We have only lived in our current location for 2 plus years but we have the most wonderful mail carrier. A few weeks ago we got a note that she will be retiring at the end of this week. I plan to write her a note but would also like to give her a gift and need suggestions.I know the gift limit is $20 , but can we do more? (I mean, she is retiring…).
Suggestions? Thanks!
Once she’s retired you can do anything you want and can afford. But I would not put a federal employee at risk by doing anything outside of the limits right now. How about a nice note and home baked something or other right now- and ask for her address and date of retirement so you can take up a neighborhood collection for once she’s out of uniform?
Our mail carrier was moving to FL. People knew the specific town so went in on a large gift card to a nice place in that town.
As a federal employee, I was allowed to accept gifts of more than that if I had an ongoing outside relationship with a person AND it was a special occasion, such as birth of a baby or retirement.
I think the safe thing to do would be write a nice card and give a small gift.
My federal employee relative can’t allow her former boss in the private sector to pick up the tab at lunch-- let alone accept a gift, despite a longstanding personal relationship. Every agency has its own ethics office and I’m sure the stringency varies department by department.
But I wouldn’t give more than a nominal gift to my mail carrier (who I think is wonderful and fantastic) because the post office website doesn’t seem at all ambiguous about what is and isn’t allowed.
It is possible that your federal employee relative is in a particularly sensitive situation, but this is copied from the Department of Justice related to gifts from outside sources, and most if not all agencies have a similar statement:
Although the following are “gifts,” they may be accepted as exceptions to the gift rule:
ETA - this came into play for me when I received a nice baby gift from someone I would definitely call a friend, but she was also a contractor to my organization, for example.
The issue would be if you had to prove it was a personal relationship rather than professional. The thing is, you just don’t want to have to prove it in order to accept a baby gift, especially if it is money (or a gift card).
We weren’t even allowed to accept coffee from our contractors if we were visiting. Not fancy Starbucks, but just regular old Maxwell House! Finally, at the end of a 6 year run, we could accept coffee and water but not food (not donuts or bagels) and it really was a PITA as most of our contractors were in the sticks, not near any drive-thrus or 7-11’s for a quick snack.
My friend whose husband was a mail carrier for many years rarely accepted home made gifts (cookies or treats) because he couldn’t be sure of the safety of the kitchen where they were made. He had a few long term customers he’d take them from, but two year customers wouldn’t have made the cut.
I think she’d be thrilled with a $20 gift card and that doesn’t put anyone in a questionable situation.
Sorry - I know we’re going “off topic” so last post from me on this.
I agree generally speaking, that not accepting may better than accepting (don’t want to give the appearance of impropriety), but I have called the ethics people at multiple agencies to verify I was “in the clear” when I accepted things/ate with contractors. Depending on your position, and where in the organization you work, things can get a little trickier, but sometimes it is just true that it’s friends doing something together/for each other that would happen no matter where you worked, and it’s perfectly fine.
I have definitely turned down things simply because of my position, even when I’m sure the person would have made the same offer even if I didn’t have the job, just to be on the safe side.
I give our mail carrier a small tin of cookies I made at least twice a year – he and I aren’t telling anyone and I think he eats the evidence 
Being a retired federal employee, I’ll chime in on this. I never ate anything homemade for many reasons. I refused any small gift- telling them - do you want me to get fired? And they seem to understand. It may sound paranoid but it is based on reality.
It is NOT worth it. Period. Retirement benefits are a nice thing you could lose.
I received cards through the years that were very sweet and I kept them all. But, the nicest thing anyone did for me was write a letter to the editor of our local paper about how they appreciated me and will miss me. That was priceless. I tear up just thinking about it.
So are you suggesting the OP call the post office ethics dept? And do you think OP is friends with the mail carrier outside of their professional relationship?
I did work for a strict agency because of past troubles so…no gifts, no coffee, nothing. The test was 'do you want to explain this if you read about on the front page of the Washington Post?" If the contractor was your BIL or college roommate, take the baby gift, but if not, don’t.
OP can give the $20 gift, as can OP’s spouse, children, dogs, tenants, or anyone else who receives mail.
How is anyone’s relationship with their mail carrier not by virtue of their “official position”? You wouldn’t know this person otherwise…
@FallGirl
You know everyone is nice in Minnesota, right?
Couldn’t resist 
Our mail people are the nicest and very helpful.
Our mail person and UPS person are legendary in our neighborhood. They both are so friendly and go the extra mile to get to know everyone. The UPS guy used to text me when I traveled a lot to ask if he should place packages out of site or leave with a neighbor, for example. My work colleagues were always shocked when that happened. Lol. I’d never seen anything like it until I moved here. Kids/families even dress as them for Halloween! (Kids in head to toe khaki with UPS “xxx” name tag).
They definitely get a monetary gift at the holidays and I’m sure will at retirement. I believe the individual amounts are within acceptable norms ($20-25 per household) but we pool the money. I expect it’s no issue with UPS, but I hope we’re handling gifts to our mail carrier in a way that wouldn’t cause her issues. I may actually check on this, although surely she would have let us know. I handled the pooling of funds one year and I gave it to them in cash ($1500+ each). That was 5 years ago so I guess I’m safe. Lol
I understand the need for strict limitations on gifts for certain governmental jobs, especially those with influence. I don’t consider nominal gifts to my mail carrier to fall in that category but I’m not the government and have never looked up those guidelines. I’ve given small holiday gifts to my mail carriers for years and think it’s a nice gesture from the OP to acknowledge their retirement milestone.
We also have a great letter carrier, and also know many of the other letter carriers in town (from walking dogs around.) I expect they make thousands of dollars every holiday in tips, as do the trash collectors and recycling guy. The gift limit for mail carriers doesn’t seem like it’s enforced at all, and a number of Reddit threads state just that. I will keep giving my letter carrier more than $20 in cash (and a big box of dog treats) every year until he tells me to stop.
Our mail carrier blew the whistle on an illegal drug ring operating on his route… noticed frequent drop off and pick ups by Fedex, DHL and UPS at odd hours, and too frequent USPS pickups of oddly wrapped priority mail envelopes. And cars with out of state license plates perpetually idling out front.
I’m guessing he’s not the first postal worker to notice something problematic- human trafficking/brothel? School aged children home all day, every day, a potential problem?
And I’m also guessing that the cash value limit on gifts is to try and prevent an illegal operation from paying off the mail carrier with a few thousand dollars to keep their mouth shut. You can’t prevent graft completely. But you can remind mostly honest people that there are consequences to taking the cash…
My gift suggestion to the OP was “I think the safe thing to do would be write a nice card and give a small gift.”
We live in a smallish town. Our mail carrier is from this town. And yes, we do know her outside of being our mail carrier.
We always check with the post office to make sure the same carrier as last year (we see him occasionally but usually not home). They always confirm and we are told $20 limit. We give a gift card to the local coffee place and always receive a nice thank you note. He does go above and beyond bringing the nail to the door if there is a package and we are home (box is at the end of the driveway)
And did you typically send her Christmas gifts of value when she wasn’t your mail carrier, like you would to your next door neighbor or a cousin? That’s what I mean by a relationship (and any desire to send gifts) being based on her official position.