what do you know about US Census "mandatory" surveys?

[captaint]

I don't really have a problem with the census every whatever number of years.
However, in this case, you just know they're working on a way to screw us a
little harder. Take a little more money that belongs to us. They're just figuring
out how to make it more "painless". No such thing. We are all forking out too
much now. No such thing as enough. More. More. More. Mike

[dakotashooter2]

One can answer the questions honestly and still not give them any information. "How much did you pay for your house?"... "Too much" "What is your annual income?"...... "Not enough?"

I guess one could "plead the 5th"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!LOL......................


It is strange that you would be getting census matterial NOW..........................

[Jim]

.....
It is strange that you would be getting census matterial NOW.....

In researching this, Janet found that the census bureau mails 250,000 of the questionaires every month. The plan is that everyone will have received one within five years. The fact that we just received one only indicates where we are on the list.

HERE IS A LINK to a site Janet found that has a lot of good information. The author's post is lengthy, but informative. There are over 700 responses ranging from thanks for the information to horror stories about census bureau workers climbing fences and peering in windows.

[472x1B/A]

I got one. Now with all respect to my fellow Cast Booilteers, I filled mine out and sent it in. This took many many hours for me to deal with this. Jim, I DO NOT blame you or Janet for being extremly, vehemently furious about this. It was received on 06-02-12. THE NEXT DAY I get this little snipit postcard that says,"A few days ago, you should have received an American Community Survey questionnaire.If you have already mailed it back, thank you. If you have not, please send it soon.

Local and national leaders use the information from this survey for planning schools,hospitals, roads, and other community needs."

I and the city police chief are on a first name basis, I showed this to him for his input. When he saw the questions on the survey he was 'upset' and asked me what I intened doing. I also showed him the postcard. My responce was 'what are you going to do when you get yours?'. We both kinda sat there and looked at each other.

So some questions were answered, some weren't, some ?, and some ?n't, some coffee was spilled accidentally, some gun cleaning solvent was spilled accidentally, (I have no idea how the questionnaire got into the gun room.)and some other 'stuff' got spilled accidentally on the questinnaire. It was dried out to the best of my ability and sent in. So next time, penalty or no penatly, it's going into the can and they can come get me. This was disgracefull.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

My wife worked for the census for a few weeks , they can ask anything but all they need is the number of persons in your house hold fill that out and return.

they even tried to communicate to the large Latino community in a near by town that they were better off filling out just that and returning it or someone would be around to ask more questions

what it came down to for her was she told them we live in rural wisconsin she wanted to work in rural wisconsin and they sent her to down town city 40 miles away , working the west side of the river , the east side of the river a few hundred yards away got paid more because it was considered a hazard area with hazard pay for high crime. she did that area for one day in the pouring rain then quit

DID YOU KNOW THAT THEY CONFIRMED THE GPS COORDINATES OF YOUR FRONT PORCH WITH THE LAST 2010 CENSUS

[10 ga]

HERE IS A LINK ranging from thanks for the information to horror stories about census bureau workers climbing fences and peering in windows.

Anybody peering in my windows better have 2 things, hands over head in the air and a blue/yellow/pink paper in their hands that is titled "warrant". If not that then "you will be hearing from my attourney" (I'm a lottery winner) and the local LEOs will be summoned as I'll be holding your *** for their arrival. They can come to the door but don't leave the path! See my previous post for my usual response to the mail inquirys.

10 ga

[BRobertson]

We got one a couple of years ago

I told them how many people live here, and that was all!!

Bob

[gray wolf]

No way they get all that info over here, I looked it up and now I just show them the LAW,
how many people in the house, and how old, there might be one more, we give them a printed copy and wish them a good day.
3 years ago I had a dude follow me around and insist we fill out this huge amount of paper work,
I kept telling him I wasn't going to do it and to leave us alone. When I got home that day he had left a plastic bag on the deck with two more sets of papers. He came around latter that day and told me he would give me $40.00 if I filled them out, I looked at him and said.
"" I will give YOU 40 seconds to get off my porch "" never seen him since. Or any of the other critters wanting my life story, they can read about it when it comes out in book form.
I couldn't believe he offered me money, never seen that before.

[10 ga]

So America has that socialist rubbish too.

