Postal Service returns lost cash to customer

Sellersburg resident accidentally deposits $3,700 in blue collection box

LOUISVILLE, KY — Holly Bennett-Wilhelm thought she was losing her mind when $3,700 in cash she had withdrawn from the bank a day earlier was nowhere to be found.

As she retraced her steps, she remembered last being in possession of the money after leaving work on Wednesday to drop off company mail at the Sellersburg, IN, Post Office.

She contacted the Postal Service’s Consumer Affairs Office in Louisville to report the missing dough. At about the same time, the Registered Mail department at the Louisville mail processing plant on Gardiner Lane contacted Consumer Affairs to report an employee had turned in the same amount of cash the night before.

Consumer Affairs clerk Connie Dulworth had the honor of sharing the good news with Bennett-Wilhelm. ”After I told her we had her money, I told her we’d need the serial number on the bills in order to return it,” Dulworth laughed.

Dulworth said customers occasionally drop bank envelopes filled with cash into collection boxes or mail slots by mistake. The largest amount of cash they’ve reunited with a customer is $12,000.

Bennett-Wilhelm, who plans to use the money to put towards a car for her 16-year-old stepson, said she is so relieved the money was found. ”The Postal Service made my day. I thought that money was long gone.

”I should have known the Postal Service would find it for me,” she added. ”They sure came through for me!”

After returning the money, Consumer Affairs Manager Thomas Long (pictured above with Bennett-Wilhelm) escorted her to her car to make sure she got off safely.