Letters to Santa are filled with data: names, addresses, ages, shoe sizes — information only Santa knows. We created an online platform for letters, vetted and sorted based on the information they contained. On the platform, people could browse and choose from handwritten letters that they could respond to with gifts. After adoption, our Santas were given instructions on how to shop for, wrap and ship the gifts. We created thorough instructional materials, provided documents and sent reminder emails to make the process easy from start to finish. We also built a secure database that could provide adopters with the information they needed to buy a gift while protecting the identity of those receiving the gift. We devised an 11-digit ID system that allowed us to monitor who was adopting which letters and would also allow Postal Service employees to see and create the mailing label.

The handwritten letters were scanned and uploaded to the website with wants and sizes available, but sensitive data redacted. 4,780 New Yorkers in the pilot area adopted letters, using that extracted data to become Santa for a family. They brought gifts back to the Post Office, labeled with their unique IDs, to send out. Postal Service employees matched IDs to addresses, keeping children and families safe and ensuring delivery of the items. By expanding Operation Santa to the digital world and developing a full user journey — spanning from the Post Office’s reception of a letter to a person’s adoption of a family to the Christmas Eve delivery of the gifts — with data, we made an interaction with the U.S. Postal Service enriching from beginning to end.

Every online letter from the pilot program was adopted. Gifts were successfully delivered to families in need in time for the holidays. New York’s thousands of Santas seamlessly used the data they received to fulfill wishes, and the family’s private information was protected. The program will return, this time nationwide, for the holidays in 2018 because of the program’s success.

Santa has valuable data on all of us. He knows what you want for Christmas, if you’ve been bad or good, where you live and what sizes you wear. Letters to Santa hold a lot of this data, too, meaning that the U.S. Postal Service has the ability to make anyone Santa. Using smart data processes, they were able to share important information without compromising safety and privacy. The idea revolves around analyzing and applying Santa’s data.

We scanned every letter, pulling key data points to show people what was needed to fulfill a wish. Things like children’s first names for a personal connection, ages and clothing sizes, asks and wants that could be fulfilled. Sensitive information, like last names and addresses, was encrypted, used only by the Postal Service for delivery later. Each letter received an ID that would connect it to the hidden information only the Postal Service had access to. Our system allowed us to receive two different letters at two different times from a brother and sister, then instantly pair them together for adoption. Letters grouped by household would be adopted together to ensure all children in the same hope get a response.

Every holiday season, the U.S. Postal Service receives millions of letters addressed to Santa Claus. Most are written by needy children asking for help with basic needs. But the letters are technically undeliverable. Operation Santa was started by the Postal Service to give the public an opportunity to respond and keep the belief in Santa alive. Every year, these letters are put out for people to read and adopt, and every year, thousands go unanswered. Our goal was to answer every letter. We wanted to make every New Yorker in our digital pilot program a Santa, and to prove that the project could scale nationwide.