Sorry, kids: you might want to rethink sending your letters to Santa via UPS Store this year if you want them to get anywhere near the North Pole.
“If your child addresses a letter to the North Pole, you can leave it with us,” the UPS Store tweeted over the weekend. The kicker: “We do shredding.” The dry message — very much the opposite of festive — took off online, with Twitter users shaking their heads virtually at the mail carrier’s dark tone. And on Monday afternoon, the tweet was deleted from the UPS Store’s account altogether. But not before there were plenty of responses, from those applauding the social media team for their brutal honesty and willingness to “break children’s hearts,” to those wincing at the dark, Grinch-like spirit of the post.
But while the author of the UPS Store tweet may not be on great terms with Santa Claus or his helpers, the U.S. Postal Service at least wants to help parents out keeping the fantasy of Santa Claus alive.
What does the Post Office do with letters addressed to Santa?
Letters addressed to the North Pole Postmaster in Anchorage, AK before Dec. 8 with included responses from “Santa” are being sent back with a North Pole postmark, no shredding necessary.
UPS did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment on this story.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Introducing the 2024 TIME100 Next
- Sabrina Carpenter Has Waited Her Whole Life for This
- What Lies Ahead for the Middle East
- Why It's So Hard to Quit Vaping
- Jeremy Strong on Taking a Risk With a New Film About Trump
- Our Guide to Voting in the 2024 Election
- The 10 Races That Will Determine Control of the Senate
- Column: How My Shame Became My Strength
Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com