There are three local post offices in my area.

If I mail a standard small padded envelope at my town's post office they charge me $2.07 no matter what.

If I take the same envelope to another post office about 4 miles away, they check the thickness and charge me $0.86 for the exact same envelope going to the same address.

The third post office checks the thickness but still charges me $2.07

When asked, my local post office says they were told that ALL padded envelopes are PACKAGES and are to charge the higher rate. They don't even bother to check thickness if it's a padded envelope.

Talk about consistency! Might be worth checking around at different offices.