Note 202 — Chapter XXV

One curious question bearing on the letter-carriers’ position, and which occupied some little attention at this time, I must here mention, as it is connected with a popular misconception, sometimes fruitful in trouble, viz., whether public gratuities, such as Christmas-boxes, should be taken into account in estimating a letter-carrier’s emoluments or not. These Christmas-boxes, I may observe, average about £13 per letter-carrier, and amount in some cases, I am told, to as much as £50 or £60. At first sight it appears most ungenerous to include them, and yet a short statement will show that to some extent this is unavoidable. A letter-carrier, say, has attained the highest position open to him as such, and is offered admission to the class of sorters, where the minimum pay equals his present maximum, while the maximum is more than double what he is receiving. This offer he declines, because by accepting it he would cease to have direct intercourse with the public, and so lose all opportunity for gratuity. This, of course, he has a perfect right to do; but when he continues, while rejecting the higher rate, to point to the lower as ground of complaint, either the answer must explain the anomaly by referring to the addition to his salary thus made every Christmas, or a complaint really unfounded remains plausible, and obtains inconsiderate support.