[finboy]

Where I work a few days per week (a coffee shop), there is a group of Census workers that come in to set up base and call folks, etc. They are very diligent, and spend a lot of time talking to landlords and getting access to apartments, even unoccupied ones. So this fits, even though Bob Barr is a tool sometimes.

I've been approached, personally, by three workers so far this time, two for info and one for directions. I don't remember the same scale of Census involvement in '80 or '00, and I was involved in both of those years at some level. Does it seem like there's more of an effort this time? Does anyone find that strange?

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by finboy 

Does it seem like there's more of an effort this time? Does anyone find that strange?

I feel like I'm watching someone try to fashion a tinfoil hat.

[downinflames68]

They've stopped by my house like 4 times. Unfortunately I work in madison, and live in Milwaukee, so they keep missing me. I'm not sure what they want.

[olePigeon]

Census chap keeps leaving a note on my door. It would help if he didn't come at 1 in the afternoon on a weekday. I'm at work.

[SpaceMonkey]

It was kind of annoying that a census worker followed up with me even though I did complete and return my form.

[bstone]

I filled out my form promptly for everyone living in my apartment. My roommate, a captain in the US army, refused to fill it out saying, "I just don't care." I was shocked, seeing that he's a US army officer.

Anyhow, the downstairs neighbors also do not care. Whenever the census person comes to the door they just ignore it. I saw the census worker on the street and told her who lives there and she thanked me.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Census chap keeps leaving a note on my door. It would help if he didn't come at 1 in the afternoon on a weekday. I'm at work.

How would he know ?

He's probably always home at that time.

-t

[bstone]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Census chap keeps leaving a note on my door. It would help if he didn't come at 1 in the afternoon on a weekday. I'm at work.

I guess you could just have returned the census form?

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Census chap keeps leaving a note on my door. It would help if he didn't come at 1 in the afternoon on a weekday. I'm at work.

Here's what you do. Find some poop and put it in a paper bag. Then leave the bag on your porch, and light it on fire! When the census guy comes by, he'll stamp it out and then, oh man, good stuff!!!

[Mrjinglesusa]

I don't get the problem. They mail Census forms to every freakin' address in the country. If you simply fill the thing out and mail it back, they wouldn't have to bother to try and come to your house for information unless there is a problem with what you put on the form.

Mailed ours in right when we got it and haven't been bothered by any attempts at a personal visit.

If people can't take 5 minutes to fill the form out and mail it back, I don't feel sorry for them if they are annoyed at Census people coming to their home.

[pooka]

It'd be easier if they just sent an email with a link to Survey Monkey

[imitchellg5]

I just remember the 2000 census when my family lived in Barrow and the poor chap nearly froze to death until somebody realized there was a person at the door (it was a corporate apartment complex with a keypad).

[downinflames68]

yeah idon'tcare either

[driven]

Article 1 of the constitution mandates that you respond. Not even an amendment. (just sayin')
If you want to blame someone, blame those folks back in the 1780s.

[brassplayersrock²]

I didn’t even get anything to fill out in the mail this time around. :/

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by driven 

Article 1 of the constitution mandates that you respond. Not even an amendment. (just sayin')
If you want to blame someone, blame those folks back in the 1780s.

I wonder if our census is the same thing that they were meaning. Did they ask the same questions?

I filled mine out (at my wife's prompting), but I don't really see a point to it. If they were just asking for a count, that would be easy enough. But they want more info than I think is needed.

[driven]

Originally Posted by torsoboy 

I wonder if our census is the same thing that they were meaning. Did they ask the same questions?

I filled mine out (at my wife's prompting), but I don't really see a point to it. If they were just asking for a count, that would be easy enough. But they want more info than I think is needed.

Yes. It means the same thing. It's been done every 10 years since 1790. They actually ask less questions now than the first census. (10 questions now vs 32 in 1790)

Article 1, Section 2, US Constitution:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.

[shiff]

I filled out the full census, but I believe the only requirement is to answer the question that counts the number of individuals living at that address.

[driven]

The demographic questions directly relate to federal funding for your district. That's all they are for.

