The Enterprise was not able to confirm any specific complaints made by either person due in part to the policy USPS has about speaking with the press — something the paper has bumped up against before on more benign issues.
Former Westerlo Postmaster David McClure — who oversaw the other Hilltown post offices that had previously been consolidated into the Westerlo post office — told The Enterprise last year as it sought comment on potholes in the East Berne post office parking lot that, “Nothing can be written in the paper or anything like that because we can’t have bad media for the postal service in general. If you do [a negative article] for here, it’s for the whole postal service in general … and we can’t have that.”
USPS spokesman Mark Lawrence did not confirm or explain the delivery problems in Berne when contacted by The Enterprise, saying instead that “service can be occasionally disrupted due to employee availability for reasons such as illness, inclement weather, personal leave, retirements and more that may impact mail deliveries on some routes.”
He also said that the post office will take measures to ensure deliveries, such as authorizing overtime; expanding the delivery schedule to include the early morning, late evening, and Sundays; and using carriers from other offices.