Posti redirects mail to Santa Claus Post Office in Finland
Posti announced a campaign called North Pole Redirect to steer letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole toward the official Santa Claus Main Post Office in Rovaniemi. The effort addresses the annual volume of mail sent to an incorrect location despite the Arctic Circle address being recognized as Santa's official hometown.
Rovaniemi holds the sole claim to the title of Santa's official hometown, a designation reinforced when the European Union's Intellectual Property Office upheld the city's registered trademark earlier this year.
Special Santa mailboxes will be placed in three cities to collect letters for direct delivery to Finland. The London mailbox operates at Leicester Square from 4 to 8 November, the New York mailbox at Domino Park from 18 to 22 November, and the Toronto mailbox at Sankofa Square from 2 to 6 December.
Posti extended an open invitation to postal operators worldwide to forward North Pole-addressed mail to the Arctic Circle. MaltaPost already participates by maintaining a dedicated mailbox each December and sending thousands of letters onward to Finland.
Jenni Ihatsu, Vice President of Brand and Marketing at Posti, said: “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.”
Santa Claus Main Post Office functions as a year-round official branch of Finland's postal service rather than a seasonal attraction. Six postal elves staff the site continuously, with the team expanding to approximately twenty during the December peak.
The office processes about 500,000 letters annually, with daily arrivals reaching 30,000 during the busiest holiday weeks. More than 25 million letters have arrived from over 200 countries since the operation began.
Katja Tervonen, Chief Elf at Santa Claus Main Post Office, said: “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.”
Letters can also be mailed to campaign addresses without visiting the physical mailboxes. In the United Kingdom send to North Pole Redirect, P.O. Box 2662, 275 New North Road, London, N1 7AA. In the United States use North Pole Redirect, P.O. Box 5044, 697 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211. In Canada mail to North Pole Redirect, P.O. Box 427B, 2967 Dundas St. W., Toronto, ON M6P 1Z2. All submissions must arrive by 15 December to reach Lapland in time for hand delivery to Santa.
Participants may join a social media challenge by posting a photograph or video of themselves writing or posting a letter and tagging it #northpoleredirect. One winner will receive a trip for two to Rovaniemi that includes a guided visit to Santa Claus Main Post Office. The official mailing address remains Santa Claus Main Post Office, Arctic Circle, Finland.
