Come Chat About Reindeer

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On Saturday, December 3rd, 2022, at 10am EST, Elf Victor of the Reindeer Operations Department will be visiting Elf Chat at SantaTrackers.net.

The annual Reindeer Games begin tomorrow at the North Pole. This grand event usually brings up a lot of questions. This is one reason why Elf Victor will be in Elf Chat this week.

Another reason is to ensure that Tracker Elves can ask and get answered all the questions they have about how reindeer work in Operation Merry Christmas. From what reindeer are fed when Santa travels on Christmas Eve to how reindeer prepare for that worldwide trek will be discuss.

Elf Victor wants to answer EVERY question our tracker elf team has.

You can learn more about Elf Victor at this link. He is one of Santa’s longest serving elves and he has been answering questions via chat at SantaUpdate.com for years. Despite his advanced age, Elf Victor has no plans to retire.

He is one of Santa’s best friends and a key part to Operation Merry Christmas.

We hope you can join the chat. If you cannot, feel free to ask your question for Elf Victor in the comments below and we will try to include your question in the chat. A recap of this special chat event will be posted after.

Elf Winslow

Biggest Week of the Year So Far

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Greetings Elves!

I am pleased to report that last week saw a huge increase in the number of new elves and new reports tallied in North Pole Flight Command.

This is not entirely a surprise. The week of Thanksgiving usually sees a big increase in interest in tracking Santa for Santa. So many people out there, for whatever reason, decide the week of Thanksgiving that they want to become elves. We give them that chance.

The big questions to be answered are: What kind of elves will they be? Will their reports really help Santa? Can they get enough training behind them in time to really know how to file a quality report?

The answers to those questions only come in the weeks ahead. For now, here are the numbers:

North Pole Tracker Elves: 117,620
Freelance Tracker Elves: 13,639,943

Total Elves Tracking Santa for Santa = 13,757,563

As you can tell, the vast number of new elves are freelance elves. That has a huge bearing over the quality of reports we are seeing in Flight Command. I have met with each elf supervisor to discuss this issue. Most elf supervisors are thrilled to have so many new elves but most are also frustrated because the report data they are receiving is not good.

In fact, elf supervisors have decided to start “culling” elves while in season – meaning they will dismiss those elves who either submit sub-standard reports or no reports at all. They just don’t have time for people who want to be elves in name only. I’m sure they will address this individually in their reports this week.

Elf Moe also reports a number of issues monitoring the Elf Community on SantaTrackers.net. This is not surprising, just disappointing. Knowing and living by the Elf Code is new for many elves and we’re trying to give as many elves a chance as we can.

As far as reports go this week, it was very productive:

Reports from North Pole Tracker Elves: 106,251,961
Reports from Freelance Tracker Elves: 176,824,740

Total Reports from Tracker Elves Worldwide = 283,086,701

This new tally shows that we are 28% to goal, roughly, so far. This is an acceptable performance.

In Flight Command we are grappling with organizing all this information and making it useful for Santa. We are gratified to have new information about places we had nothing on before. It is exciting to see this. Santa has not yet seen some of this information but we have meetings set up with him soon to start presenting it to him.

Elves, keep up the good work. Please focus on your Elf Supervisor. They will tell you what is more important to work on this week.

Elf Roger Star

Sector 5 Standing Tall

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Elves of Sector 5, you are the best. Always have been. We just love Santa more in Sector 5, I guess.

Here’s where we stand so far for this year:

North Pole Tracker Elves: 55,986
Freelance Tracker Elves: 6,387,669
Total Tracker Elves: 6,443,655

That’s a huge number but it’s not great. We have had many, many more elves in the past and I think we’re going to get clobbered with new elves in the next several weeks. New elves, however, are not BETTER elves. In fact, it hurts our quality scores a lot.

So if you see new elves on the Elf Wall do your best to bring them up to speed as fast as you can. You have been here all year and you know all that has happened. You understand that Santa is more concerned with our reporting quality than any other number, such as elves, that we hit. We need to do good work as elves.

