Photo by yonas1.

Ah, the holiday season — the time of year when you make the people that keep your day-to-day life on the tracks aware that you appreciate their effort. Postal workers, sanitation employees, your paperboy or girl, a doorperson if you have one — it’s always a smart move to make sure that you keep those people happy. Some neighborhoods and apartment buildings in Washington even take up an envelope or jar and present their local servers with a collective gift, which kind of makes us feel all gooey inside. But if you were thinking about tipping with cash, you might want to think again.

Most everyone who works under the banner of the federal or the city government isn’t allowed to accept any money as a holiday tip. The U.S. Postal Service is pretty clear on this point:

“Carriers are permitted to accept a gift worth $20 or less from a customer per occasion, such as Christmas,” says U.S. Postal Service spokeswoman Sue Brennan. “However, cash and cash equivalents, such as checks or gift cards that can be exchanged for cash, must never be accepted in any amount.”

Okay, so you can’t give the postman some cash. But what about the people who pick up your trash or the public school teacher who’s done a really good job? That’s a no-currency situation, too: Chapter 18 of D.C.’s Personnel Regulations states that “An employee shall not receive any salary or anything of monetary value from a private source as compensation for his or her services to the government (18 USC § 209).”

The obvious replacement is a gift card, but the legality of that is kind of questionable too (and besides, gift cards are kind of a crappy gift). Back in the day, this editor’s family used to give the letter carrier a box of chocolates, but we can imagine that dragging home dozens of boxes of candy can get somewhat cumbersome for the service worker.

How do you tip the people who keep your world spinning around the holidays? Let us know in the comments.