S.F. kids sell stamps to prop up post office

“They’re trying to mess up the mail system to win the election.”

Isabel GoinsRiley, junior at Lincoln High School

Instead of the usual lemonade that kids sell on street corners on hot days, three San Francisco kids were selling something on Saturday to change the world. U.S. Postal Service stamps. “They’re trying to mess up the mail system to win the election,” said Isabel GoinsRiley, 15, an 11thgrader at Lincoln High School. “We have to do something to fight back.”

On a table in front of her were sheets of stamps — Bugs Bunny stamps, dinosaur stamps, moon landing stamps, eclipse stamps and Ferris wheel stamps. Put one on an envelope, and drop it in the blue box, Isabel said. It works sort of like a text message.

“Except it means more,” she said, “because when you write something with a pen, you have to know what you’re going to say first.”

Isabel and her pals, Xavier JaldinHartsough, 16, and his brother Roden, 12, had set up their folding table in front of the Glen Park BART Station at high noon Saturday.

All three kids said cuts in post office service were being used as a tool to discourage voting by mail in the November election.

“I’m not allowed to vote for another six years,” Roden said. “So I’m doing what I can. I’m selling stamps.”

If everybody buys a lot of stamps before they actually need to use them, the kids said, it might prop up the post office for a while. You can always use a stamp later, said Roden, pointing to the word “Forever” printed next to the T. Rex on the dinosaur stamp.

The boys’ mom, Andrea, fronted the money Friday to buy two dozen sheets of stamps at the post office. If they don’t sell, she said, she’ll use them on holiday cards. The idea was to help her kids get involved in changing the world, which is even bigger than the post office.

The stamp business got off to a slow start,

“I’m not allowed to vote for another six years. So I’m doing what I can. I’m selling stamps.”

Roden JaldinHartsough, of San Francisco

perhaps because of the heat or the pandemic or perhaps because people are not used to the idea of buying a $13.20 sheet of stamps from a kid on a street corner.

The first customer was letter carrier Theodore Igafo, wearing the blue neitherrainnorsnow uniform of his profession. He said a lot of people are saying and doing a lot of nice things right now for people in his line of work.

“We appreciate all the support,” Igafo said. “It’s important for people to know what’s going on.”

Igafo said he did not care to specify exactly what was going on because his boss, the postmaster general, and his boss’ boss, the current occupant of the White House, might get sore.

“I don’t want to say anything,” he said. “I want to be careful. But I think what these kids are doing is great.”

He didn’t buy any stamps because, he said, he gets those where he works. But he did buy a Rice Krispies treat from the kids, for a buck, because they don’t sell those at the office.