US Stamps

Postal people with a heart

Dec 9, 2024, 8 AM

Not exactly regulation, but with heart, postal employees in York, Pa., answered letters to Santa in the mid-1980s and mailed them using a “postage verified” handstamp instead of actual postage.

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

The cover pictured above was sent to me by a former postal clerk in York, Pa., not far from the cover’s intended recipient in Shrewsbury, Pa., 15 miles away in southern York County.

The former clerk said the cover dated from about the mid-1980s.

As he explained the situation, local postal personnel took it upon themselves to answer children’s letters to Santa Claus. In order to save time with the letters received, they used handstamps in “post office purple” for the return address and in the postage corner.

Both markings are decorated with a Santa image. I asked why the “POSTAGE VERIFIED” marking was used when plainly there was no postage paid. He explained, “The postal people who answered the letters used plain envelopes and decorated them with the handstamps because using post office penalty envelopes would have given the game away.”

Are there still postal employees answering children’s letters to Santa Claus? I bet there are.

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