Met with US Census worker for my first interview today. I was reluctant but am glad I participated.

[mahina]

I got the first card in my outside gate a week or so ago and thought, dammit.

Next, he came into my gate and tucked a card and flier on my door. Double dammit.

I tried calling after blocking my cell number (because, hello? Surveillance is already too easy and the dumpster in the White House I trust as much as I could lift him.). No can do. Blocked numbers can’t call.

He showed up this morning and long story short we had the meeting.

The series of questions went from predictable to very unusual. Does anyone in your home have trouble bathing themselves? Going on errands? Climbing stairs? This is not like the last Census I participated in.

Anyway I took one for the team understanding that we need to be counted if we want to keep our representation. As he drove off, I saw his bumper sticker. It was a Moveon.org RESIST sticker. How about that.

tl/dr: no reason to hesitate re participation in the census.

Edited to add since it keeps coming up below: there was no survey, no form to fill out, or I would have done so the first day. Mahalo!

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. That was the American Community Survey, which is performed by the Census Bureau, but is not

the regular 10-year census.

Why were you resisting it in the first place?

[mahina]

4. Because Im busy and wasnt wild about providing the government with more information.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. It's information that helps with funds allocation, social services and policymaking.

It's also anonymized. It's too bad there's so much paranoia around the Census. The government could find you pretty easily without it.

[mahina]

9. Yes thats why I agreed to proceed and posted my message.

Read you.

It’s a pile of meetings over six months.

With that, I bid you aloha.

[lunasun]

2. Yes people need to respond . It can save a lot of their effort by responding

at first attempt . If they came out to you 3 times think about it. Was there a survey mailing you avoided ?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

7. This.

I mean, don't get me wrong, it's a great jobs program. But answering the questionnaire saves the government money in the long run.

[lunasun]

8. plus at some point they have to come off hours to catch the person etc. not making the job so easy

[mahina]

11. There was no questionnaire.

A written questionnaire, I would have completed and sent back in the same day.

[mahina]

10. No, thats what I was used to. This was a face to face survey

Last edited Fri Jan 19, 2018, 01:39 AM - Edit history (1)

And an agreement to meet and or call to revisit the data a total of eight times over the next 12 months.

A written questionnaire, I would have completed and sent back in the same day.

Le sigh.

[DeminPennswoods]

3. They're trying to get a handle on unpaid care-giving

is my guess and/or figure out how many disabled/elderly live at home. Care provided by family members is getting to be more important with us baby boomers both getting older to need care, but still young enough to have to be care-givers.

[mahina]

5. That makes sense, thanks.

[msongs]

12. invasive waste of time that is none of their business and has nothing do with a "census" nt

[WhiskeyGrinder]

13. The American Community Survey and several others are in fact administered by the Census Bureau.

Theyre all easy enough to verify.

[mahina]

14. Read you too. The census worker was a really nice guy who lives nearby.

I'll participate until I hit a wall, hope to be able to get through the whole process. I do feel bad for the guy but it definitely was outside my expectations perameters. A survey would have been duck soup and pau already.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. First interview? The American Community Survey is just one interview, and they only show up if...

you didn't mail back the questionnaire they sent you. The ACS is one that can actually be done online.

Current Population Survey, Consumer Expenditures Survey, American Housing Survey... just a few of the several surveys the
Census Bureau conducts that have follow-up interviews and no mailed forms. Overall, the Bureau conducts about 130 different surveys, most of which the average person would never see. Every one of those should have had an initial and some follow-up letters sent. Granted, PO Boxes aren't covered, and many people don't take the form they get in the mail seriously.

All information is encrypted, with no access allowed to any other agencies, public or private and Census employees are pledged to privacy-- we are threatened with huge fines and prison terms if we gossip or otherwise release any information.

www.census.gov has more than you ever want to know about what Census does.

[mahina]

17. He thought it was odd that I had received no mailed survey as well.

Yes, it was the first interview, with more to come in the next six months. The next one will be in a month.

The census worker said it can not be done online.

[TreasonousBastard]

19. I am confused-- what was the name of the survey?

[mahina]

20. He didn't inform me verbally of the name of the survey.

On the cover of the pamphlet he left, the headline reads
Fact Sheet for the Current Population Survey.

Having dug my notes and his flier out, I read here that it requires contact for four months of this year and four months of next year. That wasn't clear to me.

Hoping all that is helpful to you.

[TreasonousBastard]

21. OK. I am very familiar with the Current Population Survey...

It gets easier as they go on, since they have the basic info now.

[babylonsister]

16. You gave me hope that someone might come here

and want honest answers. I could do this.

[mahina]

18. Can do, babylonsister.