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Originally Posted by Belinda Williamson
Same here. Sort of seems like a waste of money to send me a letter telling me I'm going to get a form.
+1,000,000
But then again, maybe they are using the excuse "we are mailing $x" to the post office to fight off the Saturday closure thing again.
One friend of mine laughed and said, He was thinking of sending the IRS a note, stating in a few days, he will be sending in his tax return.
Member
I like the way your friend's mind works! I was nearly speechless when I opened my envelope from the Census Bureau yesterday and remain dumbfounded at the stupidity of it all . . .
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Winter's coming!
Contributor
A lot of people are completely unaware of the census. Therefore, we're all getting a letter letting us know it's coming. This makes it less likely people will get the actual census form and just throw it away. I agree it seems wasteful. But if the letter increases participation in the census even slightly, I think it's worthwhile.
Such mass mailings are very inexpensive per unit. That's why we get so much junk mail. It's cheap.
Member
I would like to hear more stories as well. If you have hillbillies in NM like we do in MN it could be interesting.
I got a letter in the mail 3 weeks ago telling me to expect the census to come in the mail in about 5-10 days. Well at this point still no census.
My house security is actually a BBD dog as well. But mine is a Big Blond Dog. He will scare the heck out of you barking, but the only harm he will do is lick you to death. As soon as someone gets out of the car his tail starts wagging and is as friendly as can be. Don't know if he would be any good if it was someone that shouldn't be here.
Member
Jeff,
Not saying you are incorrect about mailing, but they ARE taking GPS readings of every house in the US. That means a person to your door so they may as well hand over the form and save the postage.
And, you can read here why there is no long form this year.
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2009/acs.aspx
Dave J
Forums: Where all too often, logic is the first casualty.
Member
Makes sense and I suppose it's less expensive that billboards and radio & TV advertising (which they're also doing).A lot of people are completely unaware of the census. Therefore, we're all getting a letter letting us know it's coming. This makes it less likely people will get the actual census form and just throw it away. I agree it seems wasteful. But if the letter increases participation in the census even slightly, I think it's worthwhile.
Such mass mailings are very inexpensive per unit. That's why we get so much junk mail. It's cheap.
However, the low cost of mass mailings is a primary reason that the post office is going broke! We must get at least 30-40 pounds of catalogs and other "junk mail" every month at a cost that I can't even begin to grasp. And, unlike the "Do Not Call" registry (very effective), there doesn't seem to be any simple, convenient way to stop it. Writing to the mail order companies appears to only result in your getting on even more lists!
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Winter's coming!
Contributor
I remember in the last census, the long form included a question about how many toilets were in the household. Boy, did that get people steamed! Apparently, many were concerned there would be a "toilet tax" and refused to answer. I heard a census rep on the radio talking about how much trouble that toilet question caused.And, you can read here why there is no long form this year.
Member
Yawn.
Much ado about nothing. Buy some tin foil and they won't be able to read your mind.
Google Earth already provides GPS mapping. Matching these up to street addresses will simply make GPS mapping more accurate. Countless delivery services as well as consumers will benefit from accurate mapping.
If they want to know something about you, chances are better than even they already know what they want. Privacy is a myth.
No way I would want to knock on strangers doors in the current climate. Especially in rural settings. Hats off to the brave souls willing to do this.
Last edited by Greg Peterson; 03-09-2010 at 12:33 PM.
Measure twice, cut three times, start over. Repeat as necessary.
Member
Hmmm, I thought the information gathered was to be confidential. How would the delivery services get the GPS fixes?
A lot of the mapping on Google Earth is very low resolution and worthless for locating places. I know, as my place looks like a big old dark hole in the ground. If I hadn't been able to place it relative to the highways, I would not have been able to find it. The Google road overlays are not even close to the dirt roads.
I am not worried about the Census, the GPS or the Government and I will be mailing in my form after April first. I just don't like learning of stuff that has been cloaked.
Dave J
Forums: Where all too often, logic is the first casualty.
Member
I fail to see how associating a physical address with a GPS coordinate is conspiratorial, or even a private matter.
Rural areas are behind the curve on Google Earth. But for us city folk, it's a pretty valuable resource. And since most of us live in cities and towns anyway, it stands to reason out lying, rural areas are behind the curve.
Measure twice, cut three times, start over. Repeat as necessary.
Member
Cloaked: I was referring to the long form and the ACS. I had already stated I had no problem with the GPS and short form.
Dave J
Forums: Where all too often, logic is the first casualty.
Member
...and there was that superbowl commercial...that was money well spentA lot of people are completely unaware of the census. Therefore, we're all getting a letter letting us know it's coming. This makes it less likely people will get the actual census form and just throw it away. I agree it seems wasteful. But if the letter increases participation in the census even slightly, I think it's worthwhile.
Such mass mailings are very inexpensive per unit. That's why we get so much junk mail. It's cheap.
Member
Hopefully (for our sake, since we ultimately paid the bill) they got a remnant deal on it as there was an awful lot of unsold time slots on the stuporbowl this year. My better half is in the large scale media buying biz and there were tons of bargains for those folks who had ads ready and the money to place them.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Winter's coming!
Member
If you chuck it in the trash instead of mailing it in, I guarantee you'll be having visitors knocking to try getting it (over and over and over). I don't think when I did the census work back in 90 that everyone got one in the mail, even known addresses. Our main visits were to ones that didn't return the form. I understand people not wanting to answer all the questions, especially the old form they used to have. I would tell people I had to interview right from the start "If you feel uncomfortable giving me your answer, we'll skip it'. And I did have some questions left blank. Other people wanted to run digging all through their personal papers to make sure they gave me correct responses. To each their own.
After the census I had a person come up to me in a store and say 'Hi'. I had NO idea who they were. Ended up it was someone I'd done a long form on. I'd told them I had a mind like a sieve lol That's the kind of people they should have getting that information..... in one ear, down the pencil and out of mind.
Member
Actually I read something once that if all junk mail and catalogs were out of the mail stream, it would cost close to $4 to send a letter, the junk mail subsidizes the cost of the transportation of "good" mail.
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