While most letters addressed to "Santa Claus" in the United States are handled at the local post office as part of the Operation Santa program, if the notes are addressed to Anchorage, Alaska, or Santa Claus, Indiana (real city names), they will be routed to those cities' post offices, where they will receive a special response from local officials. The letter writers know that their messages will not reach their destinations until after Christmas, but that's when they want them to arrive.
In 2008, the City of Santa Rosa, California, launched its own letter-writing campaign under the direction of Mayor Tom Carr. He asked people throughout the city to write letters to Santa to let him know what parts of town need help the most during the holiday season. These letters are then delivered to Birmingham, Alabama-based postal service provider U.S. Postmasters Inc., which passes them on to Saint Nicholas National Bank & Trust Company in Wilmington, Delaware, who handles all mail for Santas everywhere.
The program is now being expanded to other cities across the country. If you would like your letter to Santa to go to another city, just tell us where you live in an email message below and we'll make sure it gets there before Christmas.
So, write it down, print it out, and send it via e-mail!
Many youngsters in the United States write to Santa Claus, North Pole, Alaska, using the address: Santa Claus, North Pole, Alaska. Letters delivered through the US Post Office with the "North Pole, Alaska" address form part of the USPS Letters to Santa program, which began in 1912 with Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock's authority. The program now is run by the Internet Customer Service Center at the National Retail Federation.
Santa first sent letters to children on Christmas Eve, but today most of them are sent in early December. He spends about half of his time in the South Pole and half in the North Pole, so he needs to get around!
There are two ways to send your letter to Santa via the post office: sealed with special postage provided by the postal service, or as an email. You can only send emails to [email protected].
You should know that Santa cannot read your letter unless you write it in block letters and use punctuation, so be sure to include names of other children who would like gifts too!
He also needs to know when you wrote the letter so he can write back if he has any questions. And don't forget to give him your name and address!
If you have more than one child, there are multiple versions of how many letters you should write. Some say three, some four, but the most common number is five.
The rest is up to Santa's hardworking Postal Service elves. Important: The USPS suggests sending the letters no later than December 7 in order for them to arrive in the Anchorage, AK office by December 14. More information is available here. In addition, the USPS runs Operation Santa, a letter-writing initiative for any child in need. You can take part by writing and mailing a letter to an anonymous recipient.
Santa's good friend Mr. Kelly Bobcats also likes to have a word with kids about what they want for Christmas. You can write him a letter at PO Box 563, Wasilla, AK 99812. Letters to Mr. Kelly Bobcats will be forwarded to Santa directly. They like to keep these letters short and sweet!
Finally, if you happen to live in Alaska and you haven't sent your letter to Santa yet, don't worry about it. The Post Office will hold your letter for you until after Christmas, when they will deliver it to Santa personally.
The United States Postal Service responds to letters to Santa in two ways. Letters from Santa allow someone to compose a response to a kid's letter, mail it to the USPS, and have it stamped with a North Pole postmark before it is returned to the child. The other way letters to Santa work is if a kid sends out a self-addressed stamped envelope and writes a message to Santa himself or herself. When Santa receives the letter, he or she opens it up and reads the note inside. At that point, Santa can decide to keep the letter and reply to it later or throw it away.
There are several companies that offer a similar service as the U.S. Postal Service. Some of these companies include: Hallmark, Naughty or Nice, Pencils for Penguins, and Whiskers for Wolves. Each company has its own process for selecting kids' letters and choosing what letters get replied to. Some only select letters that are written by young fans of specific brands such as Disney or Nickelodeon, while others choose any letter they feel like responding to. Regardless of which company is used, the final decision on whether or not to reply to a letter is made by Santa himself or herself.
In conclusion, the postal service replies to letters to Santa because they want to be able to answer kids' questions and provide some type of closure when they receive negative responses.
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