All too much/many of them, however they are fun to antagonize!

I filled one out years ago where it said sex I said I like it, and where it said place of birth I said under gum tree. I put it in the unmarked envelope and handed it in. Next morning I got a visit from an officer asking If I wanted a second chance.

Of course you want a second chance, but do the same thing but send/post it to another province/state/area far far away and then start over.

So much for privacy.

Should have blanked out all the barcodes and such on the paper, I usually cut them out with scissors so there is no getting them up for ID purposes. Then when they send another inquiry just answer differently and with great and incredible detail, like "I was born on the X floor in room Y in Z hospital that was operated by L church and may parents were charged $*#. Eventually you can get to the Lat/Long of the place and be incredibly accurate and factual.

WOW, now I hope they send my letter soon. I need some entertainment. Thanks, 10 ga

[Jim]

.....DID YOU KNOW THAT THEY CONFIRMED THE GPS COORDINATES OF YOUR FRONT PORCH WITH THE LAST 2010 CENSUS

In order for that to be confirmed, they have to be on my front porch to do it. Not only have they never been here, they would never find the house.

The few people I've had as guests, I've told "I'll meet you at the post office , you can follow me home. You'd never find the house." So far, I've had two tell me "Just give me your address, I'll find it." So, I let 'em try. Both called and told me they couldn't find the house. After meeting them on the highway and leading them back, they both said something to the effect of "Dang, Jim, I hope you never need the fire department!"

I have a very nice hiding place and I like it.

[Phoenix]

Whatever you do if you fill it out with inaccurate information DO NOT SIGN IT.

VERY few people get messed with by the census people. There were statistics back in 2010 about how 10s of thousands of people that do not respond and only a few are ever charged with anything. But if you look up some info on that. You will find most of the people charged with something are related to threats, brandishing and others but one thing stands out. When you sign it you are affirming it is the truth. That gives them what they need to at least give you a hard time or threaten you to get what they want. I havn't even received a census form in 30 years. So I guess I am a lucky one.

[45nut]

plead the 5th.

[Phoenix]

Dang, Jim, I hope you never need the fire department

This is funny. I just got in a fight with the county a few months ago. They charged me $75 per year for the Volunteer fire department. I said they would never show up. They said Sure they will its their job. I said does it count if they show up 3-24 hours later? The fire department is an hour drive from me, They have never showed up before they were no longer needed anywhere in this place. I told them the only person that is going to put out a fire is me or time. The fire department will never be useful to me. and if the forest catches then it will be the state with helicopters that will put it out. and that is a separate line on my taxes. That one I am glad to pay.

[Phoenix]

plead the 5th.

This wont work. They say that your information is private and cannot be used in proceedings against you. I was told that since the information is protected you cannot claim the 5th. The part about it being protected is a bold faced lie.

They also say all information is private. that is also a lie. They released all the data from the 2010 census. except the names. Well all the data people did was cross reference the postal address database with the census data and merged them using a few other sources to extrapolate all the data for the entire US. I refuse to answer on of those on the grounds they do not protect my information as the law says it is to be. Everything is available from data crunchers for a price.

[MUSTANG]

No way they get all that info over here, I looked it up and now I just show them the LAW,
how many people in the house, and how old, there might be one more, we give them a printed copy and wish them a good day.
3 years ago I had a dude follow me around and insist we fill out this huge amount of paper work,
I kept telling him I wasn't going to do it and to leave us alone. When I got home that day he had left a plastic bag on the deck with two more sets of papers. He came around latter that day and told me he would give me $40.00 if I filled them out, I looked at him and said.
"" I will give YOU 40 seconds to get off my porch "" never seen him since. Or any of the other critters wanting my life story, they can read about it when it comes out in book form.
I couldn't believe he offered me money, never seen that before.

Gray Wolf:

The offer of $40.00 is indicative of the Temporary Hire "Paid Census Taker". I know for a fact that during the 2010 census there were census workers supplied by ACORN. They were paid by the US Census Bureau, but were also receiving "Bonus Pay" from ACORN and other Liberal Progressive groups. This is where the money came from to offer you a $40.00 "Bribe".

