Tracking Center Operational

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The Regional Tracking Center for Sector 5 located in Christmas Island, Nova Scotia is fully operational and ready to receive reports.

I don’t like being last, and we’re not. But we’re third. Not too happy about that, but what can you do with things out of your control, eh?

I’m getting a lot of messages from trackers in our sector. I’d like to publicly answer some of the questions I’m getting:

  1. How long do I have to wait to get promoted? – I’ve answered this in my last post.
  2. I am an experienced tracker with an old account that went dormant. Can I get it back? Sorry, no. That’s an Elf Moe thing and I can’t do anything about it.
  3. Do you have a file on me if I’ve tracked Santa as an elf before? I do. It will be helpful in getting you promoted.
  4. If I let my account go inactive, can I still apply to be Sector Lead? Of course. There are lots of reasons you go inactive, it won’t count against you.
  5. I really need access to certain areas of the site but I’m a Junior Tracker Elf and I can’t see things. Nothing I can do about that. Talk to Elf Moe.
  6. What days do you want us to send in weekly weather reports? We’re not ready for those. I’ll let you know.
  7. Do you have any direction on setting up my home tracking center? Not yet. Looking to Elf Crash for direction on that one.
  8. Is my Elf on the Shelf authorized to track Santa for Santa? They would have to apply like anyone else. I don’t know about those guys really.
  9. Will there be an Elf Chat for Sector 5 trackers this year? Do you want one? I haven’t given it much thought.
  10. I want to visit the tracking center in Jamaica. Can I? I doubt it. But let me know if you’re in the area, I’ll meet you for lunch or something.
  11. Will we know in advance when the test flights are in our sector? We will in the early months. It could always change.

Is this format helpful to you guys? That new message feature is fine but it’s one-way. I cannot answer you directly and I don’t want to answer questions necessarily on the Elf Wall, because then Junior Trackers won’t see them. So does this work?

Feel free to use the comments below.

How to Get Promoted

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Greetings, Elves of Sector 5!

Elf Max has put these “ask a question” boxes all over the website and between those boxes and the new Junior Tracker Elf thing set up by Elf Moe I have been getting bombarded with questions.

Even though our Regional Tracking Center in Canada doesn’t open for a few more days I thought I would try to get ahead of this question because I have a feeling it is going to be asked again and again between now and December. The question is:

How do I get promoted?

This question is coming from every class of elf. I will answer for all three.

Some, such as returning elves or freelance elves, as asking in advance of our hiring of a new sector lead for Sector 5. We have received plenty of applications, from both North Pole Elves who have been around a while and from freelance elves.

Would I hire a freelance elf to be Sector Lead?

Maybe.

Convince me. Start a conversation with me. I can be convinced.

Should North Pole elves already active on the Elf Wall be discouraged by that? Not at all. It’s not about who you are or where you are.

It is about what you say, what you think, what you feel. I’m looking for someone strong who can reflect our needs as a Sector and get out there and communicate with all elves — freelance, Junior and Senior elves. To communicate with them you gotta show you can communicate with me.

Now, what about the brand new Junior Tracker Elf who really wants to become a North Pole Elf?

Well, that’s more or less the same thing. Don’t submit the question any more in the “ask a question” boxes. ASK ME. Talk to ME.

Being a brand new elf is one thing. But being a returning elf who just came back for the first time since last Christmas only to find your account gone is quite another. If you were here before and have tracked Santa in the past, I’m here for you. If I remember you and the work you did previously, I’m not going to hold you back. Talk to me and I’ll promote you right away back into the North Pole Elf Community.

I believe in 2nd chances.

But for you newbies: listen up.

You gotta learn how to do this. The Elf Wall can be a big distraction for new elves and we learned the past couple of years that some elves enjoyed just talking with other elves more than doing the actual work of tracking Santa for Santa.

So, am I not going to promote any Junior Tracker elves to better things in the Elf Community?

No, I’m not saying that. I just saying “knock my socks off”. Show me you know your elf stuff. Talk to ME. Tell me what you know.

One thing you must realize, especially if you’re not an elf in my sector. Your Elf Supervisor might handle it different than me. Realize we’re not all the same.

