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Post Office Changes Santa's Mail Operation

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Nov 20, 2009 11:10 pm US/Pacific

Post Office Changes Santa's Mail Operation

Linda Yee, Reporting.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― A child's scrawl is unmistakable. And the San Francisco Post Office is already seeing a lot of it on letters. They are the letters to Santa addressed to the North Pole. But this year, the mail operation at North Pole, Alaska will be different.

"We've got hundreds of thousands of letters that come and kids are counting on this," said North Pole Mayor Douglas Isaacson.

Changes are necessary because last year a Santa volunteer at a Maryland Post Office turned out to be a registered sex offender.

So, as a precaution, now Santa volunteers everywhere will only get to see part of the kids letters—no full names or addresses—to protect the child's identity.

A sad state of affairs, say parents everywhere.

"It's kind of disheartening for kids, but at the same token I understand it because that is an easy way to get access to children," one parent told CBS 5.

The postal service has been offering the Operation Santa program at 100 post offices for nearly a century. But because of what happened with the sex offender–all of these programs have been scaled back.

Post offices in San Francisco and Oakland will still ask volunteers to help answer letters of fulfill a child's wish with presents – but with new restrictions and guidelines.

"What we're doing is we're redacting some of the information from the letters," said U.S. Postal Service spokesman Jim Wigdel, "which protects the privacy of children."

It's labor intensive to take out the last names and addresses, so that means the Post Office won't be able to get to every letter. They'll search out only the hard luck cases.

"We'll find the needy letters," said Wigdel, "letters from kids whose parents have lost their jobs and all they want is food on the table. Last year we had a letter where all the kid wanted was a bed to sleep on."

Santa gets about a million letters like these every year and it's likely most won't even be opened. A Grinch is stealing Christmas this year.

Volunteers who would like to answer a letter or buy a needy child presents for the Post Office Operation Santa Program will have letters available on December 1, 8 and 15, from 11 am to 1pm at two Bay Area locations:

San Francisco: 1300 Evans Street
Oakland: 201 13th Street

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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