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Many people associate Santa Claus with the North Pole. But when it comes to an official hometown, Rovaniemi is the only city to carry the title. Earlier this year, the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office also upheld the city’s registered trademark, “The Official Hometown of Santa Claus”.
Many people associate Santa Claus with the North Pole. But when it comes to an official hometown, Rovaniemi is the only city to carry the title. Earlier this year, the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office also upheld the city’s registered trademark, “The Official Hometown of Santa Claus”.
Now, Finland’s postal service Posti is taking the correction one step further. Posti, which runs Santa Claus’ Main Post Office in the Arctic Circle, is launching a campaign to tackle what it calls “the world’s biggest address mix-up”: the millions of letters still sent to Santa at the North Pole.
As part of the initiative, special Santa mailboxes will appear in selected locations, giving people the chance to get their letters directly to the Arctic Circle.
The North Pole Redirect makes sure every letter is heard
Posti is particularly targeting countries where the North Pole is deeply established as Santa’s address, including the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. Throughout this holiday season, special Santa mailboxes will be introduced in London, New York and Toronto, and every letter collected from them will be delivered to Santa Claus’ Main Post Office before Christmas.
Posti is also inviting other postal services around the world to forward letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole to the Arctic Circle in Finland. In some countries, postal operators already go the extra mile. MaltaPost, for example, provides a special mailbox each Christmas and forwards thousands of letters to Finland every year.
For Posti, every letter to Santa represents something bigger than mail: a cherished tradition shared around the world.
“People write to Santa to be heard. Their hopes and wishes matter to us. By our estimate, millions of letters to Santa are misdirected every year, and we don’t want a single wish lost along the way. That’s why this Christmas we’re making it easier for more letters to reach Santa,” says Jenni Ihatsu, Vice President, Brand and Marketing at Posti, Finland’s Postal Service.
A global Christmas tradition
Santa Claus’ Main Post Office is not simply a Christmas attraction. It is an official branch of Finland’s postal service, operated by Posti throughout the year. Six postal elves work there year-round, with the team growing to around 20 during the peak Christmas period.
The post office receives approximately 500,000 letters every year. In the busiest weeks of the holiday season, as many as 30,000 letters arrive in a single day.
Letters to Santa are sent from nearly every corner of the globe, from Europe and Asia to North America and beyond. Over the years, Santa Claus’ Main Post Office has received more than 25 million letters from 200-plus countries.
“On any given day, we might be reading letters from Poland, Taiwan, Italy, Japan or Finland. Each one of them brings a small piece of the world to our door, in different languages, drawings and stories. My elf team and I never stop marveling at them, and we’re ready for more,” says Katja Tervonen, Chief Elf at Santa Claus’ Main Post Office.
How to participate
Find a special mailbox:
Official Santa mailboxes will be available at selected locations:
• Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom (4–8 November)
• Domino Park, New York, United States (18–22 November)
• Sankofa Square, Toronto, Canada (2–6 December)
Write to a country-specific campaign address:
- In the UK:
North Pole Redirect
P.O. Box 2662
275 New North Road
London, N1 7AA - In the US:
North Pole Redirect
P.O. Box 5044
697 Grand St
Brooklyn, NY 11211 - In Canada:
North Pole Redirect
P.O. Box 427B
2967 Dundas St. W.
Toronto, ON M6P 1Z2
Letters arriving by December 15th will be gathered and transported to Lapland, where they will be hand-delivered to Santa at Santa Claus’ Main Post Office.
As an added incentive, participants can also enter a social media challenge, with a winner receiving a trip to Rovaniemi and Santa Claus’ Main Post Office.
Santa Claus’ Official Address:
Santa Claus’ Main Post Office
Arctic Circle
FINLAND
