Yes , Virginia , Santadoesread his ring mail .
Every year , millions of kids around the globe communicate with Jolly Old St. Nick the old - fashioned way : Pen ( or wax crayon ) and paper . The top three countries that return snail mail to Santa send more than 4 million letter annually : CNN estimatesthat 1.7 million derive from France , 1.35 million are sent from Canada , and more than a million letters are write in the U.S. ( The United States Postal Service does n’t have an exact turn , butsaysthe number of letters to Santa from American kids is “ easily in the millions . )
That ’s a portion of proportionateness . So what happens to all of it ? Well , as with any other piece of mail , it depends on how the letter was addressed .

In 1912 , the U.S. Postmaster General dedicate local postmaster the authority to tolerate employee and citizen to answer letters address to Santa . It finally became known as Operation Santa , and today , multiple locationsacross the U.S. participate in the program to help deliver gifts to poverty-stricken children . Those who require to play elf for the season can drop by any one of them and choose a missive ( or letter ) to Santa to fulfill . If you do n’t have a participating post office in your domain , you could volunteer to start an Operation Santa in your metropolis or donate to an existing location .
The USPS has another computer programme calledLetters to Santa , which guarantees children a reaction from the North Pole , but no presents . parent mail their children ’s letters to the “ North Pole Postmark Postmaster , ” along with Santa ’s reaction and a self - addressed , stamp envelope . The North Pole Postmark Postmaster will return the letter to the child with a special postmark from Santa .
The U.S. is n’t alone in its Yuletide philanthropic gift — there are similar Santa programs around the globe . TheRoyal Mailmakes sure shaver who send letters to Mr. Claus experience a response , as does theCanada Post , which even give the big guy rope the impost postal code “ H0H 0H0 . ” Brazil hasPapai Noel suffice Correios , a program similar to Operation Santa . And in France , any child who write to Le Père Noël will take in a response from a post officededicatedspecifically to the causal agent . In fact , since 1962 , pick up a reaction from Le Père Noël is actuallyguaranteedby law , bringing new substance to that whole " naughty or nice " thing .
Have you stimulate a Big Question you ’d like us to answer ? If so , let us be intimate by emailing us atbigquestions@mentalfloss.com .