As far as our reports go, here’s the tally:

North Pole Tracker Elf Reports: 212,747
Freelance Tracker Elf Reports: 21,718,075
Total Tracker Elf Reports: 21,930,821

Our tracker elf report ratio is 3.4, highest in the world. Our target is 8. So we have work to do. Here is what Santa has to say to us this year:

Feedback from Santa:
Friends in Sector 5 – you’re like no other place in the world. Most number of elves, most number of reports. But you also have a lot going for you that most sectors do not. You have greater Internet access. Better information at your disposal. More active elves. Huge amounts of Christmas spirit in the stores, the schools, the town squares and on the city streets. Where much is given much is expected. I have worries in Sector 5. More people are hurting there this year, more than I’ve seen in a long time. We must help them. That begins by being eyes-up and looking for ways to serve. That’s what we as elves do. So I want to hear from you about any special situations or concerns. I know of many things but I don’t know of everything. Please help me find those who need help. Especially with food. It’s weird to say that in Sector 5 but this year it is a real thing. You should see some of the letters I get. In terms of tracking and delivery, there are two big things on my mind: roof tops and whether or not they can hold my sleigh. And are people being nice? Elf Pinky will direct you on how you can help get information about these concerns to me. Have a great Thanksgiving, friends! I’ll be celebrating it too! — Santa

Your duties this week:

With Thanksgiving this week I know many of you have time off from school and jobs. It would be easy, I think, to flood you will work to do. But Santa and I don’t want that. Enjoy your families. Do what you can to spread the good cheer of Christmas and invite others to become elves. Show them what you do.

We always need more elves!

Chat with Santa

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Chat with Santa Claus this Sunday in North Pole Chat at SantaUpdate.com.

This event has been posted at SantaUpdate.com for about a week now but I wanted to make note of it here as well. Santa has very limited availability this year due to all of his travels before Christmas so we want to make sure everyone is aware of this event.

We have already received many questions for Santa via the other website. If you cannot make this scheduled event for Sunday, please leave your question for Santa in the comments below. We will try to get as many of them answered as we possibly can.

Chat with Santa

Report for Sector 4

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Hola, amigos! As we head into the week of Thanksgiving, this is where we stand as a sector:

North Pole Tracker Elves: 2,496
Freelance Tracker Elves: 471,221
Total Tracker Elves: 473,717

And here is our report tally for the week:

North Pole Tracker Elf Reports: 8,237
Freelance Tracker Elf Reports: 1,460,785
Total Tracker Elf Reports: 1,469,022

Our goals: 
Total Tracker Elves: 3.8 million
Total Tracker Elf Reports: 17 million

As you can see, we have a long way to go. In fact, if I’m being honest, we are not off to a very strong start. But this isn’t unusual. We are usually a little behind everyone else at this point in the season. But we catch up fast! And that is exactly what we are going to do this year. Fortunately, as you can see, Santa has faith in us:

Feedback from Santa:
How I love coming to Sector 4. There are no more happier people in the world than the good people of Sector 4. I appreciate their Christmas spirit. I am concerned for many of them this year. It has been a difficult year in a lot of places. So this week I’d like you elves to take a good look around and file reports that Elf Tubby might ask for that address how things feel and look for Christmas in Sector 4. I know this will be hard in Greenland. However, there are few people there and it should be fairly easy for the few elves we have in Greenland. If need be, Greenland is close enough that we can dispatch some elves from the North Pole there to check things out. As far as delivery goes in Sector 4 I have a number of worries. Parking the sleigh is a bit of a challenge in some areas. I don’t do rooftops much in Sector 4. But yards are typically small and I don’t like parking the sleigh on the street. What you report about the ground and pictures of places you think I can land the sleigh are important to me. We could use a few more elves in Sector 4. Please talk to your friends. — Santa

Instructions for this week, please send in the following reports:

We have much to do, friends! Let’s get elf-busy!

Celebrate the Elf Parade

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The Thanksgiving Day Elf Parade is a tradition celebrated by elves everywhere – including you! (We hope)

Just as we did last year, we are encouraging tracker elves everywhere to join in the festivities of Thanksgiving by sharing photos of themselves in their elf outfit, of their home tracking center, of their decorated trikes, bikes, scooters, long boards or other vehicular transport of choice, or even of themselves in front of their Christmas tree. You can either post them to the Elf Wall or share them via the form below.

We will collect images from this site and from SantaUpdate.com to share with everyone later.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!

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Elf Crusader Named Sector Lead for Sector 5

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I am pleased to announce that Elf Crusader has been promoted to Sector Lead in Sector 5. As such, he in effect becomes my assistant here at SantaTrackers.net.

Most Sector 5 elves are already well aware of Elf Crusader. Crusader is the North Pole Naturalist, a city captain, a Senior Elf, a member of Santa’s Council and a popular elf podcaster and a dedicated tracker elf whose presence on these boards is well known and appreciated. He is a mentor to many elves and a constant source of good information.

