1 in 3 Americans Failed to Return Census Forms

[FR7 Baptist]

Nearly one in three Americans failed to return their census questionnaires by Friday’s official deadline, the Census Bureau said.

More forms were expected to be received over the weekend. Census workers will not begin going door to door until May 1 to count people who did not return their questionnaires by mail.

As of early Friday, the mail participation rate was 68 percent. The mail participation rate, which the bureau is using this year for the first time, is the percentage of forms mailed back by households that received them.

Unlike the mail response rate, which the census used in earlier counts, it excludes forms returned by the postal service as undeliverable, often because a house or apartment was vacant. The mail response rate was 67 percent in 2000. If the undeliverable forms had been excluded then, the mail participation rate would have been 72 percent.

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[targus]

Did you read between the lines to see what this is telling us about the Census Bureau?

First they paid people to walk door to door to find out which addresses were real and which were non-existent and which were actually businesses and which were vacant buildings...

Then having paid out all that money proceeded to mail out census forms to fake addresses, non-existent addresses, businesses and vacant buildings...

And now will begin to pay people to again go in person to fake addresses, non-existent addresses, businesses and vacant buildings...

 

[FR7 Baptist]

Did you read between the lines to see what this is telling us about the Census Bureau?

First they paid people to walk door to door to find out which addresses were real and which were non-existent and which were actually businesses and which were vacant buildings...

Then having paid out all that money proceeded to mail out census forms to fake addresses, non-existent addresses, businesses and vacant buildings...

And now will begin to pay people to again go in person to fake addresses, non-existent addresses, businesses and vacant buildings...

Not quite. In the address listing, the Enumerators were not counting people, but rather checking which buildings were residential and getting GPS readings of the front door and verifying addresses. In non-response follow-up, we visit houses that failed to return the form and if they appear vacant we note that and interview the neighbors to make sure.

 

[targus]

Not quite. In the address listing, the Enumerators were not counting people, but rather checking which buildings were residential and getting GPS readings of the front door and verifying addresses. In non-response follow-up, we visit houses that failed to return the form and if they appear vacant we note that and interview the neighbors to make sure.

If you were to re-read your OP you will find this...

"Unlike the mail response rate, which the census used in earlier counts, it excludes forms returned by the postal service as undeliverable, often because a house or apartment was vacant."

The Census Bureau paid people to check for vacant buildings and then mailed out census forms to vacant buildings.

Now they will pay people to go out to those vacant buildings to ask how many people live there.

 

[menageriekeeper]

Targus, I understand that it sounds redundant to check for residency before and after a census, but it is what you have to do in order to get the most accurate count available. Plus, Paul and I need this job.

 

[targus]

Targus, I understand that it sounds redundant to check for residency before and after a census, but it is what you have to do in order to get the most accurate count available. Plus, Paul and I need this job.

Checking for residency is fine.

But what was the point in checking for vacant buildings only to mail a form to the vacant buildings anyway and then going out again to vacant buildings.

Why not save the taxpayer the money and just go ahead and mail out the forms without first checking to see if they are vacant?

Or why not check to see if a building is vacant and then not send a form out to a vacant address?

What possible value is there in triple checking vacant buildings?

How many more times will enumerators be paid to keep going out to the same vacant address - before the Census Bureau decides to arbitrarily assign some number of people as probably living there and assigning them a probable race?

 

[billreber]

How many of those "unreturned" census forms were not returned because they were never mailed/given to people?

I have been diligently watching for the census form, but HAVE NOT RECEIVED IT! I have heard (on the radio) that the census form was not sent to Post Office boxes (which is where I and most people in my town get my/our mail!!!!), and that census workers will be visiting the houses of those people. I have not seen census workers or mail. My mother (who lives in the same town) got hers 3 weeks ago, by a census worker visit. I still have not seen anybody! Is this because I am well-known locally as a conservative, and they don't want my input? (JUST KIDDING! But it makes me wonder!)

And now I must wait for a census worker to come and "chew me out" (read that with the humor I intend, please) because I didn't mail the (unreceived) census form back? They better not!

What if the 32 percent of the census forms which have not been mailed back, were never sent to those people? What if the forms are stuck in some mail train or truck in a lot somewhere? (I had a late insurance payment a few years ago because of just such a situation! Cost me an extra $18 to stop payment on the lost check, which "arrived" three months later. And of course my insurance company contacted me about a failure to pay, when they had received a different check for the payment! What a mess!) And by the way, how do they know how many census forms have not been sent back, without already knowing that "X" number of people are there to be counted?

Paul3144 and Menageriekeeper, do you have any answers to the conundrum I now face?

Bill :godisgood:

 

[FR7 Baptist]

Bill Reber, do you live in a rural area?

 

[billreber]

I live in a small town (last counted population 4390), about 16 miles from the second-largest city in Washington, Spokane. Why do you ask?

Bill :godisgood:

 

[Jon-Marc]

I wasn't sent any form. A couple of young ladies came through this area and asked questions.

 

[menageriekeeper]

I haven't been to training yet, but I was told when I applied that many rural areas are being handled by door to door visits. I go train week after next so after that I'll have an answer that better follows government policy.

 

[matt wade]

I haven't been to training yet, but I was told when I applied that many rural areas are being handled by door to door visits. I go train week after next so after that I'll have an answer that better follows government policy.

Let us know how the kool-aid tastes! :laugh:

 

[FR7 Baptist]

I haven't been to training yet, but I was told when I applied that many rural areas are being handled by door to door visits. I go train week after next so after that I'll have an answer that better follows government policy.

Cool! That's when I start too. Bill Reber, you should probably call your local Census office and ask.