USPS Office of Inspector General

Each year, hundreds of thousands of children write letters to Santa Claus, but did you know that sometimes Santa responds? Operation Santa, a program run by the Postal Service, allows children to mail a letter to a special Santa address. Then volunteers — including postal employees, customers, or teams — can adopt the letter and send a gift to the letter writer.

The pandemic has had a devastating impact on many American businesses, disrupting operations of every type and size. While the U.S. Postal Service has also been adversely affected, it continued to deliver mail and packages throughout the pandemic to every address in the nation, ensuring people receive medication and other important material every day.

But what about the safety of the 641,000 postal workers working out of 31,500 facilities across the United States?

As we release our Fall Semiannual Report to Congress (SARC) highlighting our work from April 1 through September 30 of this year, the country still finds itself amid a global health crisis that has impacted just about all aspects of American life, including the bedrock of any democracy — the voting process.

Many of you likely use Global Position System (GPS) on a regular basis, driving to someplace new or maybe using a GPS-driven app to avoid traffic. But did you know the Postal Service uses GPS to manage its highway transportation contracts?

While many of you may have experienced going to your local post office and picking up some free packaging — a box, envelope, or tube, maybe — you may not know that you can order the same supplies and have them delivered to your front door.