As Sector Lead Elf Crusader will step up his efforts to communicate with tracker elves of Sector 5 on a daily basis. Outside of my own occasional news reports Elf Crusader will keep elves informed in things I might share with him as we get closer to Santa’s launch. He is trusted, calm and responsible. I find Elf Crusader ideally suited for this role and you can depend on him to provide you with timely information.

My reports post each Friday. Elf Crusader will be sharing information with you via the elf wall daily on a more informal basis.

He will answer your questions. When he can’t answer something Elf Crusader has contacts both with me and other elves he knows at the North Pole and North Pole Flight Command to answer your questions.

He will be available to guide you through your training. He will assist Elf Moe, if necessary, in policing troubled posts. He will remind you of rules, deadlines, expectations and needs.

Elf Crusader will even be able to reach Santa from time to time on matters of tracking and Operation Merry Christmas.

Elf Crusader will work from his home tracking center – for now – but could be called upon if needed for service either here in Mistletoe or at the North Pole.

Some, in applying for the Lead position, have asked me if this position could lead to other positions in an elf career, possibly even a position at the North Pole. The answer to that is yes. This appointment has been approved by both Elf Roger and Santa himself.

Elf Crusader continues to be a pioneer of sorts. He is the first Sector lead to be named. I do not know what progress has been made in naming Sector leads in other Sectors but Santa has told me that we have not wanted to rush this process. It is unknown at this time if other leads will be named this year. However, Santa did say that the choice of Elf Crusader is inspired and that he “wishes this young elf all the best”.

Please join me in thanking Elf Crusader in advance for his time and efforts and in congratulating him on this new position. It is well deserved and I’m excited to have him on the Sector 5 team as our lead elf.

Sector Lead

Elf Promotions at Regional HQ

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Elf promotions at our Regional HQ in Mistletoe, Kentucky are effective immediately. These promotions needed to be made in advance of Operation Merry Christmas, which kicks off in just a couple of days.

I do not expect you to know these elves as they usually do not have time to be active on SantaTrackers.net. Yet they contribute a great deal to our efforts in Sector.

As you may or may not be aware, Sector 5 is the largest sector in terms of our count of elves and our flow of reports. We need these extra administrators to help us process information for operations at Flight Command.

These elves will serve in the following positions over the course of Operation Merry Christmas this year;

Elf Jennie Quade – Map Room Supervisor
Elf Jennie heads up the Map Room, a very important position that requires a huge amount of organizational skills. This giant room is filled with large computer screens that show weather maps, topographical maps, real estate maps, and transit maps. She also has on files copies or original vintage maps for reference. A staff of more than 40 elves supports her in the efforts to find information about any place within our sector quickly. Frequently she will be tasked with putting together fast reports for Santa about areas where he lacks information. When we do not have an elf in a neighborhood or near a home Santa is headed to Jennie will get the call to provide information quickly. One of her little known tools is an army of drones that she operates with the support of staff from Flight Command. When she needs more information quickly she can contact FC and they will dispatch drones to any location she specifies within 3 feet of her geographical coordinates. She can feed that information directly to Santa via live video feed or video archives.

Elf Gary Fronk – Flight Operations Coordinator
Elf Gary has spent years in Flight Command in Flight Operations and knows global sleigh flight protocols like few others. He will serve as a critical link with North Pole Flight Command as they shuttle sleighs in and out of Sector 5. Any sleigh entering our sector automatically comes under the direction of Elf Gary and his team. With a staff of more than 350 elves Gary leads the largest team at our Mistletoe, Kentucky headquarters. He must know where every sleigh is every minute they are in our sector and where they are going. He needs to keep them on schedule. They need to move with precision and accomplish their missions safely on time every time. This is a vital role and one Gary is very well suited for.

Elf Debbie Bartles – Messaging Director
Elf Debbie has spent decades working for Elf Ernest in the Public Relations Department at the North Pole. She is knew to remote location work this year and was selected to help keep the mail flowing to Santa within Sector 5. Her team of 80 elves directs all incoming electronic communications from internal sources, from government contacts, from military and industrial complex leadership, from states and municipalities and other authorities who seek coordination with North Pole Flight Command about Santa’s flight, Operation Air Lift and all other sleigh flights originating from the North Pole. She directs the most important messages to the correct party at the right time to keep communications current and timely. It’s a huge job. She also works with the North Pole Post Office to keep messages to Santa flowing back and forth between the North Pole and Santa.

