# Do you tip your garbage man?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [December 21, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125 "2009-12-21T23:14:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/41 "2009-12-24T19:10:20Z")
Vee haf vays:D
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### Author:  [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/42 "2009-12-24T21:18:44Z")
Our local garbage collectors _start_ at a wage that’s about 150% of what I earn, with an excellent benefits package far beyond anything I get. The day I give them money or beer _for doing their well-paid, highly secure government job_ is the day I willfully stick a fork in my own eye.
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### Author:  [@cobhatecrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cobhatecrew)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/43 "2009-12-30T14:25:26Z")
hey i work for waste services here, and yes we do get paid decent money. But where i live and work we have to lift everything by hand. Most people have extra garbage or heavy garbage and i will try to take ANYTHING for cash or a case of beer. I very much appreciate people coming out and giving me tips. i almost rely on it since ive been doing it for so long
Also, if your caught drinking or doing drugs. your instantly fired overhere
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2009, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/44 "2009-12-30T14:49:06Z")
I left a tip for them last Monday. They left me a nice little “thank you” by taking my empty garbage can way back up the driveway to the garage.
I felt good and for one brief, beautiful moment, it was 1955 again.
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### Author:  [@NorCalSuburban](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NorCalSuburban)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2009, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/45 "2009-12-30T23:52:09Z")
I don’t tip the garbage men- it is pure extortion. I guess that’s why our garbage can was the only one “tipped” over on our street, in this quiet suburb outside San Francisco. We have the smallest possible container and it is always only half full. The whole tipping thing has gone out of control in America. Sure picking up garbage is hard work- but guess what, there are thousands of other thankless backbreaking jobs out there that are done behind the scenes for which people never get credit. What about the guys that have to go down and inspect and repair sewers? I’m sure they are on a fixed salary through local municipalities, and don’t receive a bonus. Don’t they deserve a tip too? How about Nurses that have to clean up crap from incontinent patients - Nursing is a terribly hard profession, shouldn’t we be tipping them for services received? Should I tip my lawyer for getting my contract polished off on time? Should I tip my dentist for going the extra mile to look for cavities? Should I tip the BART train operator for getting me to work on time? (well, 80% of the time anyway) Should I tip the grocery store cashier and bagger for efficiently processing my transactions? Should I tip the auto mechanic for changing the oil (that’s pretty darn messy work) ULTIMATELY EVERY WORKING PERSON IS A SERVICE PROFESSIONAL! WHERE SHOULD THE TIPPING STOP???
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### Author:  [@cobhatecrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cobhatecrew)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/46 "2009-12-31T01:26:04Z")
all the people i work with, including me. if someone tips you, you will give them better service. I will go out of my way to pick up your garbage if your late. if you dont flatten your cardboard i will do it for you. all for 20 bucks at christmas time. and yes i remember the houses that tip so i will continue to do it all year hoping for another tip around christmas. or beer or chocolate. you wouldnt believe the amount of booze you get around the holidays… i dont even think i can drink it all. If you dont tip i dont care because so many other people do.
i know lots of people cannot tip and money is too tight but i still get lots of christmas cards saying what a good job im doing even if its just a christmas card, if i know that someone appreciates the hard work that i do, i will go out of my way for them if they have extra. you dont even need to tip. just leave a thank you card. im sure if the guy isnt a drunken looser he will appreciate it.
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### Author:  [@cobhatecrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cobhatecrew)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/47 "2009-12-31T01:54:52Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#):
>
> Perhaps it’s the Christmas whiskey talking, but I’ll start tipping them when they start tipping me for helping to keep the freaking electricity flowing to their houses. Sanitation “engineers” indeed. :rolleyes:
>
> FTR, it’s perhaps not the best idea to set out alcohol for the garbage collectors. I used to know two guys who worked for the local disposal company, and according to them it was pretty common for them to be smoking pot and drinking while on the job (in their words, “no one can fucking smell anything over the shit in the back, and we never get pulled over anyhow”). Contributing to drunks taking the wheel of 40-tonne garbage trucks and careening them through the neighbourhood and down the highway makes Squishy the Safety Possum cry.
