Some of our “will call” subscribers may have noticed their papers weren’t available at the office as early this past week as they typically are.

We can all thank the U.S. Postal Service for that and other delays.

In the infinite wisdom of the national delivery service, they have decided that certain publications — including our weekly newspapers — must be a certain thickness to be fed through an automated machine.

Never mind that the majority of papers that we mail will never go to the large centers with this equipment. And never mind that free publications — publications that people didn’t order and probably don’t want — are not included in the ruling.

This past week was the first week for quarter folding many of our newspapers that go out of the county in compliance with this new rule. Whenever we try something new there is bound to be a learning curve with a few hiccups along the way. The process actually went well but it took longer than in previous weeks.

Oh and by the way, if we didn’t comply with the new ruling after Oct. 1, we would have had to pay significantly more postage — a cost increase we cannot afford.

It’s almost as if the national postal service is purposely finding ways to put us and other publications out of business. Our small publications, and other community newspapers throughout the country, are helping to keep the post offices in business. With Internet, e-mail, and social networking sites, mail service is waning. You would think the postal service would be catering to us instead of sabotaging us.

On a local level, our postmasters — who are our friends and neighbors — have been great. They have been patient with us as we tried to figure out ways to make this cost-effective and to continue a timely weekly delivery schedule. Thank you for your service.

And thank you, subscribers, for your patience. We’ll continue to comply with governmental protocol — no matter how ridiculous.

Our number one circulation goal will be to get our newspapers in the hands of our subscribers in a timely manner. That will never change even when postal regulations do.

— susan berg