Yes, We Have No Stamps

The postal system in Italy is always interesting. you might ask someone what they have planned for the day and they will respond, "Going to the post office". It might be an all day or at least half day event. The reason this is so, is that beside being a normal post office for mail, its also a payment center for utility bills. This morning I went to pay our water bill. They are pretty well organized as when you enter, you tap the smiley face on the screen of a machine and it spits out a ticket with a number. Several Large screens show the next called number and which window to go to. Some people have some kind of card that they stick in the machine and it gives them a special number that will go ahead of everyone else. After about an hour my number came up and I went to window number 2. I handed the agent my water bill and told him that I would like to also get six post card stamps for America. He looked up and tells me that they don't have any stamps. They ran out. I asked him when they would have some and he just shrugs his shoulders. A Post office without stamps?? Where can I go? There's a hardware store down the street, maybe they will have stamps.