Thieves target holiday tips meant for Peoria-area trash collectors. How to avoid it

Thieves target holiday tips meant for Peoria-area trash collectors. How to avoid it

PEORIA — For trash collectors like Gerald Cummings, December brings two things:

Holiday tips and frequent thefts.

This time of year, that sad Christmas tale is all too common to Cummings and his colleagues with GFL Environmental (formerly PDC). A customer will stuff cash into a Christmas card and tape the envelope onto the front of a garbage can. Later, when asked if he got the tip, Cummings often can only say, “What tip?”

Cummings shakes his head, saying, “It’s happened plenty of times.”

And it happens all over Peoria, said Eric Shangraw, spokesman for GFL. Each season, many trash and recyclable collectors earn hundreds of dollars in tips, with one employee known to get as much as $2,000, Shangraw said.

“The drivers try to provide great customer service all year,” Shangraw said. “A driver gets upset when he figures out someone snagged a tip left for him.”

It happens elsewhere, too. Earlier this year, a St. Louis man — a former trash collector — was charged with stealing more than $700 in cash and gifts cards left out as tips last yuletide, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Rogue junkers blamed for disappearing tips

In Peoria, much of the tip-theft blame lies with rogue “junkers,” Shangaw said. Any time of year, junkers will drive around town to check out curbside garbage and pluck out anything salvageable.

“We usually like them, because whatever they take doesn’t end up in the landfill,” Shangraw said.

But some junkers turn grinchy at Christmastime. They prowl about, mostly looking for envelopes taped to the front of trash bins.

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Yet they also keep their eyes peeled for wrapped gifts left on the top of cans, said Geff Gossett, a GFL route supervisor who used to drive a garbage truck. Customers leave all sorts of presents atop trash cans, such as candy or popcorn, even lip balm and hand warmers.

“They’re really thoughtful,” Gossett said. “It’s a hard job, and those gifts really make the employees’ day. It’s really appreciated.”

But it’s often never received. And most customers aren’t willing to replace a stolen tip, Cummings said. They usually just shrug off the theft, saying something like, “Well, I put it out there.”

Best way to ensure your tip gets to your trash collector

Cummings has witnessed multiple near-pilferings. One year, he saw a motorist driving around a neighborhood repeatedly, then circle back toward a trash can topped by a wrapped box.

“Hey!” Cummings yelled. “Don’t touch that!”

The man drove off. But Cummings, who made $800 in tips last year, has no idea how many times thieves have grabbed his gratuities.

“You have no way of knowing,” he said.

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To avoid thefts, Shangraw advises customers to send tips to GLF/Driver Holiday Tip, 4700 N. Sterling Ave., Peoria, IL, 61615. Provide your home address and collection day so the proper driver(s) get the tip. Provide instruction as to who you want the tip to go to: trash collector, recycling collector and/or yard waste collector.

How much should you tip? The etiquette experts at the Emily Post Institute suggest tipping trash and recycling collectors $10 to $30 apiece.

But Shangraw said collectors appreciate any act of kindness.

“A driver never forgets the address of the home that acknowledged him during the holidays with a tip,” Shangraw said.

PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at [email protected], (309) 686-3155 or (800) 225- 5757, Ext. 3155. Follow him at facebook.com/philluciano and on Twitter @LucianoPhil.