. One that looks as though it's been set on fire. Several others that were left soaking in the rain. Packages that were ripped in half, marked as damaged, missing the contents, and delivered anyway.

I spent more than $60,000 on shipping this year.

I 'might' tip the new person that comes and gets the packages from the shop, only because she's new and still cares that she is careful with packages. After a year or two I expect I'll see her throwing the packages into the truck from 20 feet away as well and stacking giant, heavy, boxes on top of them.

Maybe a fruitcake?

 

[VolunteerSign]

Ya know a fruitcake is a wonderful thing. It says "I love you" while saying "I hate you" at the same time.

 

[David Wright]

Mr. Pink has spoken.

:ROFLMAO:
Here he is

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38&desktop_uri=/watch?v=Z-qV9wVGb38

My wife makes cookies and a box goes to our UPS guy Tom. He does deliver to other offices for us, catches us working uo the road occasionally etc.
Money would make us both uncomfortable ( he is paid well).

 

[Billct2]

I'm not a fan of tipping in general, (though in restaurants I'm generous), I feel everyone should be paid a decent wage by their employer.
I never thought of tipping my UPS driver, I don't see the need to tip someone who could be making more money than me and definately has a better benefits package.

 

[mark galoob]

first fanaticas...no disrespect intended, however if your spending 60k/ year in shipping, and you have 7k in damages, you are doing something wrong...i pack and ship thousands of packages every year and last year i prob had maybe 300 dollars worth of damage claims. just fyi, we ship things like jimmy buffets guiter in a glass case, laptops, flat screen tv's, grandma's 100 yr old china and crystal glasses, picture frames w/ extremley thin glass. not trying to challenge you or anything like that, just saying it prob time to do a major review on your shipping dept packaging skills cause they aint doin their job...

second...tipping drivers. just fyi these guys usually make 60k- 80k per year, usually have 3-4 wk vacations and booko bennifits. waiters usually make 2 dollars/ hour if that. im not saying not to tip, but lets be realistic about this. if you feel like giving out xmas gifts im all for it, but these guys make a decent living.

mark galoob

 

[royster13]

Most of the damage I have seen over the years is because the shipper has not packed it well....Case in point, yesterday I got a shipment of memo boards.....5 inner boxes in a master box that held 6....With the void being filled with scrunched paper....Also, the master box was at least 1" taller than the inners creating another space....There was no real damage but it was obvious the packing could not take being stacked....

 

[john1]

I never thought of tipping my UPS driver, I don't see the need to tip someone who could be making more money than me and definately has a better benefits package.

My thoughts exactly.

All the checks the postman delivers to us and nobody thought about them too, Hmmmmmm

I guess for some of the bigger shops on here you know your UPS driver by name and all, For us little guys the drivers don't even communicate with us other then here is your package and runs off. I work from home and by the time i hear a knock on my door from them, They are already speeding off.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I guess for some of the bigger shops on here you know your UPS driver by name and all, For us little guys the drivers don't even communicate with us other then here is your package and runs off.

That's not my case. That's why I show my appreciation for it. I know it could be worse for me.

Some people get above and beyond service, some get just sufficient and some get sub par.

I agree if it's sufficient (or worse), a show of appreciation more then likely won't happen. However, if it's above and beyond and consistently so, I do believe that a show of appreciation can be considered.

How many here have gone above and beyond for a good customer and they have showed their appreciation to you (or maybe not and that's why you have the feelings that you do)?

 

[TheSnowman]

We don't give ours cash, but we normally try to do a gift card of some sort to a steak place that we would assume him and his wife would enjoy. They almost become part of your workplace you see them so much. We have his personal cell phone number, and if we need something early in the morning, we can just call him up and meet him wherever he is. Not too many people would do that for a mega corporation like that.

 

[Gino]

I too, am a firm believer you are, what you are, by the choices you made/make throughout your life.

To get from point 'A' to point 'B' you must make a choice. Automobile, take a bicycle, a train or just simply walk.

If point 'B' is 24' away from point 'A', some choices seem logical, but if it's 240 miles, others make better sense and if it's 2,400 miles away even others make more sense. However, we don't all have the same connections and might have to make a choice, but it's usually the easiest way to get from point 'A' to 'B' that any normal person will make.

Some guy smokes his whole life and when he contracts lung cancer, says life is unfair. If he was 24 it would be unfair, but he smoked which more than likely contributed to his ailment. If he's 74.... 50 years later, it's still unfair, but the smoking probably played a large role here, too. Still the choice to smoke played a role somewhere. If the guy never develops cancer, but gets hit by a taxi cab driver, if he hadn't been lighting up while crossing the street, maybe he'd still be alive.​

:ROFLMAO: that whole last paragraph was just for sh!ts & giggles.​

 

[Fanaticus]

first fanaticas...no disrespect intended, however if your spending 60k/ year in shipping, and you have 7k in damages, you are doing something wrong...i pack and ship thousands of packages every year and last year i prob had maybe 300 dollars worth of damage claims. just fyi, we ship things like jimmy buffets guiter in a glass case, laptops, flat screen tv's, grandma's 100 yr old china and crystal glasses, picture frames w/ extremley thin glass. not trying to challenge you or anything like that, just saying it prob time to do a major review on your shipping dept packaging skills cause they aint doin their job...

mark galoob

I understand what you're saying, and don't take offense to it. I'd love to package our items a little better, unfortunately the customer doesn't want to spend the extra money it would cost. Our more valuable items do get packaged well and in 8 years we've never had a damage claim for those items.

