As CNN tells us, the events actually have a perfectly good explanation, even though it is a rather dumb one. The sender of the letters, College Avenue Student Loan Company, had merely tried to send the Cains a “statement for a student loan they took out for their daughter’s tuition.” However, thanks to what was clearly a pretty hefty glitch in their system, that single statement somehow morphed into well over 50,000. As for the mailman, the Postal Service did wonder about the situation, but as spokeswoman Naddia Dhalai commented, they were still “committed to providing the best customer service so every piece of mail we receive will be delivered to our customers.” 

As for Dan Cain, he remains in good spirits about the incident, and has been thinking about using his unsurprising letter barrage for a big old bonfire. However, he’s still facing a potential extra twist to the tale: It turns out the College Avenue Student Loan Company made a mistake in the letters, and they’re now sending him a corrected version with the accurate interest rate. It remains to be seen just how many letters the Cains receive this time, but Dan already has a plan should the barrage of letters repeat itself: “I might have to return to sender.”