News
November 26, 2019
Writing letters to Santa enters the digital age of giving
Retailers gearing up for the influx of shoppers may be able to provide a special service by highlighting information about a program through the United States Postal Service (USPS). According to a press release from USPS, there are 15 cities engaged in the digital adoption of the USPS Operation Santa Program. With awareness and an outpouring of kindness from strangers, Santa and the Postal Service may be able to bring some cheer to kids who may not be able to have the happy holiday they deserve.
This year the USPS Operation Santa program is 107 years old. The program was established by the Postal Service to help families and children have a magical holiday when they otherwise might not. This year brings some exciting change — a new website, an expansion of last year’s digital program, and Santa’s official postal address, which is Santa Claus, 123 Elf Road, North Pole, 88888.
How to write a letter
Sending a letter to Santa is easy if you know how. The Postal Service is available to help with guides and tips to help kids write and send the best letter ever. All the information needed to write a letter, address an envelope, put on a stamp, and send it on its way can be found at USPSOperationSanta.com/GetInvolved and in the postal Holiday Newsroom.
Letter adoption
In addition to the program upgrades, there is also a new web address for letter adoption, www.USPSOperationSanta.com and beginning on Nov. 18, customers nationwide can adopt letters to Santa online. Although the letters are adopted online, the adopter must go to a Post Office that offers “Label Broker” as an on-site service to send the gift.
Adopters can locate qualifying Label Broker Post Offices by visiting the Post Office Locator usps.com/locator. The 15 cities were chosen based on a variety of reasons, including interest in the program, community need and a mix of geographic locations.
The digital program will populate the site with letters from the following cities:
- Austin, Texas
- Baltimore, Maryland
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Chicago, Illinois
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Denver, Colorado
- Grand Rapids, Michigan
- Los Angeles, California
- New York, New York
- Orlando, Florida
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Sacramento, California
- San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Washington D.C.
USPS Operation Santa history
The Postal Service began receiving letters to Santa Claus more than 100 years ago but it was in 1912 when Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and citizens to respond to the letters — this became known as Operation Santa.
For a the complete history of the program, visit https://about.usps.com/holidaynews/.