I probably exaggerated the figure anyway. Very few of our items actually get damaged by the USPS. Interestingly, though, most of that is through 1 specific venue, and is based on customer claims. Our other venues get much fewer claims. I believe this is because the buyers in the specific venue are mostly dishonest. But, you can't call a customer a liar, so we take care of them quickly, usually with no questions asked.

While it's an irritation I try to let get past me, stress from life in general and business tend to build up from time to time and everybody gets an earful about everything I'm unsatisfied with. Postal damages being one of them.

In the long run, it's cheaper for us to just replace the items that get damaged than it is for us to increase the cost of packaging for every single item we send out. And, as we know in business, the cost of the loss is tacked into the price of the item, everybody pays it.

But, it's still irritating.


As for tipping, we'll probably gove the lady a decent tip. She does wait to come to our place last on her trip, she knows we need to get as much work done as we can before she gets here, otherwise we have to drive it down to the guy on the dock who's always in a bad mood and hates his job and isn't happy that we bring him a bunch of work at the end of the day.

 

[anotherdog]

I will be tipping my UPS guy because he gives a great service over and above what he needs to. I have two guys right now, both are excellent.

I will tip the guy who delivers my paper because he drops it right on my doorstep every time, even in snow.

I will tip the garbage guys because they take my extra bags of garbage over the one bag limit.

I know UPS sometime screws up, but thats not the local guy. Plus he always had a cookie for the dogs.

I don't tip for poor service, even in restaurants.

I tip for the extras that make life easier..

 

[SD&F]

I don't tip, but am always kind and allow the guys to make a regular pit stop here for bathroom, water, etc..... They know exactly where everything is in our building and avail themselves to it. I know they make good money and if we bake cookies or cakes and stuff, we pass it on to them.

 

[Gene@mpls]

I thought this was a new fad like 'tipping cows'?

 

[Gino]

That's not my case. That's why I show my appreciation for it. I know it could be worse for me.

Some people get above and beyond service, some get just sufficient and some get sub par.

I agree if it's sufficient (or worse), a show of appreciation more then likely won't happen. However, if it's above and beyond and consistently so, I do believe that a show of appreciation can be considered.

How many here have gone above and beyond for a good customer and they have showed their appreciation to you (or maybe not and that's why you have the feelings that you do)?

I tend to believe we go out of our way above and beyond for a great deal of our customers and this is what keeps them coming back. It's kinda our way of doing business. I get paid for what I do and I never expect a tip or gift certificate. I simple thank you and a nice gleam in their eyes is all I need.

Again, you bring up that perhaps because someone has been treated in a certain manner, that is what determines if you tip or not....... a decision made on your part. Another word for choice, nothing else.

Wanna go around tipping everyone and become known as a big tipper ?? What happens if you are thoroughly upset with your service and food at a restaurant ?? Do you tip less, not at all or just say to yourself.... it wasn't their fault the food tasted so bad, I'll still leave 20%. Heck, it's the holidays, I'll even tip a little more than usual. I give my UPS driver a nice tip this time a-year..... I can afford it.

 

[CES020]

Aside from the tipping discussion, isn't it incredible how much difference a good driver can make? We had a guy that was awesome. He'd deliver all our normal packages on his "next day air" route. So we got all our stuff early in the morning. It was nice. Especially since you could order material in the afternoon and have it show up the next morning, without having to pay anything extra (for those suppliers that are 1 day from us).

Then they shuffled the routes around. The guy came anywhere between 11:30 and 3:00. We'd go out on installs and miss him. We'd leave a sign up that asks them to leave the package at the door, he wouldn't, unless he felt like it. We'd go out to lunch and he'd come. We chased him all over the office complex many times. He wouldn't come back if he missed us. We'd have to wait and try again the next day.

Then he moved and they brought the original guy back. Back to getting great service again. If he misses us, he'll come back back and even say "I thought y'all might need this today".

Every time he takes days off (yes, he does get about 13 months a year off, it seems like), we notice it. We always ask the replacement if he's just off, trying to make sure they don't pull him away again.

It's nice to have a good driver.

 

[David Wright]

My brother in law who is a postman in an exclusive area (Grosse Point Mi) where all the auto execs live, typically gets $1500 to $2000 in Christmas tips each year.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I tend to believe we go out of our way above and beyond for a great deal of our customers and this is what keeps them coming back. It's kinda our way of doing business. I get paid for what I do and I never expect a tip or gift certificate. I simple thank you and a nice gleam in their eyes is all I need.

That's what you get in terms of their showing their appreciation. Everyone is hung up on money as the only terms of showing their appreciation. It's not just the money. It's just that little extra. Otherwise, the mere fact that they paid you is enough. You wouldn't need the simple thank you and a nice gleam in their eye. The gleam coming from the payment for the job should be enough.

Now, you choose to show your appreciation thru physical money, that's your choice. You do a simple Thank You card, that's your choice as well. You do nothing and just keep on your way, that's your choice as well.

Nothing wrong with any of those.

I have to wonder though, how does one person shows their appreciation in one of those forms listed above deserves the question of "Have you become unhinged"?

That's really what brought me into this conversation more then anything else.

Am I missing something in those 3 options that deserves such a rebuking question? Maybe I am, I don't know.

 

[Gino]

Can't speak for bob from earth, but it would seem to me someone is a little unhinged for tipping someone who makes the kinda money they do and think they need a tip in addition.

Why stop at Christmas ?? Why not just give the guy a tip once a week and really make the guy happy. Lose that good driver, like someone else mentioned.... and all your tips are for naught cause the next guy might be looney tunes.

 

[VolunteerSign]

I'm totally lost. When did tipping have anything to do with how much someone makes? "Excuse me sir, could you please tell me how much money you make per year so I can decide if I want to tip you?"