Jun
The Rise Of The Machines
Someone said that one indication of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
Recently I stopped by our local post office to buy a few stamps. Since I was in a hurry and didn’t want to stand in line, I decided to use one of the vending machines.
The price for a page of 20 stamps was $ 8.80. You have to give the postal service credit. It is amazing that one stamp is still under 50 cents. You can send a first class letter anywhere in the country (including Alaska and Hawaii) for under 50 cents! Pretty amazing.
First, I made sure that the machine had stamps. Yes, it did! So, I put a $5 bill into the vending machine and it gladly took my money. When I tried to put in another $5 bill, it wouldn’t accept it. The display said something like, “Please put in smaller money”. So, I began to put in several $1 bills which it gladly accepted, until the total deposited was $9.00.
Things were looking good until I pressed the number key for my $8.80 page of stamps. The vending machine would not give me my stamps. I pressed the “coin return” hoping to at least get my money back. No deal. It wouldn’t give me my money back either.
Didn’t this happen to me before? Haven’t I had a battle with the machines at the post office before? Then I realized it was man against machine, and the machine was winning again.
My time saving adventure had suddenly vanished. I was hoping to avoid standing in line, but now there I was waiting to tell a clerk my latest misadventure. The clerk was helpful and polite. She gave me a page of stamps and my 20 cents in change. So, at least I got my stamps and change.
When I asked them what I did wrong, the clerk explained that the machine was out of change! It gladly accepted my money, but could not give change.
As I walked out of the post office, I noticed one of the employees putting an “Out of Order” sign on the machine I had just used. It might have been better to put a sign that said, “Machine Wins Again”.