4 ms·

Although I agree with their conclusion, I'd like to see how it would go with other names rather than "atheist" as a group control to eliminate the possibility o

Although I agree with their conclusion, I'd like to see how it would go with other names rather than "atheist" as a group control to eliminate the possibility of a difference between branded and non-branded differences.

daveguy 10y ago
I agree. If you could add the same tape with different words it would eliminate the possibility that the worded tape was interfering with some auto-sort functionality.
- gregshap 10y ago
  also were the boxes otherwise identical? were the unbranded boxes obviously empty while the branded boxes always had shoes in them?
  - daveguy 10y ago
    From the article it looks like these were all regular shoe deliveries and they chose either to add the branded tape or leave it off. So from a weight/contents perspective there shouldn't have been much difference.
    - johnfactorial 10y ago
      The article does not say that. It says that every person was sent two packages.
      - jonsen 10y ago
        One shoe in each.
        rtkwe 10y ago
        Do they actually say that anywhere? It's a pretty logical way of doing it but it's still an assumption about a pretty important facet of the experiment.
      - joshheyse 10y ago
        They are shoes. It's pretty easy to assume how they split a pair into to equally weight & size packages for the test.
        gregshap 10y ago
        Sure you could assume that, they didn't say so though. As an experimental design that would be pretty good, but as a product experience I would not be very happy to unbox one shoe, then wait days for the other one to arrive or find out it was lost in the mail.
- 13of40 10y ago
  They definitely should have tried it with Arabic, Cyrillic, and maybe Wingdings for a control group.
  - icelancer 10y ago
    >Wingdings 95% package loss rate incoming
    - colejohnson66 10y ago
      If you want all your packages to be lost, print the addresses in Wingdings
- bertiewhykovich 10y ago
  It's extremely funny that German atheists are so desperate to feel like they're persecuted by stupid, provincial Americans that they've completely failed to control their experiment.
  - scotty79 10y ago
    So the other theory is that any worded tape (or knowing that package might contain shoes) makes Americans (but not Europeans) behave worse. Sure, that sounds like something absolutely essential to be checked.
    - joemi 10y ago
      > makes Americans (but not Europeans) behave worse If you read the small print, you learn that the packages passed through Deutsche Post before going to the US. So it could actually still be the Europeans. > So the other theory is that any worded tape It might not be people at all... There could be some computer vision issue at play. Or hell, maybe it is people, but it's a similar problem: packages with worded tape might be harder for the eye to quickly parse and figure out what to do with, and that's why more issues happen to those packages. There are definitely possibilities other than the one you stated. Edit to add: All that said, I don't support the tone/spirit of the post you were replying to, so please don't group my response with theirs.
      - scotty79 10y ago
        They've also sent packages to European recipients (I'm assuming through Deutsche Post as well) and there were no difference between taped and untaped ones. Read through all the information, they pretty much excluded Deutche Post (by comparing with packages sent to European recipients) and US customs (by noticing how rarerly their packages are picked for inspection). I agree that there are more possibilities and further research is needed but I don't agree with people believing that what they did so far amounts to nothing.

daveguy 10y ago

I agree. If you could add the same tape with different words it would eliminate the possibility that the worded tape was interfering with some auto-sort functionality.

gregshap 10y ago
also were the boxes otherwise identical? were the unbranded boxes obviously empty while the branded boxes always had shoes in them?
- daveguy 10y ago
  From the article it looks like these were all regular shoe deliveries and they chose either to add the branded tape or leave it off. So from a weight/contents perspective there shouldn't have been much difference.
  - johnfactorial 10y ago
    The article does not say that. It says that every person was sent two packages.
    - jonsen 10y ago
      One shoe in each.
      - rtkwe 10y ago
        Do they actually say that anywhere? It's a pretty logical way of doing it but it's still an assumption about a pretty important facet of the experiment.
    - joshheyse 10y ago
      They are shoes. It's pretty easy to assume how they split a pair into to equally weight & size packages for the test.
      - gregshap 10y ago
        Sure you could assume that, they didn't say so though. As an experimental design that would be pretty good, but as a product experience I would not be very happy to unbox one shoe, then wait days for the other one to arrive or find out it was lost in the mail.
13of40 10y ago
They definitely should have tried it with Arabic, Cyrillic, and maybe Wingdings for a control group.
- icelancer 10y ago
  >Wingdings 95% package loss rate incoming
  - colejohnson66 10y ago
    If you want all your packages to be lost, print the addresses in Wingdings
bertiewhykovich 10y ago
It's extremely funny that German atheists are so desperate to feel like they're persecuted by stupid, provincial Americans that they've completely failed to control their experiment.
- scotty79 10y ago
  So the other theory is that any worded tape (or knowing that package might contain shoes) makes Americans (but not Europeans) behave worse. Sure, that sounds like something absolutely essential to be checked.
  - joemi 10y ago
    > makes Americans (but not Europeans) behave worse If you read the small print, you learn that the packages passed through Deutsche Post before going to the US. So it could actually still be the Europeans. > So the other theory is that any worded tape It might not be people at all... There could be some computer vision issue at play. Or hell, maybe it is people, but it's a similar problem: packages with worded tape might be harder for the eye to quickly parse and figure out what to do with, and that's why more issues happen to those packages. There are definitely possibilities other than the one you stated. Edit to add: All that said, I don't support the tone/spirit of the post you were replying to, so please don't group my response with theirs.
    - scotty79 10y ago
      They've also sent packages to European recipients (I'm assuming through Deutsche Post as well) and there were no difference between taped and untaped ones. Read through all the information, they pretty much excluded Deutche Post (by comparing with packages sent to European recipients) and US customs (by noticing how rarerly their packages are picked for inspection). I agree that there are more possibilities and further research is needed but I don't agree with people believing that what they did so far amounts to nothing.