The post office has always been known for getting the mail to its destination through rain, snow, sleet and hail. So why can’t it have a stamp machine that works?

It’s bad enough that the price of mailing a letter rises every time you turn around — which happened just recently with an increase of 42 to 44 cents — then you can’t seem to purchase a stamp when you need one.

I must admit that in the past I did not mind paying bills the old-fashioned way, which meant writing a check, sealing it in an envelope, placing a stamp on it and putting it in the mail slot at the post office. That is, until I entered the wonderful world of online payments.

At first, I was wary of this, but after experiencing the extremely secure Web sites that utility companies, credit-card firms and others have these days, I found the online payment option safe and much more convenient than the old-fashioned way. Nothing beats being able to sit at a desk in your own home and punch a few buttons, without writing anything or going anywhere.

Still, I have not been able to sever my Postal Service umbilical cord entirely.

Out of the 10 or so payments I make each month, all but about two can be processed online. Those must be mailed, which should be pretty simple, right, since it’s only the two? Yes, unless your postage supply has run out and you’re counting on being able to buy a single stamp at the post office, especially when pressed for time.

Somehow, this seems to be a scenario which really angers the Postal Gods, based on my recent experiences. Just call me negligent because I don’t maintain a supply of stamps as I once did, since (a) I don’t mail nearly as many letters and (b) even if I did stock up, chances are the price would rise again by the time I used them all and my stamps would become somewhat obsolete.

Anyway, silly me found myself needing to put a letter in the mail this past Monday and having the sheer audacity to assume I could buy a stamp at the Mount Airy Post Office. The service desk was closed, since it was after hours by the time I arrived, but I had allowed for this contingency by thinking I could obtain a stamp from the “convenient” machine in the front lobby.

But on Monday afternoon, that evil device greeted me with the shocking words, “Temporarily out of service.”

With stampless envelope in hand, I moved worriedly down the post office steps, wondering where I would turn from there. Suddenly, I remembered that the Neighbors convenience store down the street sells stamps and envelopes, so I went there and encountered a strange phenomenon in which I gave the clerk 44 cents and she handed me a stamp. Amazing!

Afterward, I didn’t think too much about what had happened at the post office until Thursday afternoon, when I needed to mail the second of my two monthly letters. Again, I journeyed to the post office, where I once more saw the cruel words “Temporarily out of service” staring me in the face.

I had to chuckle over the use of the word “temporarily,” since the machine was still inoperable three days after I visited it last. One might assume the dispenser simply hadn’t been adjusted with the new stamp price, but that could be considered inexcusable since postal employees had weeks to prepare for this.

The bottom line was no stamp to be had, so as before, I went to the Neighbors store, paid the same lady another 44 cents and completed my deja vu experience for the week.

By no means was this an isolated situation limited to the Mount Airy Post Office. Several years ago while in Reno, Nev., I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to mail a credit-card payment, and needed to do so fast to avoid a penalty. We can’t have those late charges, can we?

When I rushed to the main post office in downtown Reno, what did I find? Yep, you guessed it — a stamp machine with the dreaded “Temporarily out of service” message. Not knowing anywhere else to go, I wandered into a casino across the street and found a stamp machine in a gift shop — which actually worked.

Given my tales of two cities, surely there must be other places where this has occurred as well, which makes me question the post office’s ability to obtain and/or maintain stamp-distribution devices.

The U.S. Postal Service has been struggling with increased competition in recent years, especially with the advent of online correspondence. But when it can’t even be counted on to maintain a simple stamp machine that people tend to rely on during weekends and on holidays, you wonder how much the post office is contributing to its own demise.

Tom Joyce is a staff reporter for The Mount Airy News. He can be reached at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or 719-1924.