USPS To Steve Albini: We Are The Grinch

Postal Service effectively brings the hammer down on the producer's annual program to distribute gifs to the needy.

By Fred Mills

The lights of Christmas dimmed just a bit over the last few days as word got out that due to a shift in policy by the US Postal Service regarding kids' letters to Santa, famed Chicago producer (and Shellac frontman) Steve Albini might not be able to distribute gifts to needy children as he's done in the past.

According to a Chicago Tribune report Albini, along with his wife, had in years previous taken clothing, cash and toys around the Chicago area at Christmastime, having tapped funds raised through a charity. The figure cited in the report was "more than $100,000" - that's not just reindeer food. Albini would obtain letters to Santa - not specifically children's, but from families asking for help - from the USPS and determine which families were the neediest.

Albini told a reporter, "There's so much money that it can literally save a family's entire year." He and his wife would personally deliver the items on Christmas day, surprising the recipients "with no strings attached."

What's now happened, however, is that the USPS has changed its policy as regards issues of privacy, meaning that they black out names and addresses on the Santa-bound letters, and although Albini stressed that he had "only used letters written by adults" and not children "looking for computer games or a new scooter," the policy will be enforced despite his protestations.

"Try to imagine how desperate you'd have to be to write a letter to an anonymous Santa asking for help. That's how desperate people are," Albini said. "I hope the post office can be made to see how much damage they're doing and change their policy."

Just the same, the postal service decided to "err on the side of caution" in the wake of a sex offender in Maryland obtaining a letter written to Santa by a young girl last year. Albini subsequently contacted his U.S. Representative Danny Davis but Davis opted to side with the postal officials, saying "Better to be safe than sorry, that what my momma used to tell us. You can't be too protective."

As a result, the Albinis are exploring other options, including working with the local Jane Addams Hull House Association about determining who some of the neediest families are. The JAHHA is reportedly soliciting letters starting today and will work with the Albinis so that they will "have the same experience they used to have with the post office."

Read the entire, disappointing storey here.

(Thanks to Pitchfork and the Daily Swarm for the news tip.)