We had a friend who was out of work (Phoenix Area) and took a job with the 2010 Census. Just before they would qualify for full time employment, Census workers there were fired/laid off. After a day passed they were called and told to report for work again. This was a strategy by the Obama Administration to keep them from being listed as Full Time Employees, because as soon as they were Full Time they would count as newly unemployed and once they left the census, it would screw up the "Jobs Created" Stats and result in a huge "Unemployment Up=Tick", they were manipulating the unemployment data with Census woorkers.

This same friend also relayed that they were repeatedly instructed (Verbally with no ability to record) to ensure that everyone was counted, if no one was at home or could not be found, then fill out the form with your best guess. (In other words, make it up). If the supervisory persons were dissatisfied with the count and data collected, they would tell the worker surveyors to change the information. If they did not, then the Supervisory people would take the forms and send them away, presumably the Supervisory persons changed data themselves at that time. (Seems to be the old tactic of get some one to do something illegal, that way they can't rat on you for your illegal acts and they can be controlled). Our friend refused, but was quietly informed that if a charge of fraudulent activity was filed, they would fire them and they had plenty of people who would swear that this friend had falsified data and was taking pay from outside entities. In other words slander them with charges of activity that was rampant throughout the census group, but the person refused to engage in.

During the 2010 census I was approached at the house by a census worker who wanted me to fill out a huge form. I filled out my name, address, and how many persons were in the household. I then handed him a copy of the Constitution, plus one for his supervisor, and told them to get back with me after they read it. Never heard from them again.

Mustang

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

In order for that to be confirmed, they have to be on my front porch to do it. Not only have they never been here, they would never find the house.

The few people I've had as guests, I've told "I'll meet you at the post office , you can follow me home. You'd never find the house." So far, I've had two tell me "Just give me your address, I'll find it." So, I let 'em try. Both called and told me they couldn't find the house. After meeting them on the highway and leading them back, they both said something to the effect of "Dang, Jim, I hope you never need the fire department!"

I have a very nice hiding place and I like it.

Well that may have been the case , I only know that they were hired to confirm data they had the pads they had had built in gps they would log into them and get their assignment, travel to the starting point then confirm each address location and some basic things about the house or apartment some of the time they were just confirming info , then in the case of a street that had been miss labeled or some such thing it had her verify every house number and push the take coordinates button. in training they were told "because they were the government they could go past gates ans right up to the house" but her trainer said it was up to their discretion so any time a gate was reached she just took the mark at the gate and let the people be. but like i said she really didn't feel comfortable doing the job , and quit after 1 day of actually taking assignments on her own. i would like to thank you all for the 2 weeks training she got paid for , and the added tax benefit of her having income that year we collected the making work pay tax credit.

meth labs are a reality in rural south west Wisconsin and the training class discussed this and opted to not pass any gates , that year apparently the labs were right in town , had 2 blow up a few months later

either way i would fill in number of occupants and send back

[w0fms]

Interesting. In 2010, we had one of those big surveys sent to us -- but they did eventually give up. But they sure did try. Even had a "supervisor" show up. We politely let them know that we checked the law and knew what we had to answer and what we were not obligated to under the law and we didn't really care if they were a "supervisor" or not. We did answer what we were obligated to.

And as far as the GPS coordinates.. that's a fight already lost if you've ever used Google Earth.. just sayin'....

[wv109323]

If they mandated me to fill it out I would get creative with my answers.
Number of people in household: 2 Americans, 27 illegal Mexican aliens, 4 Zombies.
Sex: Twice a week
Annual Income:Yes
Etc.....Etc.....

[shooter93]

Census stuff is always a bit of trouble here. Colleen is a good person...I'm not. No matter what they send they get a head count from me....nothing else. The census is to determine population to be sure representation/representatives are alloted correctly. They only need a head count for that. Any other information they ask for is either for some tax scheme or more likey to narrow areas by ethnicity/income etc so the crooks who represent you now know where and how to pander to specific groups to get re-elected.

[.45Cole]

Most of what the C.B. is doing is collecting data. They are trying to get a good representation of the country. I grew up in Kersey; here's what the survey says about this town (read the Demographics)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kersey,_Colorado

There are plenty of great things that can come from this data collection, so don't screw with their numbers. If you feel like it's too invasive, answer approximately so that something like the demographics in the wiki page are still accurate, remember-you're paying for it!
P.S. I've had one come by, and things went great.