I just purchased my first planer and I am considering returning it.
The first 2.5" and last 2.5" of each board I plane are slightly (1/16")
thinner than the rest of the board. I have made sure that the infeed
and outfeed supports are perfectly level with the bottom plate of the
planer. I even removed the bottom plate and added one layer of masking
tape to the bottom of the plate because it was slightly lower than the
infeed and outfeed supports. The plate, infeed and outfeed are now
perfectly true to each other. I still have the problem.

I placed a piece of trued stock in the planer and lowered the cutting
assembly so that the front roller was just a hair higher than the
stock. I can see that the front roller is about 1/16" lower than the
rear roller. I think this is causing the problem. As far as I can
tell the planer does not have height adjustments on the rollers.

I am pretty sure that the problem is associated with the rollers
because the distance from the the front and rear roller to the cutting
head appears to be exactly the same as the 2.5" of problem area on the
board.

I am considering returning the planer but I wanted to see if anyone has
any recommendations first.