Hello, my name is Isaiah Thompson and I'm a reporter at the City Paper. I'm embarking on a series of experiments in "crowdsourcing" -- using the amazing powers of the internet to bring reader and reporter closer together to get more info, more ideas, and more done that matters.

That being said, Experiment #1 is pretty modest. I just keep noticing post office stamp machines that don't work, and I have this crazy hunch that maybe they break a lot. It's trivial, maybe - but aren't those our federal tax dollars at work?

Here's the question: does your local post office stamp machine work? If not, (or if so), drop a line or, better yet, reply here or on the post I put up on the City Paper website here.

You can email me here, so please drop a line about this or otherwise. I'm new in town; tell me what's on your mind -- what are your own ideas for issues that might warrant investigation?

Isaiah

There's a sound truck that ruins the silence every spring, all
spring long, around Schuykill River Park / Markward Playground.
I have no idea what the guy in the recording is saying, although
it has the cadence of an excited baseball announcer's narrative.

I'd like to know what this is, and of course I'd give anything to
get rid of it. I'll take this over a working stamp machine any day.

Thanks, Isaiah.

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Okay, Szekely -- why don't you tell me where it is and when it is, and I'll try to see what I can find. You can post it here, or feel free to email me at the Citypaper.

I don't know about "broken", but the first and only time I used a post office stamp machine I got 19 Susan B. Anthony dollars as change.

Now I get stamps at the grocery store...

I hope you're still around when spring comes. At that time, I will do my best to track it down.

Thank you.

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I frequent the post office on Germantown Ave in Mt. Airy (19119) and the stamp machine has not been operational on any of my trips. It's annoying to stand in line just to buy stamps (and the line is ALWAYS long), so I just end up going to the post office near my job in Montgomery county.