All of the data is confidential, even to other federal agencies. (This has been tested in court.)

[andi*pandi]

I filled out the form, but a census worker stopped by anyhow. She may have been walking on her way to someone else and just caught us out in the yard though.

[driven]

Hey, Census workers = reduced unemployment. :-)

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by driven 

Yes. It means the same thing. It's been done every 10 years since 1790. They actually ask less questions now than the first census. (10 questions now vs 32 in 1790)

Article 1, Section 2, US Constitution:

I thought the whole "only 10 questions" thing was a bit misleading also. It was 10 questions per person, not 10 questions on the form.

Also, according to your quote, they just need an enumeration.

I was a census worker in 2000, and it was pretty enjoyable. Most people were really nice, and I got to go to quite a few remote areas in our county where I hadn't been before. The big/full forms were really big though, and sometimes people didn't like answering all of those questions.

All in all, I don't have a problem with the census, I just don't think they need to ask all of the questions that they ask.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Census chap keeps leaving a note on my door. It would help if he didn't come at 1 in the afternoon on a weekday. I'm at work.

I don't think this is a coincidence. People with jobs generally have reliable mail service.

[Wiskedjak]

Originally Posted by finboy 

Where I work a few days per week (a coffee shop), there is a group of Census workers that come in to set up base and call folks, etc. They are very diligent, and spend a lot of time talking to landlords and getting access to apartments, even unoccupied ones. So this fits, even though Bob Barr is a tool sometimes.

I've been approached, personally, by three workers so far this time, two for info and one for directions. I don't remember the same scale of Census involvement in '80 or '00, and I was involved in both of those years at some level. Does it seem like there's more of an effort this time? Does anyone find that strange?

I heard that they're identifying everyone who doesn't take marching orders from the Main Stream Media and label those people as dissidents. The more questions they ask, even if those questions have nothing to do with politics, the more likely they can identify non-MSM-listening individuals. Then, they're going to start tapping their phones (which, fortunately, they no longer need warrants for).

[driven]

Conspiracy theories aside, there *WAS* an effort on the part of the Obama administration to remove the Census Bureau and move it under the White House. (It was one of the first things that he proposed after taking office.) Considering the political power that Census can wield, it should be no surprise that there was some rather severe backlash and the idea was nixed.

John Fund Explains Why Barack Obama Wants Control of the U.S. Census - WSJ.com

The fiasco is one of the reasons that Sen. Gregg withdrew his nomination for Commerce Secretary.

Commerce Nominee Bows Out - WSJ.com

In the end the Census Bureau stayed under the Dept. of Commerce along with NOAA.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by driven 

The fiasco is one of the reasons that Sen. Gregg withdrew his nomination for Commerce Secretary.

Commerce Nominee Bows Out - WSJ.com

In the end the Census Bureau stayed under the Dept. of Commerce along with NOAA.

That's the Wall Street Journal -- they're tools of The Right. Nothing to see here...

Seriously, though, the Census is EVERYWHERE this time around. Wonder why?

[driven]

Originally Posted by finboy 

That's the Wall Street Journal -- they're tools of The Right. Nothing to see here...

Seriously, though, the Census is EVERYWHERE this time around. Wonder why?

Dude, seriously ... you can find those same articles in the NYT, CNN, even MSNBC. I feel like people put blinders on news when they want to disagree.

I'm conservative and I still watch MSNBC occasionally so I don't always hear an echo chamber. Why can't folks on the left watch stations that they might not always agree with?

CNN version of the article:
Gregg withdraws Commerce Secretary nomination - Feb. 12, 2009

NY Times version of the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/us...memo.html?_r=1

[driven]

As to why the Census is everywhere right now, it's simple: To reduce the unemployment numbers. (Consider it a pseudo-stimulus)

EconomicPolicyJournal.com: The Hire, Fire, Hire Census Game, Or Why the Unemployment Numbers Are Improving

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by driven 

As to why the Census is everywhere right now, it's simple: To reduce the unemployment numbers. (Consider it a pseudo-stimulus)

EconomicPolicyJournal.com: The Hire, Fire, Hire Census Game, Or Why the Unemployment Numbers Are Improving

LOL, government at its best: fiddling with statistics and providing jobs that provide absolutely zero value add.

