So where exactly is my census info? - Update

[WDWAurora]

Argh. I'm a little frustrated with this whole census deal. We mailed ours in several weeks ago, completely filled out. I would imagine it was at least 3 weeks ago, but whenever we received it, it was sent within 2-3 days of receipt.

Today, I'm home on my first day of FMLA anticipating our first child. I went out to get the mail and talked to the census worker who was stopping at the house next door. I was FUMING at them, because they are the annoying neighbors anyway, and I was mad that they were costing taxpayers $57 for a stop (and probably a future stop since they weren't home) by not sending in a simple form.

An hour or so later, my in-laws came to take me to my OB appointment (everybody is paranoid about my going anywhere alone even though I'm fine). DMiL hands me a form saying I missed a visit from a census worker! Ok, so it wasn't out there when I got the mail and talked to the guy, so it had to come after. I didn't leave the house, go outside, go to the garage, or anything. My lazy cat didn't move until DMiL rang the doorbell, so I know the bell didn't ring. Now I feel awful because I could have taken care of all of our questions, but he didn't ring the bell! He knew I was home because he talked to me.

Add to that my concern about my "confidential" information. We sent it in right away, yet they are still coming to our door? I'm a little frustrated with the whole situation. The form on the door left a phone number and times to call, so I'll call at the earliest time listed tomorrow so they don't have to come back. I don't want to be a difficult household by any means, but I don't know what else we can do!

 

[Wall-E1]

The census worker may of wanted to ask you questions about your neighbor. They do ask neighbors if they can't get info directly. It might not of been about your census form.

 

[WDWAurora]

The census worker may of wanted to ask you questions about your neighbor. They do ask neighbors if they can't get info directly. It might not of been about your census form.

Interesting. I did answer what I knew about the neighbors while I was outside (i.e. did they live there April 1, do they still live there, and how many people live there).

 

[Acklander]

When I worked for the census last time, there were a certain percentage that were reinterviewed after the initial interview. I think it was a quality control thing. Maybe it was something like that?

 

[Pigeon]

Fuming at your neighbors over this? Life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

 

[bgirldeb]

I hope my neighbors aren't angry with us because we got a visit from a census worker. The thing is, we were moving the week of 3/15, and our paperwork got lost. I was expecting a second mailing I heard about on the news, but we got a visit first.

​

 

[WDWAurora]

Well, the anger at the neighbors stems more from the fact that they are the annoying, pain in the butt neighbors who would probably do something like this on purpose. Their grass is currently higher than the transformer between our two houses, a car horn honks daily between 6:30 and 7 to pick up one of the kids, the oldest son is in trouble with the police on at least a monthly basis, their dog bit my DH and tried to bite DFiL, etc, etc, etc, etc....So really my annoyance with them is probably unrelated to the census, if that makes sense. Also, I know that the lady was home when the census worker came and just wouldn't answer the door. He had all of his ID extremely visible (I spotted it from my driveway).

I am confused as to why he left a note on my door, though, since he knew I was home. All he had to do was ring the bell! I wouldn't have let him in the house, but I would have happily come onto the porch and answered any necessary questions.

 

[gottaluvPluto]

My mom mailed her census back right away. Well, yesterday a worker came by to ask her ALL the questions. She told him she sent it in and they have all the necessary info. She didn't want to tell a stranger that an old lady was living alone, and I don't blame her. Anyway, she told him that she already answered the questions and mailed it back. He wrote down that she refused to fill out the census. The census needs to get its act together and stop bugging people who sent in their form.

 

[rie'smom]

We received another Census form on Saturday- our 7th! My husband filled out the very first one when it came in a couple of months ago. I'm not opening my door to a stranger. I'm hoping no one gets hurt by a nutcase who poses as a census worker. The gov't seriously needs to move into the 21st century. They could get al the info from the IRS.

 

[disney1990]

My mom mailed her census back right away. Well, yesterday a worker came by to ask her ALL the questions. She told him she sent it in and they have all the necessary info. She didn't want to tell a stranger that an old lady was living alone, and I don't blame her. Anyway, she told him that she already answered the questions and mailed it back. He wrote down that she refused to fill out the census. The census needs to get its act together and stop bugging people who sent in their form.

All Census workers should be carrying appropriate Census identification. Never give any information to someone without identification.

Unfortunately, by your Mom not answering the questions, she will continue to visited by Census workers.

We received another Census form on Saturday- our 7th! My husband filled out the very first one when it came in a couple of months ago. I'm not opening my door to a stranger. I'm hoping no one gets hurt by a nutcase who poses as a census worker. The gov't seriously needs to move into the 21st century. They could get al the info from the IRS.

Information cannot, by law, be shared with other agencies. Just like Census workers cannot tell law enforcement if they see anything illegal going on inside a home.

 

[npmommie]

see these kind of posts bother me.
where are these missing census forms?
and I read on one of these posts that if all the info isnt' filled out then the count isn't even used.
so why bother questioning the neighbors? I don't know my neighbor's birthday, I don't know for sure if 2 or 3 people live in the house 2 doors down, I also may not even be able to give you exact names of all the residents in a household, so why ask neighbors?

also if information cannot be shared between agencies, then I would venture no fines will go out for not answering since the census bureau is not a law enforcement agency.
just sayin.

