It’s that time of year, when gift-giving can include tipping for services that you receive all year from people such as salon staff, letter carriers and trash haulers.
In Montgomery County, Maryland, some notices appeared taped to trash cans in a Silver Spring neighborhood. The message indicated that homeowners could “Spread a little extra holiday cheer” by either taping cash or checks in envelopes inside a trash can, or hand the tips to haulers directly.
While plenty of homeowners appreciate the work trash collectors do in all kinds of weather throughout the year, Montgomery County’s Department of Environmental Protection bars its contractors from asking for tips.
Cindy Pena, who handles communications for the department said the county “prohibits collectors from soliciting tips. Period.”
She added that it’s up to residents to decide whether they want to provide a tip to the crew, and she added homeowners were “more than welcome” to tip for the service they receive. However, she repeated that the crews are barred from asking.
As for the municipalities of Gaithersburg, Rockville or Takoma Park, for example, Pena said she couldn’t speak to the regulations in those places.
She noted many communities may be served by private haulers, and in those cases, “It is up to those companies to determine whether they will allow solicitation of tips. We have no control over that in the county.”
Montgomery County’s Director of the Office of Consumer Protection Eric Friedman told WTOP there haven’t been any complaints about solicitation for tips, but he said it would be understandable if homeowners had questions.
“You’ve got to really be careful with any kind of situation where you are sending money to somebody” because of the proliferation of scams. Friedman said. “I certainly don’t think it’s a good idea” to leave tips in cash or check form in trash cans.
Friedman said the best way to provide tips to people who provide valuable services, such as trash collection, is to hand them directly to the person whenever possible.
Pena said if you have questions about who collects your trash, the county’s Department of Environmental Protection website can help answer them.
“We have a page entitled, ‘Who collects my trash?’ Go to that page, you can fill in your address, and it will tell you whether your trash is collected by the county or someone else,” Pena said.
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