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.
95% package loss rate incoming
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.
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.
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.