Here's a tip: Mail carriers 'can't' accept holiday gratuities

There are some things that are better kept a secret during the holidays. Santa Claus is one and giving a generous tip to your mailman is another.

U.S. Postal Service officials frown on letter carriers accepting monetary tips for homeowners no matter how much rain, sleet, snow or dark of night they walked through to do their jobs.

Cookies are O.K. and so is fruit cake. But money, no, that's against service regulations. Gift cards, they are all right as long as they are not worth more than $20.

These rules are not new, nor are the tips many carriers receive at the end of a year of speedily delivered mail. Sealed envelopes slipped in mailboxes bearing letter carriers' names have been part of the holiday tradition for generations. It's better to pretend they don't exists.

"I don't know why," asked a Northern Fox Valley letter carrier who requested anonymity. "Garbage men get tips at the holidays. So do people who cut your hair along with the people who deliver newspapers. It's a way of thanking them for doing a good job and making the extra effort throughout the year."

But we're talking about the U.S. Postal Service. Good service is expected, said David Giese, the officer in charge of the Dundee post office. Gifts of intrinsic value should not be accepted or offered, the rules state.

He, his colleagues and bosses know that gifts are given to carriers. But carriers know the rules and do the right thing.

"I've never heard of any carrier getting fired for accepting a (monetary) gift," Giese said. "I haven't even heard of anyone being reprimanded."

That's a good thing because some carriers look forward to their gifts, even when they are not working the day they are given.

These days, Don Ballentine works out of the Dundee post office as a substitute carrier. Last year, he was working at the Buffalo Grove post office. There's been days when he's delivered the mail in December and seen envelopes and cookies with the regular carrier's name on them.

"We were told to give the tips to the regular carrier on the route," he said. "I always have. I've eaten one or two of the cookies, though."

He doesn't know what was in the envelopes. He assumed they were gift cards for less than $20. And when they didn't feel like gift cards were in them, he gave them to the carrier. No questions asked.