Nov. 22, 2021
It’s Time to Start Sending in Wish Requests for the Holidays
NEW YORK — Customers are reminded to use the official address for Santa’s workshop when submitting letters to the USPS Operation Santa Program.
The Postal Service is now accepting letters for the 109-year-old USPS Operation Santa program. Letters must be postmarked by Dec. 10, and will be uploaded to USPSOperationSanta.com through Dec. 15 for potential adoption.
Letters can be addressed to:
Santa Claus
123 Elf Road
North Pole
88888
USPS Operation Santa was established by the Postal Service to help those in need during the holidays.
Whether you believe in Santa or not, the nondenominational program is intended to help as many deserving families as possible experience a happy holiday season. And that can only happen if there are letters to post on USPSOperationSanta.com.
Participation in USPS Operation Santa is simple. All you have to do is write a letter, put it in an envelope affixed with a First-Class Mail Forever stamp, and make sure you include your full return address — apartment number, directional information (i.e., E Main St, Apt 103) and ZIP Code — and send it to Santa’s official workshop address (exactly as shown above).
Every day can be a challenge for some families simply trying to make ends meet.
Holiday expectations put extra pressure on those same families who want to make it a special time, but just can’t. That’s where the USPS Operation Santa program — and generous Postal Service customers — can help make the holidays a joyous and magical time. Since the program began, hundreds of thousands of less-fortunate children and their families have been helped by the kindness of others.
How to Register to Adopt Letters
To register, anyone wanting to adopt a letter should visit USPSOperationSanta.com, click on the registration link and follow the prompts. For security reasons, all prospective adopters must be vetted through a short registration and ID verification process before they can participate. If someone has adopted letters in the past, they must still be verified each year.
If for some reason potential adopters are unable to verify their identity online, they can go into any one of the 19,000 Post Office locations which offer the Label Broker service to get verified in person. Qualifying Post Office locations can be found online using the usps.com/locator tool. Once approved, the adopter will receive a welcome email with detailed information on how to participate in the program.
Beginning Nov. 29, approved adopters can visit USPSOperationSanta.com, read through the posted letters and choose one or more they’d like to fulfill. Once the letters are chosen, the adopters must follow the directions they received in their welcome email in order to fulfill the holiday wishes.
Businesses and other organizations can also get into the spirit of the season by creating teams to adopt letters. Everyone participating on a team must also go through the verification process.
Letter adopters are responsible for all costs to ship the gift packages, including appropriate postage.
Program Details
Hundreds of thousands of letters are written to the USPS Operation Santa program every year in hopes of being adopted. These letters are opened by “Santa’s Elves” and, for safety reasons, all personally identifiable information of the letter writers are removed (such as last names, addresses, ZIP Codes) and uploaded to USPSOperationSanta.com for adoption.
Letters will be available for adoption beginning Nov. 29. Verified adopters can read the letters and pick one — or more — that they’d like to fulfill.
There is no guarantee that letters submitted to the program will be adopted.
USPS Operation Santa History
The Postal Service began receiving letters to Santa more than a century ago. In 1912 Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock authorized local postmasters to allow postal employees and customers to respond to them. This act of kindness became what is now known as USPS Operation Santa.
The complete program history can be found online at the USPS Holiday Newsroom, along with additional news and information, including all domestic, international and military mailing and shipping deadlines.
The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
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More USPS holiday news, including shipping deadlines and the North Pole postmark, can be found at usps.com/holidaynews. For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional, please go to about.usps.com/newsroom/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.
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