 

[rie'smom]

All Census workers should be carrying appropriate Census identification. Never give any information to someone without identification.

Unfortunately, by your Mom not answering the questions, she will continue to visited by Census workers.



Information cannot, by law, be shared with other agencies. Just like Census workers cannot tell law enforcement if they see anything illegal going on inside a home.

Then change the law! It's total BS that they spend God knows how many millions of $$$ for information they already have!

see these kind of posts bother me.
where are these missing census forms?
and I read on one of these posts that if all the info isnt' filled out then the count isn't even used.
so why bother questioning the neighbors? I don't know my neighbor's birthday, I don't know for sure if 2 or 3 people live in the house 2 doors down, I also may not even be able to give you exact names of all the residents in a household, so why ask neighbors?

also if information cannot be shared between agencies, then I would venture no fines will go out for not answering since the census bureau is not a law enforcement agency.
just sayin.

 

[WDWAurora]

Well, the plot thickens a little...I called the guy, and he remembered talking to me, etc. and asked if I lived at (made up addresses) 1305 Elm St. I said no, I talked to you when you were at that house, I'm at 1300 Elm. He said he didn't come to my house, but he checked, and saw that our info IS on file. He can't figure out how the notice got on our door, but he says he didn't put it there. I'm guessing it blew off the neighbor's door and someone thought it was ours, or the weirdos brought it over and put it on themselves. Either is something that could have happened. I'm glad that they had our info on file AND that I'm not costing any additional taxpayer money.

I think the census worker was shocked someone called him.

 

[moburg]

see these kind of posts bother me.
where are these missing census forms?
and I read on one of these posts that if all the info isnt' filled out then the count isn't even used.
so why bother questioning the neighbors? I don't know my neighbor's birthday, I don't know for sure if 2 or 3 people live in the house 2 doors down, I also may not even be able to give you exact names of all the residents in a household, so why ask neighbors?

also if information cannot be shared between agencies, then I would venture no fines will go out for not answering since the census bureau is not a law enforcement agency.
just sayin.

I won't answer any information about my neighbors. Thats my neighbors business. I hope my neighbors would give me the same consideration and would tell the census workers to go pound sand! What I tell the census is my business, not my neighbors.

It is offensive that the census workers would even go to my neighbors to try to gather information about me.

 

[rie'smom]

I won't answer any information about my neighbors. Thats my neighbors business. I hope my neighbors would give me the same consideration and would tell the census workers to go pound sand! What I tell the census is my business, not my neighbors.

It is offensive that the census workers would even go to my neighbors to try to gather information about me.

I wouldn't either. This kind of thing reeks of Big Brother.

 

[Fire14]

If i had EVER GOTTEN the stinkin form it would have been filled out. Next problem is when they come bang on door hey are either going to get no one or a tired crabby u just woke me up witch at door. The price I pay for working nights

 

[gottaluvPluto]

All Census workers should be carrying appropriate Census identification. Never give any information to someone without identification.

Unfortunately, by your Mom not answering the questions, she will continue to visited by Census workers.



Information cannot, by law, be shared with other agencies. Just like Census workers cannot tell law enforcement if they see anything illegal going on inside a home.

Well, my mom already answered all the questions. I don't care if he is hired by the census and has all the proper paper work. My elderly mother lives alone and it is a safety issue to give a complete stranger information about living alone. He can come back all he wants ...... she already filled out the form.

 

[pperfectmom]

I am working for the Census this time around and can tell you that I have an entire street of people who say they sent theirs in. Know what? I still have to ask every single household the questions. A lot of things could have happened to account for the mix-ups. The common thread I have found is that they all had PO boxes so I'm thinking they put that address in address column INSTEAD of their physical one. Luckily, they have all been very nice about answering the questions. And we do all carry ID and there is a phone number on it that you can call to verify the census taker's identity. As for giving our your neighbor's info, that is usually only asked as a last resort kind of thing. We are only allowed to visit a limited number of times in person to try to get the info, so any we can gather on that last trip is good. Also neighbors can be used if the house is vacant. We can't just look at a place and record it as vacant based on our own observations. It has to be verified by a proxy(the neighbor or apt. manager, etc.).

 

[Acklander]

Then change the law! It's total BS that they spend God knows how many millions of $$$ for information they already have!

It's in the constitution. Also, you can't get the information from the IRS, Since the census counts ALL people living in the U.S. not just those who pay taxes. In addition to the neighborhoods, they also have Census takers out gathering information from the homeless, those here illegally, those who live in institutions, and so on. This isn't information that the IRS would have.

 

[bettymae1121]

It's in the constitution. Also, you can't get the information from the IRS, Since the census counts ALL people living in the U.S. not just those who pay taxes. In addition to the neighborhoods, they also have Census takers out gathering information from the homeless, those here illegally, those who live in institutions, and so on. This isn't information that the IRS would have.

Also doesn't account for new births, deaths, and people that move from the time the last tax returns were sent in to the time the census takes place. The main reason for the census is to figure out how many people live in a state so they can re-draw the congresional district maps and/or add/subtract the number of Representitives that a state gets. The IRS has a lot of info and is good for a rough estimate, but it's just not accurate enough for a census count.