This week, we step onto one of Vienna's most curious bits of street furniture: the humble street scale. Scattered across the city in over 150 locations, these coin-operated relics have no real reason to still exist—yet somehow, they do. We dig into their surprisingly rich history, from imperial times to today's random encounters with your own body weight on the sidewalk. Along the way, Stephen and Carmen have a small (but passionate) spat about the proper unit of weight (spoiler: it's kilos), and we can't help but wonder just how much Emperor Franz Josef's muttonchops might have tipped the scale.

For more, check us out on social media at viennapastandpresent or at viennapastandpresent.com. Reach out to us at [email protected]. We love hearing feedback and ideas. Danke!

LINKS

https://wien.orf.at/stories/3301198/

https://www.numismatikforum.de/viewtopic.php?t=20435

https://www.derstandard.at/story/1231152644414/stadtteil-poppscher-kampf-gegen-die-fadesse

https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000124660026/ewige-schwergewichte-die-oeffentlichen-personenwaagen-in-wien