IN THE lead up to Christmas, a red postbox of a different kind has appeared at the Swan Hill post office
Missing the familiar Australia Post logo, the letters posted here are destined for postcode 9999 — about as far north as you can go, and the exclusive domain of a rotund old man in a red suit.
Santa Mail is a much loved AusPost tradition and Swan Hill post office employees Mark Haeusler and Karen McLennan look back fondly at the days when they would get the letters for Santa, before the process was centralised to Melbourne around five years ago.
“They were pearlers,” recalled Mr Haeusler.
“There were lots of requests for ponies.”
“You can definitely tell the girls and boys apart,” said Ms McLennan.
“The girls are all colourful with stickers and stuff drawn all over it like ‘I love you Santa’.”
But with each Christmas, the amount of Santa Mail received by Swan Hill post office is waning.
Australian children, confronted with so many other avenues of communication, are much less likely to pick up a pen and write to Mr Claus than they were 20 years ago.
“It’s less popular than it used to be,” said Mr Haeusler.
“Posting letters to Santa is losing its appeal — they’ll be emailing to Santa,” said Ms McLennan.
Preschool children tend to be the most typical senders of Santa Mail, and Ms McLennan said the red Santa Mail box was still guaranteed to put a smile on the face of every child who walks through the post office door.
Wishlists should be sent off before Christmas and addressed to: Santa, North Pole 9999. Letters require a 70 cent stamp and the full name and address of the sender.
For more great stories, pick up a copy of Wednesday’s Guardian (November 11).