It's pretty clear to anyone with financial and economic understanding that the current "recovery" is not what the government and some media would like the public to believe.

There is no recovery of jobs. Inflation is rampant, but the statistics tweaked to show the targeted 0%-2%. The Fed printing money causes yet another bubble, this time in investment assets.

Get ready for another big burst (deflation), followed by spiraling out of control inflation.

-t

[driven]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

LOL, government at its best: fiddling with statistics and providing jobs that provide absolutely zero value add.

It's pretty clear to anyone with financial and economic understanding that the current "recovery" is not what the government and some media would like the public to believe.

There is no recovery of jobs. Inflation is rampant, but the statistics tweaked to show the targeted 0%-2%. The Fed printing money causes yet another bubble, this time in investment assets.

Get ready for another big burst (deflation), followed by spiraling out of control inflation.

-t

Agreed. Worse; these Census jobs aren't going to last forever. Then, they are gone.

Also: It shouldn't go un-noticed that the current financial problems in Greece are caused by too much debt. Hmm ... could it happen here? Probably.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by driven 

Dude, seriously ... you can find those same articles in the NYT, CNN, even MSNBC. I feel like people put blinders on news when they want to disagree.

Yeah, I know, I was trying to be snarky.

OF COURSE this is all about job creation, and redistricting. Maybe we'll see all the homeless counts jump again, until someone calls them on it. That was the big game back in 90 as I recall.

I have nothing against the Census folks themselves, they're just trying to do a job. But it's the use of the data that makes me nervous -- there's got to be some agenda behind ramping it up like this.

[driven]

Originally Posted by finboy 

Yeah, I know, I was trying to be snarky.

OF COURSE this is all about job creation, and redistricting. Maybe we'll see all the homeless counts jump again, until someone calls them on it. That was the big game back in 90 as I recall.

I have nothing against the Census folks themselves, they're just trying to do a job. But it's the use of the data that makes me nervous -- there's got to be some agenda behind ramping it up like this.

... and due to my level of involvement with a certain Federal Agency I'll bow out of this conversation at this point.

I am not in a position to confirm or deny your suspicions.

[vmarks]

I've been bombarded by the census takers.
four phone calls, three visits. Two of the visits and two of the phone calls were asking me to report on my neighbor.

I don't want to report on my neighbor. They said alternately that (A)I had volunteered to be his proxy (I had not.) and (B) that they had mistakenly put my info under his address and needed me to put his info down under my address.

I refused to report on my neighbor.

[vcutag]

So, confession time: I'm a crew leader with the Census (my mother was in 1990, I guess it's a tradition.)

I'm one of the lucky souls who gets to go behind the original enumerators (a random 5% sample of their work for quality assurance) and make sure they did their jobs and didn't just make sh¡t up for $18/hr.

I know our local office has something like 700 enumerators in the field, which to me seems ridiculous, but I'm in a city of about 200,000 people with a return rate of 68%, which isn't stellar. That means your tax dollars go out to people like me at $18/hr. to go to that remaining 32% of households to get a head count. Personally, it still seems like overkill, given that I have maybe 10-20 hours worth of work a week for my enumerators, most of whom are unemployed (as I am myself) or have a very low-paying first job.

Fortunately for my guys, all they really have to have is a headcount of people in the residence. We're supposed to ask for names, but by this point, we're the 3rd or 4th enumerator these folks have seen, and they're thoroughly sick of being pestered by us. So I tell my enumerators to be apologetic and polite, get the info they need, and GTFO. This seems to calm down the folks who don't want to give out any information.

Unfortunately, we've got the worst housing projects in Richmond in our turf, so it can get a bit hairy if people really don't want to talk to them. I suppose this is why our hourly wage is so much higher than most other places (about $5/hr. more).

Finboy, re: this statement: "I have nothing against the Census folks themselves, they're just trying to do a job. But it's the use of the data that makes me nervous -- there's got to be some agenda behind ramping it up like this."

