Santa’s post office reopens on Nov 5 with brand new look

The Santa Claus’ Main Post Office which has remained closed since September 15 for renovation work is set to resume its operations on November 5 with a new and more vibrant interior.

“We will have a brand new interior in our shop! That includes new furniture, for example, new and more ergonomic cash desk, new lightning and air condition system, some new paint on the wall and other Christmas details in our interior. In addition to that, our logo has gone through a little facelift, with a new and brighter font,” said Supervisor of the Posti, also Head Elf of Santa Claus Post office Katja Tervonen.

She said Santa Claus’ Main Post Office is a real post office from where the visitors can send mails (postcards, parcels) stamped with the unique Arctic Circle postmark. “You can send mail from our post office either right away (yellow mailbox) or just before Christmas (red mailbox!). We also have a large variety of postcards, unique stamps, gift items and the genuine letter from Santa Claus, which you can order for Christmas!”

According to Tervonen, the post office is one of the most visited and beloved destinations in Santa Claus Village. “Each year we have more than 300,000 visitors from across the world. Together with other service providers located in Santa Claus Village, our post office does an important job in affirming and enriching the fact that Rovaniemi is the official hometown of Santa!” she added.

Three elves work in the post office all year round, but for the Christmas season the authorities need more help and appoint about 10 elves to manage the huge rush of letters and greetings cards. “During the busy Christmas time – which already starts in early November – we have around 10 elves working in our post office,” said Tervonen.

She said the main task of the employee is “of course customer service. We help customers with all their questions regarding sending mail; we sell stamps, postcards and other products such as gift items. We also take care of the letters that arrive to Santa; we open them carefully and put them in neat piles sorted out by country. We actually have a small exhibition in our post office of the letters that have been sent to Santa over the years.”

Tervonen said the idea of having a post office at Santa Claus Village goes way back. When the story went out that Santa Claus lives in Finnish Lapland, that is as early as in the 1930’s, people around the world started to send letters to him. People in Rovaniemi figured that there must be a post office for Santa, where he can receive all the thousands of letters! The then Finnish Post Ltd established the post office in the village in the early 1980’s and today Santa receives around 500,000 letters a year.

According to the sources at the national postal and logistic services operator Posti, during the renovation since September 15, customers have been being served at the Rovaniemi central Posti at Koskikatu and all parcels and other items requiring a signature that arrive to the residents of the Arctic Circle were also be directed to the central Posti.

The mailbox in front of Santa Claus’ Main Post Office in Tähtikuja, however, has been available all through the renovation period and all the items dropped in the box have received the special postmark of Santa Claus’ Main Post Office.