# Email protocol: Do you send the "Thanks." email? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 21, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-protocol-do-you-send-the-thanks-email/572155 "2011-02-21T22:42:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-protocol-do-you-send-the-thanks-email/572155/41 "2011-02-22T18:02:06Z")
I work with the public a lot, and we are asking for their money, so I always go out of my way to be extra nice & polite. of course, this has carried over to my work associates, so they get the thank you e-mail as well. _shrug_ I’d rather err on the side of politeness, every time. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-protocol-do-you-send-the-thanks-email/572155/42 "2011-02-22T19:14:17Z")
As a rule, no. When I request something, the grace is in the request, akin to “Please send me X. Thanks”. I consider the grace in the receiving of it to be sufficient, I do not expect “Here is X. You’re welcome.” as it comes across poorly. I am very conscious to use grace when in person as it acknowledges that some action is being done by one person for another, but in e-mail, by the very nature of the form of the communication, it’s just not necessary. Moreso, I’m most often on the receiving end of these and I find the “thanks” an annoyance. If someone requests something, I send it, I consider our transaction complete. I only expect to hear anything if they didn’t get it, at which point they will either say “Did you get my request?” or “Did you send it?” and I can resend it. The only time I really want it is if there’s some kind of commentary to follow, at which point it makes sense to acknowledge that which was already done before potentially adding more. I find it particularly annoying when a request is made for an item to be sent to several recipients, and I get six different “thanks” e-mails. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-protocol-do-you-send-the-thanks-email/572155/43 "2011-02-22T19:27:35Z")
It depends- if I’ve sent a routine request (for example, submit leave requests for next month by Friday), I end my request with thanks, and don’t send a separate email. I hate \*getting \*thank you’s for this type of request- it takes time to open the extra 20 or so emails I would get everyday f everyone did this. If it an unusual request (such as can you cover for me while I take 2 weeks off) , I do send a separate thank you. I send internal emails return receipt all the time - sometimes I need to be certain that my subordinates have actually read and opened the email and other times I need to be certain that my supervisor has. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-protocol-do-you-send-the-thanks-email/572155/44 "2011-02-22T20:52:40Z")
Sometimes I don’t with coworkers - if it isn’t something where they want a follow-up I might not send it. I always do with clients and outside people though. I work in a small office so we all kinda talk to each other at some point during the day, that’s when you can do the bulk ‘thanks’ thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-protocol-do-you-send-the-thanks-email/572155.md?page=2)