How much should you give? That depends on the size and style of your building. If your condo has a full-service concierge and apartments that fetch eight figures, assume your budget item will dwarf that of someone in a small rental with only a super.

Still, it can be a fraught decision. “Whether you make a lot or you don’t make enough, you have to deal with a financial issue at a time when you’re already spending a lot,” said S. Jhoanna Robledo, the editor in chief of Brick Underground, a real estate website. The average tip for a super ranges from $75 to $175, according to the site’s tipping guide.

But everyone’s situation is different — and staff members understand that someone living on a fixed income, for example, may give only that plate of cookies. In other cases, you should give more. “When I did an 11-month renovation, I quadrupled my tip,” said Louise Phillips Forbes, an associate real estate broker at Halstead Property. Newcomers who signed a lease in September do not get a holiday pass. “If you just moved in at Thanksgiving, make this year a bigger acknowledgment,” Ms. Forbes said, since building staff members often lend a special helping hand to new tenants when they first arrive.

Above all, do not stiff the staff, even if the doorman is on your naughty list. “It seems like a glaring slap in the face to not give anything,” Ms. Robledo said.

Packages

Come December, lobbies turn into de facto post offices as packages roll in from online retailers. This year, some buildings have taken draconian measures to stem the flow. At the Chelsea rental where Rex Gonsalves lives, residents have been told that packages left for more than three days will be returned to the sender. But that rule could prove difficult to enforce since delivery services might not be inclined to retrieve packages that have been delivered to a correct address. Still, Mr. Gonsalves, an associate real estate broker at Halstead Property, learned his lesson when he returned home after Thanksgiving weekend to a pile of eight boxes and a grumpy doorman. “In hindsight, I should have waited until I came back to order it,” he said. Fortunately, none of his packages were returned, but the message was received: “The stress on the staff is so much,” he said.