bobandcarole[_36_]
December 15th 07, 04:23 PM
Canada Post tries to weed out naughty Santa letters
CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, December 14, 2007
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OTTAWA -- Canada Post is introducing new security measures to avoid
future tampering with its popular letters to Santa program.
"We were absolutely horrified at the news that some recipients in the
Ottawa area of mail from Santa have received very inappropriate
letters," said Moya Greene, the president and chief executive officer
of Canada Post.
"We apologize again to those families affected and are taking every
step possible -- including co-operating fully with police -- to find
the people who did this and to ensure there are no repetitions."
Canada Post has had nine reports of families receiving mail with
inappropriate messages in the National Capital Region. A 10th letter
was discovered at an Ottawa-area sorting plant after the program was
temporarily suspended and Canada Post started inspecting all outgoing
Santa mail.
There were four more reports of inappropriate letters on Friday. In
each case, the letters and envelopes have been turned over for
investigation.
Canada Post says more than one million children write to Santa at his
'North Pole H0H 0H0' address every year. Each letter that includes a
return address receives a reply written by a Canada Post "elf."
"We are now ensuring that we have a full record of the names of each
letter-writer alongside the volunteer handling the response," said
Cindy Daoust, the director of the Santa mail program. "We will keep a
master list or sign-off sheet that will allow us to track who is
responsible for each letter."
Class letters will be also be logged, so that information on either
the school or teacher is recorded with the volunteer identifying
information. A permanent logging and tracking process will be included
in next year's program.
Canada Post is also urging Ottawa-area parents to open Santa letters
themselves before passing them on to their children.
Canada Post has also launched an internal "Save Santa" campaign,
asking additional employees to volunteer their time to help write and
ship mail under the new practices to ensure children get their letters
before Christmas.
"With this extra help, we will do our utmost to reach every child
before Christmas," Ms. Daoust said.
"We send out more than a million letters from Santa a year worldwide.
One or two Grinches can't stop Christmas from arriving, or Santa's
letters being delivered."
Canada Post is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for
sending and receiving the most letters to Santa worldwide.
CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, December 14, 2007
Story Tools
-+ Change font size
Print this story
E-Mail this story
Share This Story
Digg
Del.icio.us
More
OTTAWA -- Canada Post is introducing new security measures to avoid
future tampering with its popular letters to Santa program.
"We were absolutely horrified at the news that some recipients in the
Ottawa area of mail from Santa have received very inappropriate
letters," said Moya Greene, the president and chief executive officer
of Canada Post.
"We apologize again to those families affected and are taking every
step possible -- including co-operating fully with police -- to find
the people who did this and to ensure there are no repetitions."
Canada Post has had nine reports of families receiving mail with
inappropriate messages in the National Capital Region. A 10th letter
was discovered at an Ottawa-area sorting plant after the program was
temporarily suspended and Canada Post started inspecting all outgoing
Santa mail.
There were four more reports of inappropriate letters on Friday. In
each case, the letters and envelopes have been turned over for
investigation.
Canada Post says more than one million children write to Santa at his
'North Pole H0H 0H0' address every year. Each letter that includes a
return address receives a reply written by a Canada Post "elf."
"We are now ensuring that we have a full record of the names of each
letter-writer alongside the volunteer handling the response," said
Cindy Daoust, the director of the Santa mail program. "We will keep a
master list or sign-off sheet that will allow us to track who is
responsible for each letter."
Class letters will be also be logged, so that information on either
the school or teacher is recorded with the volunteer identifying
information. A permanent logging and tracking process will be included
in next year's program.
Canada Post is also urging Ottawa-area parents to open Santa letters
themselves before passing them on to their children.
Canada Post has also launched an internal "Save Santa" campaign,
asking additional employees to volunteer their time to help write and
ship mail under the new practices to ensure children get their letters
before Christmas.
"With this extra help, we will do our utmost to reach every child
before Christmas," Ms. Daoust said.
"We send out more than a million letters from Santa a year worldwide.
One or two Grinches can't stop Christmas from arriving, or Santa's
letters being delivered."
Canada Post is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for
sending and receiving the most letters to Santa worldwide.