Clojure's postconditions[1] are a splendiferous, notationally
idiot-proof way to scrutinize a function's return value without
inadvertently causing it to return something else.

Functions (implementing protocols) for a record type may be defined in
its defrecord or with extend-type. In functions defined in
extend-type, postconditions work as expected. Therefore, it is a
surprise that functions defined in defrecord cannot use
postconditions.

Actually it appears defrecord sees a pre/postcondition map as ordinary
code, so the postcondition runs at the beginning of the function (not
the end) and the symbol % (for return value) is not bound.

The code below shows a protocol and two record types that implement
it. Type "One" has an in-the-defrecord function definition where the
postcondition does not compile. Type "Two" uses extend-type and the
postcondition works as expected.

[1] http://clojure.org/special_forms, in the fn section.