...is hand sorting. The 34¢ mail goes through mechanical sorters. I've seen the remains of a when a chip was put in a regular envelope with no padding, and the machine caught it and ripped it out. I've seen padded envelopes that were ripped open because they were too thick, and got sent through the automatic sorter by accident. I've seen posts on this board showing pictures of chips broken by those automatic sorters.

If you've padded your chip properly, it's probably too thick to legally avoid the surcharge. If you're trying to get by with less padding, you REALLY don't want your chip going through that sorter .

If it's an easily replacable chip, and you're willing to self-insure, you can pack thin and avoid the surcharge. If you want the chip to get to it's new home, pay the 11¢ .