I’ve been real busy lately because it’s December and I work at the post office, so of course I am
But that doesn’t mean I can’t show up with an unprompted PSA
Hey! Have you ever mailed a letter to Santa Claus? Have you ever wondered what exactly happened to that letter? Well wonder no longer! If it had a stamp and a return address, then odds are that it ended up on the USPS’s Operation Santa page!
Every year, the USPS collects letters to Santa Claus, and processes them to black out any identifying information. Last names, addresses, things like that. Then, the letters are posted on the Operation Santa webpage and people can adopt the letters.
Once you adopt a letter, you can buy gifts for them, wrap them up, and package them. Then you get a barcode from the website, and bring them to a post office. The clerk there will scan the barcode, which prints out a label with the address on it, and sends out the gift.
It’s anonymous on both ends, and is generally just. A really nice thing to do.
I highly recommend it if you have some money to spare this year and want to give a kid a moment of magic this year
It’s one of those things that the post office just happened to be positioned to do, and ended up knocking it out of the park. Unfortunately, I don’t think they advertise this nearly well enough, and most letters end up going unanswered
Hopefully, a few more will be answered this year
Website Link: Operation Santa - USPS
Santa Claus also has an address in Canada, at postal code H0H0H0 run by Canada Post. This year, however, the union of postal workers has been on strike for over 25 days, and many of those letters likely won’t make it to Santa on time for Christmas.
good for those workers, I hope they hold strong. being able to provide for their families in a tangible way is infinitely more important than letters to no one.