63. Writing to Santa Claus is something that children around the world do, but which country's postal service set up the postal code H0H 0H0 for letters sent to Kris Kringle?
From Quiz Did You Know...?
Answer:
Canada
In the 1970s, staff at Canada Post noticed that a large number of letters to Santa were entering the Canadian postal system. Owing to the addresses being used, these letters were treated as being undeliverable, and so, not wanting children to be disappointed at the lack of a response, staff began answering them. As a result of the increasing amount of mail being sent every Christmas, in 1983 Canada Post decided to set up an official Santa letter response programme, which included a special address, including a Canadian postcode.
Postal codes in Canada operate using an alphanumeric system consisting of six digits, with a space in the middle, using the sequence LNL NLN, where 'L' is a letter and 'N' is a number. For letters to Santa, Canada Post devised the postcode H0H 0H0, which can be read as "Ho, ho, ho". In this context, the postcode itself is anomalous, as 'H' is primarily used to indicate addresses in and around the city of Montreal, while '0' is for rural areas. Besides Santa's, the only other H0 postcode in use is H0M, which is assigned to the Akwesasne tribal reserve that straddles the boundary between Ontario and Quebec, as well as crossing over the order into New York State.