What You Can’t Gift Your Utah Mailman (or Woman) For Christmas

There are some people who really appreciate their mail carriers, those guys who bring Amazon packages to your door and dreaded bills.  

Maybe you’ve even chatted with yours or are familiar with them because of the music or radio station they blast when on the job. Mail carriers have an honored profession and even though you might be thinking of giving them something nice for the holiday, there are some stipulations.  

The mail carriers you’re so fond of are technically federal employees in the Executive Branch, which means accepting monetary gifts of any kind is a big fat no.  

“Under these federal regulations, carriers are permitted to accept a gift worth $20 or less from a customer per occasion, such as Christmas. However, cash and cash equivalents, such as checks or gift cards that can be exchanged for cash, must never be accepted in any amount. Furthermore, no employee may accept more than $50 worth of gifts from any one customer in any one calendar year period.”—U.S. Postal Service 

So, basically no gift cards and no extra cash you have laying around.  

You’ll need to get creative and also consider the amount. Now, if you and your mail carrier are best friends this might be hard for you, but I have a few ideas.  

Since it’s cold outside and their job requires them to get in and out of the mail truck, maybe some hot cocoa and hand warmers would be the way to go. If that’s not your style perhaps something more personal like a thank you note might be better.  

Either way, it’s good to appreciate your mail carrier just be smart about it and the holiday cheer will go on just fine.