I run the biggest sector in the world. We already have millions more than the other sectors ever will have. I feel the energy out there coming from elves of all types. I have to do this a little differently that my other friends who are Elf Supervisors.

My recommendation to you is to ask them how they are doing it.

I think they may answer you.

 

Trackers Invited to Toyvember

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As you may have heard, Santa declared a very rare Toyvember event – right in the middle of Christmas in July. That’s never been done before.

Naturally, elves all over the world had questions about how that would work for them, including tracker elves in every sector. I finally have some answers for you.

Yes, all trackers, regardless of location or status – freelance, junior trackers, North Pole elves – are all invited to participate.

If you have a toy idea, design or prototype you are encouraged to submit them via a message to your Elf Supervisor.

Please keep your eye on the news. I have a feeling this Toyvember will not last long. I would encourage you to submit your toy invention as soon as you can.

Thanks.

Sector Lead Position Changes

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The elf job of Sector Lead is evolving. It will now require added duties, as listed at the job description found on this page.

Due to the changes in the position, I have decided to release all existing Sector Leads from their positions. They are welcome to re-apply and would be strongly considered if they are willing to take up the new duties as listed in the job description.

What is different about this position?

After long discussions with the Elf Supervisors, it was decided that Sector Leads need to have a more visible presences both on SantaTrackers.net and on social media channels. Sector Leads will be given more responsibility in both recruiting and news outreach efforts. This will require a lot more time and certainly a lot effort. That was a key reason why I chose to release those currently in the position.

The job has just changed.

The Elf Supervisors not only ask for a voice in recruiting for this position but also an ability to tailor the job to their own needs in each sector. I support this request. A Sector Lead in one sector will need to adapt to the needs of that sector through communication with the Elf Supervisor.

Please note that while the job description says a Sector Lead needs to be a North Pole Elf with a presence on SantaTrackers.net I will be flexible in that requirement in sectors where access and language make finding qualified candidates difficult (looking at you Sector 2). I will consider the possibility of a strong freelance elf candidate (or two).

If you are freelance elf with interest and qualifications in the Sector Lead position, please reach out via a standard freelance tracker report submission or via the support page here at SantaTrackers.net

If you have questions please feel free to ask them below or on the Elf Wall.

All Regional Tracking Centers Announced

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North Pole Flight Command announced the location of the final regional tracking center today. Here are the locations for Christmas 2025 by Sector:

Sector 1: Christmas Island, Tanzania, Australia
Sector 2: Christmas Island, Myanmar
Sector 3: Christmas Island, Zimbabwe
Sector 4: Christmas Island, Jamaica
Sector 5: Christmas Island, Nova Scotia, Canada

As of today, Friday, July 18th, it is believed that the centers in Sectors 2, 4 and 5 are just about ready. By this time next week ALL should be online, well ahead of the August 1st target date set by Santa.

Each Elf Supervisor will be posting when they are “officially” open with their first instructions of the season. We expect those to begin at any time.

Meanwhile, the test flights of Santa’s sleigh continue and appear to be heading west over Sector 3 at this time. North Pole Flight Command has not published the flight schedule but they intend to inform us of their plans soon seeing that the Regional Tracking Centers are coming online.

Messaging Your Elf Supervisor

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Today we have added a new report to the library of reports offered here on SantaTrackers.net. Elf Max has restructured the library pages and added a new report to the Personal Reports library titled “Message Your Elf Supervisor”.

This new report was born out of concern for the many new Junior Tracker Elves coming on board this year.

Their job in their first six months as an elf is to try to get promoted to North Pole Elf status and join the Elf Community. To do that, they need to become known to their elf supervisors.

One way to do that is via the tracker reports that our Elf Supervisors ask you all to provide.

But because Junior Elves are NOT part of the Elf Community there is no direct way for them to reach out to their Elf Supervisor. Furthermore, privacy laws prevent two-way communication outside of the regulated environment of the community.

As Elf Moe, Santa and myself discussed this challenge we determined the best way to do this was to implement this new report that will allow any elf to send a message directly to the Elf Supervisor.

This is a good idea for our North Pole Elves of the community as well. The Elf Community is accessible to our Elf Supervisors but they get very busy and rarely have time to check messages.

