Santa Claus will make a flying visit to Dublin on Thursday to help An Post deliver responses to more than 140,000 letters sent to him at the North Pole by Irish children.
While some very eager children – or parents keen to have a summertime bargaining chip – sent their letters during as early as last June, the vast majority of North Pole bound post has been sorted and sent on by An Post over the last four weeks.
“We have been handling a lot of change of mind slips and sending on some possibly half chewed sweets and toy catalogue pages to Santa over the last few weeks ,” An Post spokeswoman Anna McHugh said.
“We have a lot of volunteers here who help Santa and we also have involved a Rehab group in Mount Mellick to make sure all Santa’s responses reach the children. It really is a big group effort at what is always our busiest time of the year.”
In a normal week An Post might handle around 2.5 million pieces of post each day. In the early part of December that doubles to over five million and in the last few days before Christmas, the company is handling over seven million letters and parcels every day.
“While Santa does appreciate it if people put stamps on their letters, it is not absolutely necessary and he will respond to everyone once they have included a return address on their letter,” Ms McHugh said.
She told The Irish Times that as the era of austerity took hold some Scrooge-like mandarins in official circles were looking at An Post's Partnership with Santa and wondering if it made economic sense.
“We . . . consider this a very important part of what we do and it is something we will always fight tooth and nail to hang on to,” she said.
An Post is anticipating a huge influx of post at the start of next week because Christmas Day falls on a Thursday. “It is the same every time Christmas falls on a Thursday,” she said. “They tend to leave some things until the Monday before Christmas because they think they have more time than they do.”
While naysayers have long predicted the demise – or at least the diminution – of the postal service in the digital age, online deliveries have driven new business the way of An Post.
“When it comes to online delivery, it is a highly competitive market but we are the market leader and have taken on the competition and won a lot of big international clients.”
She conceded, however, that none of them are as big, or as illustrious, as Santa.
Handling Santa’s letters is not the only way An Post is embracing the festive spirit – it organises carol services in Dublin’s GPO every lunch time from 1pm to 2pm.
And what do you think is the name of the man who leads the troupe of current and former An Post singers in the foyer?
Why it’s Noel Carroll.
Of course.
