A Florida Woman Was Denied Her Lotto Winnings After The Post Office “Lost” Her Ticket In The Mail

(Source)- Sue Burgess was overjoyed to learn last month that she won $1,000 in a Second Chance Lottery drawing. But that joy quickly disappeared when, weeks later, the Florida Lottery informed her she’ll have to forfeit the prize, and her winnings will go to an alternate winner. That’s because the U.S. Postal Service did not deliver the ticket to lottery headquarters in Tallahassee, even though Burgess sent the package through certified mail.

Because of the pandemic, all local lottery offices were closed after Burgess won on July 29. So, in order to claim her prize, Burgess followed the Florida Lottery’s instructions and sent in her ticket through certified mail through the U.S. Postal Service. (She could have also dropped the ticket in a dropbox at a local office, but she felt certified mail would be safer.)

Tracking information shows the ticket arrived at 7:12 a.m. on Aug. 12 at a Tallahassee post office, but the journey ended there. The online postal service tracking shows the ticket was never delivered to the lottery office, as required to claim a prize. “They said, ‘no ticket, not prize,” Burgess recalls being told when she called to inquire about the missing ticket. Unlike other lottery games, the Florida Lottery has records of all Second Chance winners because players register their tickets and contact information. Burgess was notified that she was winner when a lottery employee called her with the good news.

What the fuck is this? There has clearly been a lot of talk about the US Postal Service recently and as someone that #RE2PECTS the hustle of a job with roots in the Pony Express that only stops on Sundays despite carrying 90% junk these days, I feel for the mailmen and women of this country. However, as a Poor that looks to the lottery as a source to get me out of the grind of life since my brain is incapable of coming up with an idea that will do it, I gotta call them out for their bullshit on this one.

How do you promise that neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will stop you from delivering the mail and then tell someone tough luck after they sent their lotto ticket through Certified Mail? Isn't that the point of Certified Mail? No seriously, I'm asking. Every time I have to mail something at the post office, I either say give me the cheapest option possible if it's for something stupid or give me every single fancy bell and whistle they offer if I am mailing something valuable, like say a WINNING LOTTO TICKET. To be honest, it's not even about the money with the lotto ticket. It's about actually beating the system that we willfully dive into despite the odds and then getting screwed out of the W (also it's 10000000% completely about the money).

To summon another Seinfeld classic, the post office knows how the take the Certified Mail, it just doesn't know how to deliver the Certified Mail. If they did, there would be something stopping a mailman from hypothetically opening up every letter he sees addressed to a lottery office. I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it's within the realm of possibilities considering what we know about the case, including the state where this occurred since the only difference between a Florida Man and a Florida Mailman is a uniform. Figure it out USPS and give this woman her $1,000 pronto or else I will be issuing a nationwide rebuke of our postal service.

UPDATE: I started this blog yesterday and literally the second I hit Publish today, this tweet appeared on my timeline

So Sue Burgess, if you are reading this, I only got two words for ya...