North Pole Postmark Offered Through December 15

According to a news release from the U.S. Postal Service, once again, USPS is offering North Pole postmarks on holiday mail in 2014.

To receive the North Pole postmark on your holiday cards, you should:

• Purchase stamps at any post office.
• Affix the stamps to envelopes of your choice.
• Address the sealed envelopes, with the cards enclosed, to those on your mailing list.
• Mail them in a larger envelope,  box,  Priority Mail or Express Mail package to:

NORTH POLE HOLIDAY CANCELLATION
POSTMASTER
4141 POSTMARK DR
ANCHORAGE AK 99530-9998

Requests must be received in Anchorage by December 15, 2014 in order to ensure delivery by Christmas. The Postal Service receives hundreds of thousands of requests each year for North Pole postmarks from around the world.  The service is provided at no cost.  Each card or letter must have the correct amount of postage and be addressed.

Postcard US-2529937 to Taiwan shows a rubber stamp impression of polar bears sledding on a sleigh with a USPS Gingerbread House Forever stamp, before the card was sent in for cancellation last year.

Merry Christmas from North Pole, Alaska

I sent a postcard on November 15, 2013 to get a North Pole Holiday Cancellation. It came back today with a spray-on postmark generated by computer. I can understand that it is more efficient to process daily mails by printing postmarks using a high-speed ink-jet printer. But I am disappointed to see they are not using a more traditional stamp like other places do for the holiday mails. Especially you can hardly tell what that picture is. It is interesting to read what Josh Gerstein, staff reporter of the Sun (New York), wrote 'You've Got To Face It': The Postmark Is Going the Way of the Telegram on May 10, 2006.

For those who wish to get a North Pole Holiday Cancellation, please follow the steps from my previous blog.

Countdown to Christmas

I received Postcard FI-1935334 from Finland today, and it was my first Christmas card this year, if I didn't count the one I sent to myself to get a "Christmas, FL" postmark. It kicks off a countdown to Christmas and New Year.

Early today, I also send out some official PostCrossing postcards to get North Pole postmarks. To receive the North Pole postmark on your holiday mails, you should:

• Purchase stamps at any post office or online. 
• Affix the stamps to postcards or envelopes of your choice. 
• Address the stamped postcards or the sealed envelopes with the greeting cards enclosed, to those on your mailing list. 
• Mail them in a larger envelope, box, Priority Mail or Express Mail package to: 

NORTH POLE HOLIDAY CANCELLATION
POSTMASTER
4141 POSTMARK DR
ANCHORAGE AK 99530-9998

Make sure your package is received by December 10, 2013 in Anchorage to ensure Christmas delivery.