Leave the Right Holiday Tip

The holidays bring around a number of warm, comforting traditions—and figuring out annual tips is not one of them. The New York Times’ City Room blog helpfully delves into the history and politics of tipping and digs up a few helpful suggestions. For instance:

A related survey of more than 1,800 Americans found (the) average tip ranges of $10 to $20 for a newspaper carrier, $10 to $25 for a sanitation or recycling collector, $20 to $50 for a child care provider and $25 to $75 for a housekeeper. When in doubt, Consumer Reports advises, a worker who provides a weekly service should be given the equivalent of one week’s pay.

The article notes that Postal Service carriers are actually forbidden from accepting more than small gifts from customers—it might be worth checking with any service to see if similar policies are in place. For more tipping, er, tips, check out our previous posts. Photo by aforero.