NORTH POLE — With the issuance of the new Holiday Elves Forever stamps today, the U.S. Postal Service is celebrating the tremendous effort of all holiday elves.

These stamps commemorate their incomparable skills in product production, time management, problem-solving, collaboration and overall positivity — as well as their unparalleled logistics acumen.

And, seriously, is there a better place in the world to dedicate these stamps than here at Santa Claus House at the North Pole? We don’t think so either.

“The elves have been hard at work here preparing for the upcoming season and so have the more than 650,000 Postal Service employees nationwide. The Postal Service is proud of its role delivering holiday cards and packages,” said Michael J. Elston, the Secretary of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, who served as the dedicating official. “We know these new stamps will make the perfect addition to holiday greeting cards.”

The Holiday Elves stamps are se-tenant, which means they work together both as a single scene or as individual images. Artist Don Clark first sketched his design and then created the final illustration digitally. Antonio Alcalá was the art director.

Santa’s elves make toys, take care of the reindeer, maintain the sleigh, manage the North Pole mailroom and help Santa with a wide variety of other tasks. The mailroom position is huge! The elves sort the letters written to Santa and make sure that every one of them is read by the Big Guy.

USPS Operation Santa

Speaking of those letters to Santa, the Postal Service is celebrating the 110th anniversary of its beloved USPS Operation Santa program this year. USPS Operation Santa provides an online channel where people can safely and securely help children and families have a magical holiday when they otherwise might not— one letter to Santa at a time. It allows individuals to adopt letters written to Santa and send thoughtful, heartfelt gifts anonymously.

USPS Operation Santa is not a guaranteed gift-giving program. It relies solely on random acts of kindness and the generosity of strangers. For more information, visit USPSOperationSanta.com or usps.com/holidaynews.

“USPS Operation Santa allows generous customers to grant the holiday wishes of children and families in need. The program is now accepting wish lists for this year’s program. We know this is earlier than usual, but we’re pretty excited to get the season started and we know kids around the country are eager to write to Santa, using these stamps on the envelopes,” Elston added.

Customers may purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the Postal Store at usps.com/shopstamps, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through USA Philatelic or at Post Office locations nationwide.

By the way, holiday greeting cards should be mailed in just 10 weeks!

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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