Please stand-by for at least one more announcement of an important promotion that will affect elves worldwide.

Sector 3 Report

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Friends and Trackers in Sector 3, hello!

I am pleased to report that as of this date, our sector is on track for our goals for 2022. Operation Merry Christmas is depending on us and we have done very well so far. Congratulations!

Here is where we are by the numbers:

North Pole Tracker Elves: 7,894
Freelance Tracker Elves: 1,238,673
Total Tracker Elves: 1,246,567

I know we have de-emphasized the number of elves in our area. I understand as well the need for better and more information for Santa as he flies on Christmas Eve. But, common sense and some amount of math tells me that in order to grow our Tracker Elf reports we need to grow in tracker elf numbers. From the “elf purge” earlier this year we LOST more elves than any other sector. By the week of Christmas, I figure we’re going to need better than 5 million elves overall to do our part. So, spread the word. Let’s get some of those elves let go from earlier this year BACK. And let’s find some new elves, friends. Surely there are many others out there who want to be an elf. Show them how to become an elf.

Here’s our report status so far:

North Pole Tracker Elf Reports: 23,682
Freelance Tracker Elf Reports: 3,468,284
Total Tracker Elf Reports: 3,491,966
Tracker Elf Ratio: 2.8 

That tracker elf ratio is an important number. It basically tells us how many reports have been sent in from each tracker. We need that number to get to 8 by the time Santa flies. So we have a LOT of reporting to do. Our goal for the season is 40 million reports. That’s the second highest goal on the board.

So as you can see, we have a lot of work to do.

Feedback from Santa:
Trackers of Sector 3, hello! Thank you for your many efforts. Sector 3 is always a very supportive and festive group. We have many believers from North to South in this Sector. But they live in very different kinds of areas and their homes are all different. In the North, there are more chimneys in this part of the world than any other. So our needs for chimney inspections are great. The chimneys in Europe especially are really old and some are in poor condition and falling apart. I don’t want any of you getting on a roof top to inspect these chimneys but if you can get pictures from an upper window or other safe location it really helps me. In the South, chimneys are fewer but the wildlife is much greater. We may have to develop a new report about stray animals in places in Africa. But for now, Elf Rolf will instruct you on how to report on this issue. I have a lot of worries about Sector 3 and most of the time it is centered on the weather. Do you best to keep Flight Command of what the forecast is in your area. Thanks! — Santa

Please follow this direction and send in this information for this week:

Have questions? Just ask them via the comments below. I’ll do my best to get someone to answer them.

Thank you for your hard work!

Sector 2 Weekly Update

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Greetings, Elves of Sector 2.

As this report shows, for the very first time, we are as a sector SMALLEST in number but LARGEST in size. That means the contributions of each one of you is mighty important. Here are the numbers:

North Pole Tracker Elves: 964
Freelance Tracker Elves: 105,774
Total Tracker Elves: 106,738

From all of those elves scattered from the east coast of Asia the to western borders of the Middle East, we have received so far the following reports:

North Pole Tracker Elf Reports: 3,374
Freelance Tracker Elf Report: 296,167
Total Tracker Elf Reports: 299,541

Our sector report goal for 2022 is 6.5 million total reports.

As you can see, we have quite a hill to climb.

Note from Santa for this week:
Trackers of Sector 2, thank you. I see your many efforts. One of the many metrics followed closely by Elf Clif is your report rate, which presently sits at 2.8. We need to get that number up. The higher it goes, the more information I have on my flight. Now, I know it’s early and your area is HUGE. But I need more information from Sector 2 than any other part of the world. There are billions of people in this sector and getting to them all is a real challenge. I don’t want to miss anyone. So your information is vital. Please do your best to send in more reports as directed by your elf supervisor. Thanks and have a great week. – Santa

Instructions – please send in the follow reports for this week if you can:

Also please note. We’re low on elves. There just not enough elves to cover all the big areas of our Sector. Do you know anyone who wants to be an elf? Send them here to SantaTrackers.net. We need more elves. Sector 2 is depending on you.

Thanks, Elves. Have a great week!

