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Please see my response here, if you're curious: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12610428 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12610428

• Houshalter 10y ago
  I am addressing your original objection, that the sample size isn't large enough. The sample size is more than large enough. That comment you link raises entirely new and separate issues. It's true they didn't say whether or not they properly randomized the boxes. But I assume they were competent enough to do that, and they certainly don't say that they didn't. They did say they had no issue in Europe and that the problems were entirely from the US. I really doubt it's with the quality of the tape or the automated systems, using a different kind of type shouldn't make such a huge difference. It really seems like you are just looking for any reason you can think of to disregard the results. Religious bias is a huge problem in the US. Their hypothesis is totally reasonable. And their experiment, while not perfect, provides evidence for that hypothesis.
  • joemi 10y ago
    I'm not "looking for any reason [I] can think of to disregard the results". I'm just saying that based on the fact we were given it's naive to jump to the "religious bias" conclusion that they (and other people) have jumped to. Additionally, based on my experience with the USPS, it's far more likely to be attributed to negligence/incompetence than religious bias. Finally, I'm not denying there isn't or can't be a religious bias in the USPS, and such a bias may very well be what's causing this company's problems. But this "study" is far from conclusive, and fails to even acknowledge the possibility of a different conclusion.