Annual & Holiday Tipping

by Alexis Jeffries
MONEY Magazine – Money Poll

It’s an annual dilemma: What’s an appropriate holiday tip for the people who serve you throughout the year? Etiquette expert Peggy Post recommends a gift of a week’s to a month’s pay for full time help like a nanny; and the cost of at least one visit for people who provide a regular, less frequent service, such as a hairstylist. But you probably also want to keep in line with what your neighbors are giving so you don’t look like a tightwad. In a MONEY poll, readers owned up to the tipping sums below; Post says they are suitably generous.

Average Tip

Mail Carrier – $20
Hair Dresser – $20
Cleaning Person – $75
Occasional Babysitter – $25
Full-time Nanny – $270
Gardener/Yard Worker – $50
Newspaper Carrier – $15
Garbage Collector – $20

Related Information

jonathan

12/04/2009 at 11:58 pm

Great post..Great bunch mark and rule of thumb to follow. But i truly believe to reward Great service and punish bad service. But because of its the holidays leave the average and for great service we should all tip well. And remember being generous is one key to live a happy life and always makes you feel good inside.

Michelle

01/06/2010 at 6:41 am

Being a waiter/waitress a.k. server should be a required semester course in high school. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t eat out. But after being a server in varying sorts of establishments, it is apparent that most people have no concept of the demands and expectations a server undergoes.