 

Sector 1 Weekly Report

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As reported yesterday by Elf Roger Star and as requested by Santa, here is a recap of activities in Sector 1 to date:

North Pole Tracker Elves: 4,358
Freelance Tracker Elves: 403,561
Total Tracker Elves: 407,919

North Pole Tracker Elf Reports YTD: 13,510
Freelance Tracker Elf Reports YTD: 1,251,039
Total Tracker Elf Reports YTD: 1,264,549

Feedback from Santa this week for Sector 1:

The vast size of Sector 1 presents many delivery challenges. Most populated areas have homes without chimneys. Therefore, things like roof reports and chimney inspections are not called for in this sector as often. However, especially in northern areas where the weather can be much colder there are housing structures that DO have chimneys. From these locations I DO need chimney inspections done soon. Take pictures if you possibly can. For homes without chimneys I need two bits of information: good landing locations for the sleigh and the easiest way into a home without a chimney. So detailed reports, with pictures if possible, are greatly appreciated.

Your instructions this week:

  1. Please give us an update of your status by sending in an Elf Status Report
  2. Please survey your neighborhood and submit an updated Ground Report
  3. If you can take photos of access areas, obstacles and new structures in your area, please send them in via a Photo Report
  4. Please do a Local Christmas Report as time allows

Thank you!

 

 

Tracking Santa Status Report

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Good day, elves!

I am pleased to update you on the status of the Tracking Santa for Santa program. This is the first of a series of weekly updates that I will be posting each Sunday. You will see a breakout report for each sector going forward to be posted by your elf supervisor on an assigned day of the week.

Before these reports are posted I review the data with Santa and receive direction from him. That information is shared with the Elf Supervisors late Saturday evening. After receiving that information it is reviewed by each supervisor, who then has a conference call privately with Santa for specific direction.

As of Saturday, November 19th, 2022, here is the status of elves worldwide:

North Pole Tracker Elves: 71,698
Freelance Tracker Elves: 8,606,898

Total Elves Tracking Santa for Santa: 8,678,596

From this pool of trained, professional and mostly-remote located volunteers we have, year to date, received the following reports as requested from Elf Supervisors and North Pole Flight Command:

Reports from North Pole Tracker Elves: 105,600,216
Reports from Freelance Tracker Elves: 133,794,567

Total worldwide tracker reports so far received: 239,394,783

This puts us at roughly 24% to goal for the year. Considering the date on the calendar, the number of days left until Santa launches, and the anticipated growth in the recruitment of elves over the next 30+ days, we believe these efforts to on track.

We can also report the status of the following important elements of Operation Merry Christmas associated with Tracking Santa for Santa:

North Pole Flight Command: To date, NPFC has a fully operational 24-hour command center located at the North Pole. Regional support locations have been established and are now operational in the following locations:

  • Sector 1: Wiseman’s Creek, Australia
  • Sector 2: Bethlehem, Palestine
  • Sector 3: Bethlehem, South Africa
  • Sector 4: Milagro, Ecuador
  • Sector 5: Mistletoe, Kentucky, USA

North Pole Navy: In addition, extensions of Flight Command and support for sleigh operations have been launched through the North Pole Navy with ships deployed in the following locations:

  • SS Jingle Bell – Pacific Ocean
  • SS Snowball – Artic Ocean
  • SS Tannenbaum – Indian Ocean
  • SS Donner – Northern Atlantic Ocean
  • SS Eggnog – Southern Atlantic Ocean
  • SS Mistletoe – Coral Sea
  • SS Frosty – Antarctic Ocean

Santa’s Reindeer: Santa’s reindeer are all accounted for and healthy. The entire team is presently located at the North Pole. They are engaged in training for the Reindeer Games, scheduled to begin soon.

Santa’s Sleigh: Santa’s sleigh design for 2022 has been under rigorous testing since July. A brief break in test flight operations is scheduled for Thanksgiving. Immediately after Thanksgiving test flight teams will be redeployed to test Version 9 of Santa’s sleigh, presently planned over the skies of the Pacific in Sector 1.

Santa’s Feedback (from Santa himself)

Friends, thank you for your willingness to serve the cause of Operation Merry Christmas. This week, immediately following Thanksgiving festivities, we officially launch Operation Merry Christmas. This is the flight phase of our mission and it very much involves each and every one of you. Your elf supervisor will be posting direction and needs for your area. Please pay attention and from this point forward plan to visit each day to learn of news and assignments. The detail in the information you provide I find extremely useful. We started out this year making an effort to improve information that would support my visits. That effort has already paid off. What happens over the next 30+ days is critical to the mission. So please do not let up and please report as you are asked. I am very pleased with the overall effort and I feel that we are in a good position to have a successful run this year. Thank you and Merry Christmas. – Santa

This is my report for this first week. Future reports will not be as lengthy.

Thank you.

Elf Roger Star