This has been asked before but old threads are closed, so would appreciate thoughts again: The pest control guy is here today. They come quarterly and he is new to me (this is the second time he has come). Do I need to give him a holiday tip? Ditto for new hairdresser I’ll see for the 3rd time, in December. I always tip her, so may bring a small gift to her like some homemade jams or something).
Not sure! I give holiday tips to the person who cuts my hair and the person who cleans my house.
If you’re planning to stick with the hairdresser and be a regular, I’d give her a small gift or extra on the tip.
Hairdresser, yes, nothing huge. Pest control guy, I don’t think necessary but he would probably appreciate it - some $ for lunch or a beer after work? I bet they’d be fighting over who gets to spray your house!
My gardener team (there are 2 or 3 that divide and conquer the neighborhood together) all break in the park and eat Subway - so I always dole out Subway gift cards to them.
I am not sure the guys who do the yard are the same guys all the time, so hard to tip them. I didn’t end up tipping the pest guy today but will see him again in February…
It would never have occurred to me to tip a pest control guy. I would think of them in the same category as a plumber or electrician or other technical-professional I contract with. Am I a clueless grinch here? 
My hair people and nail gals frequent the Starbucks nearby. They and the hair receptionists get a gift card. Small, but ‘thinking of you.’
Our lawn folks are gone for the season.
I take advantage of the holiday seasons to tip (more like gift, not tip) everyone because it’s really weird to show appreciation any other time (and sometimes people judge you for it). So the holiday is a perfect excuse to spread the love.
The UPS, Mail, bus driver, teachers (only a few that I feel comfortable giving and they don’t question my motive), each get $50 cc gift card. Cleaning lady gets whatever the cost of one time cleaning, and her kids get to pick one item each. The employees of the bagel shop get $20 each (I love everyone there). As for hair dresser, mani pedi they get tips whenever we use the service anyway but during the holiday season I double whatever I normally give themselves for tips. And of course charity donations. Even NPR got a little extra lol.
I personally hate people’s homemade food. I know it’s so sweet of them and I don’t mean to be ungrateful but I would never eat them so I smiled and thanked them but wish they didn’t bother to begin with. So I never tried to give people homemade stuff.
So today when I dropped off thanksgiving goods for needy families in our town (organized by the PTO), I also slipped the woman a couple hundreds in an envelope. She thought it came from the PTO so she sent on a thank you note with details. The head of the PTO contacted me I think she wasn’t too happy about that, she said something about setting precedent. I had to apologize. It’s so hard sometimes in this country because you don’t know who you will be offending. When we go on missions abroad everyone was so grateful and no one judged you for wanting to help.
Boy, I don’t gift anyone at the holidays except my long time gardener. I tip manicure people generously throughout the year, don’t ever even see the pool guy and have never seen the postman or other delivery people. I don’t think it’s a general practice in our neighborhood. When I used to have a housekeeper it would be about one weeks salary.
Guess I’m a grinch, it just doesn’t occur to me to do it
I am in a city where we tip whenever a service is render. That being said, I do not tip my pest control person, nor my hairdresser/masseuse for the holidays (I tip 20-30% every time). I used to tip my gardener/housekeeper when I had a house.
I also do not understand in giving a gift (not cash) to service people. It may be thoughtful to give bake goods or something homemade, but I am one of those people who would most likely not eat anything from someone that I do not know very well. I would just give cash if I feel inclined to do something.
I don’t tip my doormen/handymen in my building for every little thing they do for me through out the year, but I usually spend around 4 figures in tips at year end.
For those who give a holiday tip, how much do you give on top of you normally give? Double it?
What would be nice to hear? “You’ve been such a great client that this one’s 30% off to celebrate the holidays!”
If it were I, I probably would not tip a pest control guy.
When my D had private music lessons, we doubled the payment of the lesson around the Christmas holiday.
We live in a suburb in a subdivision. The only people who provide weekly services that we appreciate very much are our trash collectors, both regular and recycled trash collectors (different trucks).
There are two men working each truck. We have given each person a Dunkin’ Donuts’ gift card every year for the past 20+ years.
I give small token gifts to teachers, coaches, and the school secretary, plus an extra couple of dollars to the hairdresser (literally only a couple of dollars because I tip her at least 20% all year anyway), but that’s it.
The holidays are expensive enough as it is, and the garbage and postal carriers rotate their routes often enough that I don’t have the same ones all year round.
I would not tip the pest guy. For me, holiday tipping is more about the relationship than the service provided. My hairdresser is very sweet-makes an effort to reach out, even if it’s marketing for her salon, I appreciate the personal touch. I have an appt first week of December and I’ll double her usual tip for the holidays. I used to double the monthly payment for my housecleaner in December, as a tip. We had a UPS driver for years who became a friend-I work from home so he was bringing packages several times a week. He was also active with animal rescue so we would always give him a card and a $25 gift card to the pet store to buy dog food. In elementary school, we gave coffee GC’s to the teachers, that tapered off through middle school to favorite teachers, and now in HS-I think no teachers this year! I have a friend who is a little older and she does a lot of tipping at the holidays and throughout the year to ensure good service/attention. I’m not sure that approach really works, to be honest! I do know that she is often offended when she feels like she is giving out $$ and not getting the proper amount of attention back.
In Dec, a friend tips the maitre d at her fav restaurant, one with a national rep. She does then get special attention through the year. Shorter lead time on reservations, seating she requests, etc. But 5he relationship is over years.
I give my cleaning women cash at Christmas—usually the equivalent of the weekly cleaning. They have worked for me for 15 years. If I am at the nail or hair salon before the holiday, I will increase the regular tip.
I tip the hair dresser at the time, the cat sitter a tip at the end of the year, and the dog sitter at the time of service. We travel alot. Did tip the family owned floor couple (only ones who accepted the job- lots of stairs) who did an excellent job. We do not have cleaning or pest control or lawn services.
We always gave our cleaning person one weeks salary as a tip. And a small gift. But we had her for so long, she was more of a personal friend who happened to clean our house too.
It never dawned on my to tip the pest guy. So I didn’t…and I won’t going forward either.
I tip my nail and hair people very generously every time I see them…but I will give my hairdresser a gift card for coffee. Not a huge one. But she is also a friend who happens to do my hair!
We get a daily paper delivered to my house, and it’s here regardless of the weather at 4:30 a.m. that person gets a tip!!