Santa Claus made a stop in Logan last Saturday as part of the Center Street Arch Grand Opening. He is accepting letters from children who want to send their Christmas list to him.
LOGAN – The United States Postal Service has a direct line to the North Pole and Santa Claus’ mailbox. If a child sends a personalized letter by Dec. 13 to Jolly Old Saint Nick, they can receive a response.
The Postal Service wants to help children enjoy the magic of Christmas by offering a response to their letters.
Logan Postmaster Katie Evertsen said all of the letters are answered locally by Santa helpers or volunteer employees. The letters are returned only if they have a return address. The Logan Post Office, located at 75 West 200 North, also has a small red Santa mailbox inside the lobby if children would like to drop their letters there.
“We have people here that take the letters and spend about two hours a night after their shift writing return letters,” the postmaster said. “We have a mother and daughter team Cris Gillespie and daughter Alissa Gillespie making sure the Santa letters are answered in a timely matter.”
There are a few steps children must take to get their letter to Santa answered:
- The envelope must be addressed to Santa, North Pole and have a return address.
- It is important to affix a First Class Mail stamp to the envelope or place the envelope into a larger envelope, preferably a Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope, with appropriate postage and address it to North Pole Postmaster.
There may be other post offices in the valley that have Santa letter programs. Parents should contact their local post office to see if they have Santa helpers who answer children’s letters.
The USPS has a program where children can send Santa letters to the North Pole Postmark:
Postmaster
4141Postmark Drive
Anchorage, AK 99530-9998
Letters sent to the Anchorage address will be post marked the North Pole and should also be postmarked no later than Dec. 13 .
“The Santa letters sent to the North Pole in Alaska are different form the local letters,” Everton said. “Parents prepare the whole letter, they should answer their children’s letter on the same piece of paper.”
Then put the letter in self-addressed stamped envelope in a larger envelope, preferably Priority Mail Flat Rate, and send it to the above address, she said.
The postal service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.