Meet Robert Berry, LaFayette’s new postmaster

BY SAM VISE

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

LAFAYETTE — Inside the LaFayette Post Office, the office door at the back of the lobby stays unlocked.

That is by design for Robert Berry, who officially stepped into the role of LaFayette’s postmaster on Aug. 22. After years spent supervising bustling sorting floors and customer service desks across the Southeast and Midwest, Berry has settled into Chambers County with a straightforward leadership philosophy.

“The door’s open. This door’s never locked,” Berry said. “So, if they need to come in, just knock on the door and let me know if there’s an issue. I’ll be glad to talk to anybody.”

Born and raised in Jacksons’ Gap, Berry’s journey to the helm in LaFayette was anything but a straight line. After moving away to serve in the military, his career path took him through Georgia, Kansas and ultimately back home to Alabama.

His start with the United States Postal Service came as a window clerk in Sylvania, Georgia. As supervisors took notice of his reliability and asked him to take on extra tasks, Berry decided to turn those requests into upward mobility.

Over the years, Berry worked at roughly five different postal facilities across Georgia and four in Kansas before returning to East Alabama, serving most recently as a supervisor at the Auburn Post Office.

Now leading his own branch, Berry oversees both the main LaFayette office and the neighboring branch in Five Points, managing a combined team of around 12 postal workers. Operations in LaFayette include three regular rural delivery routes, one auxiliary rural route and a single dedicated city route. Meanwhile, Five Points operates with one regular rural route and one auxiliary rural route.

“We only have one city vehicle, and the rest use their own vehicles,” Berry said of the local carrier fleet.

On the retail side, Berry manages a busy lobby that houses 725 post office boxes.

Keeping up with rural routes, dispatch schedules and incoming freight means no two shifts ever look the same.

“There is no typical day because every day, it’s something different,” Berry said. “There’s a new program coming out or something going on. I’m always making sure my clerks are taken care of, my carriers are staying hydrated and their vehicles are running. I’m making sure everybody’s getting their mail, there’s nothing being left behind in the office and I’m calling them back if there is.”

Since taking charge in late August, Berry said his immediate focus has been rolling up his sleeves to restore and clean up the facility.

“Right now, I’m just working on trying to get the outside pressure washed and cleaned up to get all the gunk off of it,” he said. “I’m trying to get the lobby cleaned up because the paint’s beginning to bubble on one wall. I’ve been moving stuff around and going through discarding stuff we don’t use anymore.”

Sifting through decades of postal clutter has also yielded glimpses into the building’s past. 

“You can find history in these buildings all the time,” Berry said. “It was pretty rewarding when I found the plaque out here — it has John F. Kennedy’s name on it.”

Looking toward the coming weeks, Berry is already coordinating logistics for the annual surge of holiday shipping and winter weather.

“They give us a checklist we have to go off of,” Berry said. “Making sure we have extra scanners because we’ll sometimes have help that comes from other offices. We might need extra vehicles to deliver packages. That’s about it — just making sure we have everything we need, and with the winter season coming up, making sure we’re prepared. You never know if ice is going to hit in Alabama.”

Outside of uniform, Berry resides in Opelika with one of his two sons. When he isn’t managing routes, he spends his downtime tackling home improvement projects. A lifelong Crimson Tide supporter, Berry is quick to defend his football roots. 

“I love it when people say ‘Oh I’m an Alabama fan only because Saban was there.’ I’ve been a Bama fan since Bear Bryant,” he said.

For Berry, stepping into LaFayette has offered a welcome change of pace from larger sorting operations, and the warmth from local residents has been the defining highlight of his new post.

“The customers have been wonderful to me since I’ve been here, so it makes me feel good when they come in and say, ‘Hey, the atmosphere is a lot better here. The workers are a lot happier,’” Berry said. “It makes me feel good to hear that stuff. It’s a reward for me.”