I deliver papers, and the holiday tipping season is nigh. Yay! This is really the only time I get to get caught up on things, buy gifts, fix stuff around the house, etc, so it’s a fun time.
Yesterday, though, my district manager called to give me a heads up on something…seems that another paper carrier has gone around and put HER Christmas cards into the papers that had been delivered on someone else’s route, the nefarious plan being that customers would be clueless enough to send tips to her instead of their actual carrier. Luckily, someone got wise and called my DM to verify (customer knew the carrier was a man, why were Christmas letters from a woman?).
This didn’t happen on my route (nearby, though), but now I suppose I’ll have to mention it in my Christmas letter, without appearing to demand tips.
Seriously, how low do you have to be to do something like this? Not to mention how stupid, since you would be providing proof of your name, address, and intent to be a thieving, lying, scumbag in each and every paper you intercepted.
What a Scrooge. Bah! to her, I say!
The gall some newspaper carriers have in asking for Christmas tips is one thing I will not miss when the newspaper industry goes belly up.
Damn. Threadshit in one.
That’s why I hesitate to mention it in my holiday letter at all–I work to make my letter a combination “thank you/please have patience when the weather’s bad/call the office if you go away” instead of a straight up “Send me money, please!”.
OTOH, a lot of customers want to tip and I generally get very nice comments from people regarding their service. I’ve been doing this for years, so many of them feel like they know me.
On edit: everyone says the industry is going downhill, but in 11 years I haven’t seen even an insignificant decline in numbers of subscribers. Maybe a couple more decades will do the trick, justin.
Too damn bad. I remember one year I got a letter saying “Your tips ensure our kids have a Merry Christmas,” meaning that if I didn’t pay up, their kids weren’t getting a visit from Santa. That was low.
And paperboys/papergirls have been gone for decades now. It’s all adults doing massive routes from their cars with a bill either paid online or mailed in to the main office. Tipping someone you’ve never met who is performing a service you already paid for is absurd.
For the record, I like newspapers and wish they weren’t going away.
I know who isn’t getting his paper on the porch next time there’s a blizzard! 
Seriously, man, I’m not hitting you up for money here.
Our local newspaper pulls that off by making it difficult to actually cancel your subscription. They tend to do things like keep sending the paper and send you past-due bills.
That being said, that was a crummy move on the other carrier’s part.
Agreed. I’m posting from my phone, so don’t get that handy dandy little triangle with the exclamation mark in it, so could someone else report it for threadshitting? I mean, come on. You have a problem with the practice, then pit that person.
Anyway, papergirl, since I knew you worked for tips, I just automatically assumed you were a waitress. This is even more difficult though, because people do pay online and the like. So I really feel for you. I’m sure your newsletter is very tasteful and I hope this woman gets caught.
Also, I’ll be praying you get really good tips too. You deserve them. 
I’m sorry, apparently I’ve forgotten my manners…
…
You go papergirl! That moron is so moronic and you are the bestest papergirl ever!
…
That’s what you wanted, right? A bunch of people telling you how awesome you are? Sorry for not playing along.
Wait, no I’m not.
One of our two local dailies in Tucson stopped printing a couple of years ago and became online only. Some of their customers may have migrated to the other paper in town (they published under a JOA, they shared an advertising department and printed on the same presses), but I doubt everybody kept their subscription. And I haven’t subscribed for more than five years. Who needs it anymore when they’re on the internet? There’s even an app for my iPhone.
As a teen, I took out the trash. Remember those old galvanized steel trash cans?
Well, stuffed under the lid’s handle one day was a rolled-up piece of paper.
It read “Merry Christmas from your 3 garbage men!”
I showed it to my dad, who explained just what the deal was. I remember thinking then how rude it was to go begging for tips for doing your damn job.
I number of decades has passed, and I know that our society’s interactions aren’t as black and white as I once thought, but I still think it’s kind of rude to pursue tips like that. A nice note like Papergirl mentioned does the trick without actually sticking your hand out and waiting like a French bellman.
Correction, I’ve just now found out I can report a post! This thread has taught me something. Yay!!
That’s an interesting thought…I’m not sure how long our paper would be delivered after you quit paying your bill. I do get “stop/nonpayment” notices frequently. Sometimes I stop the paper and the customer may or may not renew–if I know it’s an oversight I drop them a note and give them a couple of days.
The thieving carrier doesn’t even deliver the same paper I do, either. It just seemed like a really brazen thing to do–this woman is actually the manager for the daily paper she delivers! How weird.
You’re borderline jerky with this:
But make it clear with your next two posts that you are intentionally being a jerk:
Warning issued for being a jerk.
If you wish to vent about tipping practices, take it to the Pit.
twickster, MPSIMS moderator
Whoa, now that takes a lot of gall. :eek: My husband (USPS letter carrier) has had things happen like a substitute carrier go around a week before Christmas and tell everyone “I’m your regular carrier now” and hint at wanting tips, or another substitute claim that the regular is on vacation all week but if the customer happens to have something to give to the carrier, he’ll make sure the guy gets it (hint hint) and then never does. (My husband doesn’t bring up anything about tips unless the customer asks.) But a different paper entirely is another matter!
I tip when I pay online, not much either. The GR Press is going to home delivery just 3 x a week after the new year - I might keep the tip the same…
papergirl, it seems to me that your DM could send a blanket letter to all suscribers in the area explaining, naming and shaming the greedy so-and-so. And you can send your annual letter as usual without having to mention the matter.
As the woman manages the paper she delivers, she must have someone she reports to such as a publisher. They should be made aware of what she did.
I don’t like being obligated to leave tips and will always pointedly not leave one to those who basically demand it. But I’ve also been a waitress and am aware just how lifesaving these tips can be so I do give tips or gifts to those who provide great service (unless they are named Justin_Bailey 
).
A different paper…holy cow! What a bad word person!
I haven’t had a paper delivered ever. I have a friend who has one delivered every day just because he wants the Sunday one. The waste bothers me.
I do have a question. Do your tips get to you if they are sent to the company? I send tips to the garbage guys every fall and spring, and always wonder if they get them.
Did anyone else have to read the thread title more than once before you realized it said “tips”?
Gonna go all geezer here…
I remember when the paperboys were kids I went to school with walking up and down the streets wearing canvas bags full of rolled up newspapers. They had little booklets with tear-off tabs that they’d give you when you paid. I think they were orange. I expect my mom tipped them because I know she tipped the garbage guys - she’d leave a case of beer on top of a trash can on pick-up day.
I don’t think I’ve ever tipped anyone - paper carrier or letter carrier or trash guys. I never noticed a difference in service - would it have been better if I’d given them a couple of bucks? <shrug> Hard to say.
But the very idea of someone trying to take another person’s tips really ticks me off. 'Tis the season to be larcenous, huh?