Millions of letters to Santa go off route - This Christmas, Finland's postal service helps fix the world's biggest address mix-up

Every year, millions of letters are sent to Santa at the North Pole, even though his official hometown is in the Arctic Circle in Finland in a city called Rovaniemi. This Christmas, Finland's postal service is calling on the world to get his address right.

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.

In the UK, the mailbox will be located at Leicester Square in London from Wednesday 4 November to Sunday 8 November. People can also participate by sending their letters to the campaign PO Box, ensuring that children and families across the country can take part.

Despite local letter programmes, the UK is already among the top ten countries sending letters to Santa Claus' Main Post Office. However, many of those letters ultimately find their way to Rovaniemi despite often being addressed to Santa at the North Pole.

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 marvelling 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 15 December 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

Press kit with photos and videos: https://transfer.salomaa.fi/message/Ffs8XoxQfKbPoG1R6CDq96

More information: santa.post.fi

About Posti

Posti is one of the leading delivery and fulfillment companies in Finland, Sweden, and the Baltics. We make our customers' everyday lives smoother with a wide range of services, which includes parcels, freight, and postal services as well as warehouse, fulfillment, and logistics services. Our goal is to transport completely fossil-free by 2030 and be at zero by 2040. Our net sales in 2025 amounted to EUR 1,447.6 million and we have approximately 13,700 employees. Posti Group's shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki official list.

www.posti.com