I'm guessing it's because they're behind schedule and they really want to get it over with. I know they're deliberately over-hiring because some people end up not being able to hack it. One guy I trained with was let go after taking the post-training quiz we had to take on the material. Unfortunately, they had to pay him for 24 hours of training, even though he was incompetent to actually do the job.

VMarks: Technically, we're allowed three phone calls and three personal visits before we have to drop a case as uncountable. Not sure why you got four phone calls, it sounds like someone got overzealous.

I'm just glad the ACS is entirely voluntary and there is no long form anymore. I can't imagine what this job would be like trying to get people to answer some of those questions.

[Gankdawg]

I mailed mine in, but only reported the number of people living in my household. I got a visit from a Census worker and reiterated that I had already filled it out, reiterated the number of people living in my household and advised I would not give any more info.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by vmarks 

I've been bombarded by the census takers.
four phone calls, three visits. Two of the visits and two of the phone calls were asking me to report on my neighbor.

I don't want to report on my neighbor. They said alternately that (A)I had volunteered to be his proxy (I had not.) and (B) that they had mistakenly put my info under his address and needed me to put his info down under my address.

You have to excuse them. They previously worked for ACORN.

-t

[JellyBeen]

Every home must now have a GPS location. The census workers are making sure of that. Why would the Gov want to know your exact Geo location?

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by JellyBeen 

Why would the Gov want to know your exact Geo location?

I think they've known that since the day you start paying taxes.

[vcutag]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

You have to excuse them. They previously worked for ACORN.

-t

Bullshit.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by vcutag 

I'm just glad the ACS is entirely voluntary

I'm pretty sure it isn't, unless that changed recently. They just send it to a relatively small number of people.

[Doofy]

Allow me to give you a glimpse of what you're in for, people...

Our upcoming census actually asks how many people have slept over, and what their names are (so, basically wants to know who you're canoodling with). I ain't joking - look it up.

Needless to say, mine will be sent back with a large "up your arse" written across the front in red crayon.

[vcutag]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey 

I'm pretty sure it isn't, unless that changed recently. They just send it to a relatively small number of people.

Enumerators aren't sent to your door if you don't fill it out. If you do the ACS, you're also given a standard "short form" like everyone else. You can choose to just send in the short form.

That, and the ACS is done yearly, not every 10 years. It's an ongoing survey.

EDIT: Apparently they do do telephone followups for the ACS. I haven't heard of anyone being sent to followup on it in person, but I'm kind of curious now as to whether we do.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by vcutag 

Bullshit.

O'Rly ?

Do you have proof that this is NOT the case ?

-t

[vcutag]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

O'Rly ?

Do you have proof that this is NOT the case ?

-t

Your false assumption that every Census worker previously worked for ACORN? Yeah. I didn't. Neither did any of my crew.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by vcutag 

for $18/hr.

And THAT would be the trouble, to start with.

Thanks for sharing -- I've heard some of the trials and tribulations first hand from a CL (and his supervisor, whatever that's called) and a couple of different CLAs. I have great respect for the PEOPLE doing the job, OK. Where we are it's mostly out of work college students with no marketable skills and bored housewives whose kids are out of the house doing their own thing. The management types seem to be folks who've moved around a lot, but maybe that's to be expected too -- hard to find folks willing to be guns for hire in ANY transient situation such as this. I know how hard censustakers work, first hand from 80 (my mom did it) and 90 (my GF did it), but it just seems to be a much larger more intrusive presence this year than ever before.

Maybe the $18 per hour means that people are more aggressive or more qualified than in the past. It just seems like a lot of folks this time. And I'm sure some people in Washington will try to use the results to their advantage, as they always do.

[andi*pandi]

[finboy]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

There's some big push coming before tomorrow, so if you've been consciously avoiding them you may have to push up your diligence level.

[Demonhood]

I haven't seen a single Census worker nor anyone that has been approached by one in my area. Guess they aren't pushing it over here.

[The Final Dakar]

One stopped by my place at some point. As i had been lazy about filling out the form, I finally got around to it and sent it in. The worker never returned.

[Eriamjh]

My census form said something like "How many people are in your house?"
and that was it.

Nothing else.