This new report operates via channels controlled by the North Pole Post Office and flows through regular reporting protocols. In other words, when you use this NEW REPORT your message gets routed like a report – and it gets straight to your Elf Supervisor right away.

(Every report that comes in requires action in the Regional Tracking Center that receives it. Elves working in the Regional Center tag the report, send it to the teams who assess that information. When necessary, follow up actions are added or the information is filed for use for when Santa flies to the area you are reporting from. Making a message for your supervisor thus means it goes into a queue where they HAVE to read it and act on it).

Even though your Elf Supervisor cannot reply to you in these messages they can still see what you have to say and then choose whether or not to post something on SantaTrackers.net publicly in response to it.

As we get more and more of our Regional Tracking Centers announced the likelihood of report requests will be increasing. In fact, you should expect a first request from your Elf Supervisor anytime within the next week.

We encourage you to learn about and use this new report.

Note to Freelance Elves: this new report is not available to you. We encourage you to reach out to your Elf Supervisor via the standard freelance elf report.

Test Flights Have Resumed

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Many of you have been asking. We are pleased to announce that the test flights of Santa’s sleigh have resumed after a few unexpected delays.

The tracking map is now live on SantaTrackers.net only and only for registered elves.

We expect updates at least once daily.

Flight Command is working on an update to address the status of Santa’s sleigh and the anticipated flight path over the next several weeks.

 

Status Update for Sector 5

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Greetings Elves of Sector 5. I’m at the North Pole awaiting the start of the Elf Supervisor meetings.

When I arrived here there was a packet of information sitting on my desk in the little cubicle they give us here at North Pole Flight Command. In the packet is a report called “Sector Status”.

It is a report that give updated numbers related to our sector from last Christmas and it compares that information to what they know about the sector as of today.

It has statistics such as how many believers are in our sector, the average delivery time for Santa’s sleigh, etc. Some of it is very boring information.

But some of it is interesting as it relates to elves.

For example, after a winter of reviewing records and activity from last Christmas, they tell us that as of today, we have 31,485,231 tracker elves working in sector 5. At the time Santa delivered last year we had more than 50 million tracker elves tracking Santa for Santa.

Where did they all go?

Well, some were never active in the first place. Some people sign up to be elves then never show up to work.

Some just quit during the season.

Others leave because we ask them to because….of behavior issues.

Some we just lose track of. They move and we can reach them and we don’t hear from them again.

This is all interesting information.

It tells me what we need to work on in the months ahead.

Now, I have no idea what direction Elf Crash Murphy is going to give us this weekend. I don’t know yet what Santa wants of us as tracker elves and I don’t even know if we will hear from Santa himself.

But this report gives me some clues.

I can tell you right now I have a number in my head of how many elves I want reporting come November 1st.

Why do I want a new number of elves?

Because strength comes from numbers. As the biggest Sector on the map in terms of elves every year we know our information for Santa is going to be better. More elves reporting simply means better flying information for Santa.

And that’s important.

Because Sector 5 is not just the biggest sector for elves but it is also the sector that has the most believers.

Do you realize what that means?

It means Santa has to work harder and faster in our Sector than anywhere else in the world. It means he has to do more in our Sector than in any other sector.

And he gets to our Sector LAST.

So, having the number of elves be very high in Sector 5 is very important. It is the start of getting Santa all the information he needs to be successful.

So here’s my prediction: one focus will be on recruiting new elves in Sector 5 this year.

I’m excited by the new recruiting process put into place by Santa and Elf Moe here at SantaTrackers.net. An elf can come here, sign up as a Junior Tracker, and prove himself.

If he or she is good, I get to promote them to the Elf Community and make them a North Pole elf.

I don’t know yet how that works. I’m sure they’re going to tell us.

It’s a screening process for sure. But I like being a part of it. I can’t wait to hear more about it.

As usual, the quality of our reporting needs to be top notch. I think that’s one of the biggest parts of being an Elf Supervisor.

Right now, as we head into July, the process of building great reports – and thus great information for Santa – begins by assembling a team of elves that will work with me in the Regional Tracking Center. Then comes the announcement of the location of the Regional Tracking Center.

By the time the 1st of August rolls around we will be in that new tracking center, somewhere in Sector 5.

And we will start reporting things for Santa.

