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.

Jamaica Chosen for Regional Tracking Center

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North Pole Flight Command has announced that Christmas Island, Jamaica will be home to the Regional Tracking Center for Sector 4:

Christmas Island, Jamaica

 

Elf Tubby Ryder and his team of elves from the North Pole are expected to get the new regional center operating very quickly.

This is the 2nd time in recent years that a regional center has been located in the Caribbean. Elf Supervisor Tubby was instrumental in the site selection process and said the favorable December weather as well as the location that is central to the sector were major factors in the decision.

“Many people do not realize how vast the space is that we have to cover and how diverse that space is,” Elf Tubby says. “We have millions upon millions of believers in South America to the south but all the way up north in Greenland there are relatively few numbers of people. Then we have the island nations of the sea, much like Sector 1 in the Pacific only ours are in the areas of the Atlantic. Tiny island nations with lots of people. Plus the open waters of the Atlantic where there are major shipping lanes and ships at sea – they all have to be visited by Santa. Our work is spread far and wide. Jamaica is central it all and we need a place where weather is good to provide steady support for Santa.”

Elf Tubby also acknowledged the dependence of his team on support from the North Pole Navy. He notes that two ships of the North Pole Navy customarily patrol the waters of Sector 4 in support of flight operations.

Elf Tubby expects to be sending instructions to tracker elves from the new Regional Tracking Center in Jamaica in about a week.

Sector 2 Tracking Center Opening Soon

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As noted today by North Pole Flight Command the Regional Tracking Center for Sector 2 has been announced and will be located in Christmas Island, Myanmar:

Regional Tracking Center

Elf Clif has been to Christmas Island several times this year and reports that setup will be fairly quick.

Elves located in Sector 2 can expect assignments coming from the new Regional Tracking Center soon – very soon, according to Elf Clif. He said the first series of reports will be for the purpose of testing and will be open to any elf anywhere in the world. REAL reports are not expected to be announced until Santa’s official opening date for all tracking centers world wide on August 1st.

It is also expected that we will have minor changes to the reports to accommodate the new Junior Tracking Elf level. More details on that soon from Elf Crash.

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.

Growing the Elf Community

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Hello Elves,

I have remained fairly silent for some time and part of that has been because Elf Max has been doing so much work on the site. But the bigger reason is because I have been working on a larger project:

What to do about the elf community.

This project we call SantaTrackers.net is now nine years old. Can you believe it?

It was started out of an effort to grow talent – elves! – away from the North Pole with the simple mission to track Santa for Santa.

It has been very successful in that mission.

We never intended to build the elf community that we have going for us here. But the idea of an elf community is that we could not only have a place where non-North Pole elves could gather and talk but we could also turn them into North Pole elves someday.

Elf Crash Murphy is an example of an elf who wasn’t born at the North Pole becoming an elf at the North Pole and holding an important elf job.

We want that opportunity for more believers out there.

But we have run into some challenges and many of you have seen those things.

By opening “elfdom” to the world we don’t always get serious believers. Many come here not to work but to only have fun.

There’s nothing wrong with having fun. Santa is a serious believer in fun. That’s why he is Santa.

Santa is also a serious believer in serious work. That is also why he is Santa.

You’ve seen it, I’ve seen it and everyone here has seen it: elves come and go, some unable to focus or others who come here just to cause trouble.

Over the past nine years we have tried a lot of things to grow the elf community. But we have not grown as much as Santa would like because not many elves stay or last in our little community here.

We have rules, and they break them. We try to train them but they don’t stick with it. We ask them to act as elves should and they just don’t do it.

Before we head into another season of new elves I am asking for any ideas you might have in meeting these challenges. Don’t be afraid to share anything that is on your mind.

Santa has asked me to come up with a new process for approving new elves at SantaTrackers.net and I wanted to see what you elves thought about that.

Please comment below or on the Elf Wall.

Thank you.