>
> Edited: added an s
i once saw a garbage man not even shoulder check and squished a car like a pancake with a barrier on the other side… and he was high on pot hehe
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### Author:  [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/48 "2009-12-31T02:55:05Z")
I might if I lived in the kind of place where I saw my friendly neighborhood garbage man, the kind who gives a wave and a smile, “how ya doing this morning, Ms. Sali?” We would exchange a few pleasantries. I would offer him a cold drink on a hot day, or hot coffee in the winter. Being as how a monster truck manned by anonymous strangers pulls up one day a week at 5 a.m., I don’t feel moved to run outside with cash or a 6-pack. Though I AM appreciative, thanks, guys!
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### Author:  [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/49 "2009-12-31T04:20:01Z")
> [@NorCalSuburban](#):
>
> I don’t tip the garbage men- it is pure extortion. I guess that’s why our garbage can was the only one “tipped” over on our street, in this quiet suburb outside San Francisco. We have the smallest possible container and it is always only half full. The whole tipping thing has gone out of control in America. Sure picking up garbage is hard work- but guess what, there are thousands of other thankless backbreaking jobs out there that are done behind the scenes for which people never get credit. What about the guys that have to go down and inspect and repair sewers? I’m sure they are on a fixed salary through local municipalities, and don’t receive a bonus. Don’t they deserve a tip too? How about Nurses that have to clean up crap from incontinent patients - Nursing is a terribly hard profession, shouldn’t we be tipping them for services received? Should I tip my lawyer for getting my contract polished off on time? Should I tip my dentist for going the extra mile to look for cavities? Should I tip the BART train operator for getting me to work on time? (well, 80% of the time anyway) Should I tip the grocery store cashier and bagger for efficiently processing my transactions? Should I tip the auto mechanic for changing the oil (that’s pretty darn messy work) ULTIMATELY EVERY WORKING PERSON IS A SERVICE PROFESSIONAL! WHERE SHOULD THE TIPPING STOP???
Exactly. I have no problem tipping servers, cab drivers or hair stylists - people who usually have a shitty base salary and rely on tips to get by. But garbage men make a decent wage, paid for with my tax dollars, and are in a fairly secure job, especially if they’re unionized.
I appreciate their hard work, don’t get me wrong. But like you mentioned, there are plenty of other people busting their asses, sight unseen, who would never in million years expect a tip.
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### Author:  [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/50 "2009-12-31T12:00:21Z")
> [@NorCalSuburban](#):
>
> …Sure picking up garbage is hard work- but guess what, there are thousands of other thankless backbreaking jobs out there that are done behind the scenes for which people never get credit. What about the guys that have to go down and inspect and repair sewers? I’m sure they are on a fixed salary through local municipalities, and don’t receive a bonus. Don’t they deserve a tip too? How about Nurses that have to clean up crap from incontinent patients - Nursing is a terribly hard profession, shouldn’t we be tipping them for services received? …
> [@Mystery Men](#):
>
> [to the news reporters]
> The Shoveller: Excuse me, could I say something? I think we would all like this victory to go out to all the other guys, and I’m talking about the people in this city who are super good at their jobs but never get any credit. Like the lady in the DMV - that’s a rough job.
> Invisible Boy: To the people that remember jingles from tons of old commercials.
> The Bowler: And uh, uh, people that support local music and seek out independent film.
> The Shoveller: And the guy that drives the snow-plow. And the school nurse, that’s a…
> Mr. Furious: Eddie, Eddie, I think they got the point.
😃
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### Author:  [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-tip-your-garbage-man/522125/51 "2009-12-31T20:48:36Z")
We would have to contract for garbage pickup, and 5 years ago when I called about it, the rate was $30 per month for one pickup a week, no recycling. But if I drive 6 miles, I can dump my own, plus recycle glass, metal, paper, cardboard, motor oil, antifreeze, electronic components, and even donate clothing in a collection box. When it was just 2 of us, I might have to go every 2-3 weeks. Now that there are 4 of us, my son in law goes once a week.
But even when I did have curbside pickup, I didn’t tip. As far as I know, no one is forced to take a garbage-collecting job.
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