I hope you’re ready!

Elf Supervisors to Meet

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The Elf Supervisors will meet beginning this Friday and into the weekend as they work to schedule events for the upcoming tracking season.

They will first receive training on the new website here at SantaTrackers.net. Once that training is complete we expect to see them posting news in short order.

They are also discussing elf recruiting goals, the status of Santa’s sleigh, new technologies to be used in flying Santa around the world this year and updates from Flight Command about what information will be needed to track Santa for Santa.

There are rumors going about of a North Pole Chat to be held with all the Elf Supervisors at the same time. We don’t know if that is going to happen or when but we will keep you posted.

Status Update on Operation Merry Christmas

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Hi Trackers, with Leon Day upon us we mark the second half of the year – and that means we have a lot of work to do.

With the work of Elf Max and team mostly complete you will begin to see an uptick in the news and direction coming from the Elf Supervisors.

To catch you up, each Sector has been working hard to identify locations for the Regional Tracking Centers this year. I am pleased to announce that those decisions have been made and that officials from the North Pole are finalizing contracts right now.

We anticipate announcing those locations one by one over the next few weeks.

The target opening dates for each sector will vary slightly. Some will open we hope by around the middle of July. ALL will be open by July 21st.

I know there is some question, if not controversy, about Santa’s sleigh. I urge you to be patient while that news comes out in the weeks ahead. I don’t know yet when the tracking map for the test flights will be available. I can tell you the primary reason you don’t have that information right now is due to security concerns. That is about as much as I can say about it at the moment. We anticipate Santa himself will likely share news updates on the new sleigh during Christmas in July.

Speaking of Santa and Christmas in July, we have been asked about chats that might be made available. We’re working on that right now and Elf Winslow will be posting up a new schedule soon.

With the changes in the website some are asking if we will be pushing to get new elves signed up this year. The short answer is yes. More details on that coming soon.

As part of Leon Day and Christmas in July you can expect some North Pole Radio News reports from me and Elf Frank Myrrh. We’re anxious to catch you all up on everything.

See you on the radio!

Changes to Elf Membership Levels

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We are pleased to announce some enhancements to the Tracker Elf program in advance of the Christmas 2025 tracking season. These enhancements have been included in a recent overhaul of the SantaTrackers.net website, which you have no doubt noticed.

After hours of discussion with Santa, and hearing your feedback as asked for in my last post on May 5th, we present the following changes:

1. New elf registrations at SantaTrackers.net will be set as “Junior Tracker Elf”. This will give new elves a chance to learn the art of Tracking Santa for Santa. If after six months at that level and successful in their efforts, their Elf Supervisor may extend to them an invite to join the Elf Community as a North Pole Tracker elf.

2. The existing community of tracker elves – now known as North Pole Tracker Elves – remains a small and dedicated group. All accounts previously inactive since January 1, 2025, have been removed. If you had an account used before that date, but not since, you will need to re-apply as an elf to begin again as a Junior Tracker Elf.

3. The freelance elf community remains unchanged. Freelancers who choose not to participate in the Elf Community or to become a North Pole Elf can continue to track Santa for Santa without having a login in for SantaTrackers.net. As with others who track Santa for Santa, they can read instruction from their Elf Supervisor and submit reports that aid Santa. But as before they will not be able to participate in the Elf Community or advance to a North Pole Elf experience.

Santa and the North Pole support team of SantaTrackers.net remain committed to providing a free and orderly community for believers out there with a desire to become an elf at the North Pole.

The Internet presents challenges in maintaining such an online experience. We believe these new changes will improve that experience to ensure our ongoing operation.

These changes, as well as other updates to the SantaTrackers.net website, are effective immediately. Having completed them we can now move forward with the business of tracking Santa for Santa 2025.

Elf Crash Murphy and the Elf Supervisors, as well as the North Pole News Department, will from this point forward, resume their duties at SantaTrackers.net.

We welcome your comments and questions below. Our thanks go out to you for your patience and to Elf Max and his team of web experts for their good work in implementing these changes.

Thank you.

New Podcast Episode

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In a joint episode of the North Pole Podcast and the Santa Trackers Podcast Elves Frank and Crash discuss the start of Operation Merry Christmas 2025.