Santa and his little helpers have set a record this year with all the letters they have responded to.
Photo: fotoksa/123RF
NZ Post is experiencing the busiest season with letters to Santa, who has responded to more than 88,000 so far, 4000 by email and the rest physically, a spokesperson said.
It beats last year's figure of 77,000 responses, of which 8200 were via email.
Despite the year-on-year drop in general letter deliveries, the Christmas scheme continues to be popular as children continue a household tradition.
"NZ Post has been delivering the magic of Christmas for kids through this Write to Santa initiative for 20 years," an NZ Post spokesperson said.
"Writing to Santa is an age-old tradition and we believe that children get super excited and love the thrill from getting a personal letter in the mail from Santa."
Earlier this year, NZ Post chief executive David Walsh said the organisation typically now delivered 1.2 million fewer letters every week.
However, NZ Post said at this stage there were no plans to make Write to Santa purely online.
The establishment of the online Write to Santa initiative, set up two years ago, has helped reach more people across New Zealand as well as those overseas.
People from as far as China, Russia and Taiwan are sending in requests and letters to the jolly man via the online scheme.
Email responses for Write to Santa were expected to continue to rise as the season approached its end.
Those who sent in a physical letter could also opt for an email response instead.
All those writing to Santa will be pleased to know that the NZ Post shops' standalone closures will not have implications on them, according to the spokesperson.
