Postal Service changes Operation Santa

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Naomi Pescovitz - View Bio

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If your kids are writing letters to Santa, you might want to think twice before bringing them to the post office.

For more than half a century, kids have been sending letters up to the north pole, hoping for a response from Santa.

"Every Christmas that was the thing," Susan Drake, mother of two said.

But with new security measures in place, "Operation Santa" will never be the same.

"We don't give unabridged letters to the public like they did in the past," Rob Soler with the United States Postal Service said. "In Tucson what it means is we wont be offering the letters to the general public anymore, they'll be lining up volunteers to handle responses."

Last year, kids could just drop off their "Dear Santa" letters in a drop box and anyone could help Santa out by coming to the post office, picking up the letter, and writing back.

"When children write these letters, they include a lot of personal information about themselves, their family, their school, their siblings, and in today's world we can't just make that available to the public in general like it was done in the past," Soler said.

Some parents say the postal service is overreacting.

"I don't think it's a big deal, they're letters to Santa Claus," Wenceslao Canez, father of three said. "I think people are just paranoid."

But others say they understand why the post office is being more selective when it comes to Santa's helpers.

"It's for the kids, and it's for safety reasons," Drake said. "So, maybe it's a good idea and we should reconsider how we used to handle things in the olden days."

For now, letters from Tucson kids will be sent to Phoenix where Santa has a volunteer group responding on his behalf.