At my last workplace, I started a gift basket fund for the cleaning service people. It’s a family business and everyone is related. And they’re all so friendly and polite.
It was supposed to just be my department of 5 people with no set amount to give and I planned to make up the difference if we fell short of the $60 cost of the best basket. Word got around and soon almost everyone on the 2nd floor admin offices donated to a total of over $200 and I ended up buying 5-6 baskets!
I’m a retired letter carrier and routinely received gratuities pre-Christmas in the form of cash or physical gifts. For most of the time I did the job we were read the statement about what was allowed, at the time “gifts of token value”, but management always looked the other way concerning actual value of gifts received. Sometimes patrons would bring cash or checks into the office and ask the postmaster or supervisor to get them to us. We really appreciated being appreciated although you can only eat so much fudge or drink from so many coffee mugs, and I still have bottles of whisky unopened after twelve years of retirement.
Since retirement my only regular service people are the garbage collectors and I always take care of them despite their occasionally missing a pickup. This year it was $40.
If you haven’t worked in a service industry it’s hard to understand some of the challenges those people have to overcome to serve you. Cut them a little slack and be kind. You’ll make their day.
Our postal person gets a dozen homemade cookies from me; she loves 'em.
Likewise, the tech that gives me my allergy shots gets the same; her face just lights up! Plus, this will probably keep her from stabbing me in the eye. 
I give a large tip (double her rate) to my hairdresser at Christmas.
I’d give money to the delivery guys but by the time I answer the door, they’re gone.
Garbage man? No.
Mailwoman? No.
No. I don’t see or interact with my postal carrier or trash people. I go to work and come home to mail in the box and my garbage hopefully being gone. I have no idea who they are, how many there are, ages, gender, etc. I have no connection to them aside from me paying money to a company and them doing a thing.
The last couple years, I’ve gotten a Panerra gift card from a vendor at work which I then pass along to my kid’s teacher. I actually have opinions about my kid’s teacher though.
Yes, for the mail. I know how many extra hours they work this time of year. And I order a lot of packages this time of year, so the the mail person cannot just put mail in box, but has to go up the drive way (fairly long - house not visible from the road) for those. I honestly don’t know if the current one is male or female - never see 'em.
I tipped the garbage men earlier this week, and I tipped the water delivery guy. But not the postie, he just started a couple of weeks ago, and has brought me the wrong mail twice!
No, I service them by hand at home. It’s quicker and cheaper.
We tip the mail folks. Our carriers have always been great. We don’t have garbage service, at home but tip the folks at my wife’s business $20. The mail lady gets a Starbucks gift card. She really likes that, it’s something of a treat for her. I have a friend of mine who is a over the top tipper. We go to lunch frequently, and he always tips $10 or more. Al the waitresses know his, wherever we go. One day I was at his house, I helped him move a large couch from his house. We put it out at the curb, even though I told he they wouldn’t take it, it was too big. A special pickup is $25. Or more. But the garbage guys showed up in a few minutes, took that couch, and made the machine eat it. Turns out, $100 at Christmas, and occasionally a beverage on hot or cold days works wonders. His health is poor, and going across a 2 lane rural road was getting dangerous. The postal folks let him relocate his mailbox onto to his side, about 200 ft up his driveway. I was surprised, but if you are disabled, they will help you. In a rural area like ours, the mail carrier and UPS guys are much appreciated.
That’s what she said.
I don’t tip my mail carrier, no. They only ever give me bad news.
Cash to the bug man and less to the newspaper (family). Nothing else to anyone. The mailman actually pisses me off daily.
We give $20 each to the mailman and each of the news delivery men.
I gave the gardener an extra $20 when I saw him on Sunday. The house cleaner got a $25 gift card. City officials (garbage/mail) I have never met and thus, don’t have a relationship with them. As such, I do not tip them. I honestly thought they weren’t allowed to accept tips nor expected them.
I also have an issue with my garbageman. They have automated trucks with robotic arms that pick up the trash cans and seem to shake them like a British nanny does with a baby, causing the lids to break and flinging garbage that is stuck to the bottom of the can all over the street. Not surprisingly, after one neighbor was going through a remodel, this resulted in nails, screws, and other materials getting flung on to the street. A few cars, including my own, got flat tires as a result.