Seattle Shipping Store Encourages Community to Participate in Operation Santa

Seattle, Wash. — For the holidays this year, a local shipping center in Seattle, WA is asking their community to participate in Operation Santa—a longstanding tradition hosted by the United States Postal Service that dates back over 100 years.

For years, children have written letters to Santa Claus. But what happens to these letters once they are mailed off? According to the USPS website, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock established Santa's first mailroom in 1912 where local postmasters would open these letters for employees to read and respond to accordingly. The program was eventually opened to the public so that corporations, charities, and regular citizens could participate as well due to the ever-growing number of letters received each year.

"Operation Santa" is a program that children can still participate in today. All they must do is write a letter expressing what they want for Christmas, then their parents put the child's name and full return address on the envelope. Then, parents put a First-Class Mail Forever stamp on the letter and mail it to Santa's workshop address:

123 Elf Road

North Pole

88888

Note that not every letter sent to Santa will be "adopted," so take care when mailing letters to follow instructions and do so in a timely manner (letters must be postmarked December 12th or before).

After the letters are received, they are sorted and scanned. The personal information is redacted before being posted to the USPS Operation Santa website. From there, individuals or businesses can "adopt" a letter. Adopters then purchase gifts for the child and ship them by December 19th via a participating USPS location. Finally, the present arrives at the child's home addressed "From Santa."

Adoption letter sign-ups for Operation Santa begin on Monday, November 28th. Head to uspsoperationsanta.com to get started.

Operation Santa is a timeless tradition, and The Mailbox Seattle is proud to be a part of it. Not to mention, they offer specialized packing and shipping services and can assist customers with all their shipping needs. For more information about Operation Santa or the services provided by The Mailbox Seattle, call them at (206) 728-1228 or visit their website at mailboxseattle.com.