So where exactly is my census info? - Update

[sbell111]

Which is why it should be an option and not a necessity. There are too many people, especially of older generations, who have yet to find the on-ramp for the information superhighway. Fill out the census online and save the tax payers the cost of mailings and workers going door to door. Don't fill it out and participate the traditional way. It doesn't have to be only one of the other.

Take banking for example, you have the choice of doing banking online or not.

Explain how you could tie that electronic file into each address to ensure that everyone responds and hooligans don't send in fake census reports for entire towns.

 

[FireDancer]

Explain how you could tie that electronic file into each address to ensure that everyone responds and hooligans don't send in fake census reports for entire towns.

The same way your bank can assure it is actually you who is signing up to use online banking for your account. You use known information to verify the identity and information and create an account.

If banks and financial firms can do it so can a census. They have no problem finding a way to collect taxes online, why not use the same ingenuity when saving us money as opposed to just charging us some?

 

[DWGal210]

Think about this - years ago, the postal service said it was "impossible" to have overnight mail delivery. Then along came companies like UPS who put thought & ingenuity to the problem and voilà - overnight delivery was born.

I'm not saying that a private company should come along & do the census - but it's an example of how an impossibility was figured out. There are smart people out there who would come up with a secure way online. And the old paper & stamp option would still be there for those who don't have access to a computer.

If you can bank securely online, you can buy nearly anything online, etc - an online census should not be a huge stretch of the mind. People, it could be done.

 

[DWGal210]

And, this also strikes me as a "We've done it this way for so long, why change it" sort of thing. It's 2010, and there IS a better, faster, CHEAPER way to do it.

I just hate wasted money, and to me it's a waste. It's good that in this economic time, there is an opportunity for people to earn some money. But still, millions upon millions of dollars, especially when funding is take from schools & other important things, is nuts to me.

 

[FireDancer]

And, this also strikes me as a "We've done it this way for so long, why change it" sort of thing. It's 2010, and there IS a better, faster, CHEAPER way to do it.

 

[DWGal210]

Love it!

 

[HHSTigerFan]

How exactly is it going to save money by doing it online???

And why exactly would I want to do it online when it would take me LONGER?

 

[rie'smom]

Does this not bother anyone else?
I wonder what is happening to all these forms with all this information?
is the PO losing it? is the census mishandling it?
makes you wonder about the efficiency.

Typical government inefficiency

As quickly as the government deliberately lies to me (and the rest of the citizenry).

Thank-you

Again, thank-you

 

[sbell111]

The same way your bank can assure it is actually you who is signing up to use online banking for your account. You use known information to verify the identity and information and create an account.

If banks and financial firms can do it so can a census. They have no problem finding a way to collect taxes online, why not use the same ingenuity when saving us money as opposed to just charging us some?

Where would the census obtain this verifiable information?

 

[DWGal210]

How exactly is it going to save money by doing it online???

And why exactly would I want to do it online when it would take me LONGER?

Well, the first savings that comes to mind is postage. Not only on the census itself, but also that letter we all got before that, telling us to watch for the census packet.

In terms of time - if there were the same number of questions, & let's say it took a person 5 minutes max to create a user name & password, I would guesstimate about 10-15 minutes for the whole ball of wax.

Personally, even if it did take a few more minutes to do it online, I would be OK with that. As a taxpayer, knowing that $$$ wasn't flying out the door would be a worthwhile exchange for a few more minutes of my day.

 

[Fire14]

You can call them and let them know. You can also give the information to them via phone. I wound up doing this since they didn't send me the form even after requesting one being sent to my house.

do u happen to have number to do this? I couldn't find anything in my travels

 

[FireDancer]

How exactly is it going to save money by doing it online???

And why exactly would I want to do it online when it would take me LONGER?

By doing it online they would not have to mail you anything. No reminders, no warning that the census is coming, no census itself. They wouldn't have to send a worker to your door because it was lost in the mail. You wouldn't have to pay someone to print them, take them to the post office, or anything else.

It wouldn't take longer. Perhaps registering yourself in a matter to be determined using publicly available records would take a few minutes for people but a few minutes to save, collectively, millions is worth it to me. If it isn't to you then you could choose to do it the old fashioned way.

Could it be gamed, of course, but so could the current system. I could have gone up and down my street taking the forms out of mailboxes, filling them out, and sending them back in. No system gets rid of 100% of fraud.

How to set it up would require doing some research and deciding on what is needed to create an account but it is possible.

 

[rie'smom]

Where would the census obtain this verifiable information?

I think the point that many of us are making is that it is the year 2010, yet the gov't is still conducting the census pretty much the way they did in 1960. If this is an example of what the best and the brightest can do, we are in bad shape.
Believe me if the gov't wants to verify any information on any one in the country, they can do it.

 

[FireDancer]

I think the point that many of us are making is that it is the year 2010, yet the gov't is still conducting the census pretty much the way they did in 1960. If this is an example of what the best and the brightest can do, we are in bad shape.
Believe me if the gov't wants to verify any information on any one in the country, they can do it.

Exactly. Although the best and brightest haven't been in government since the founding fathers.

 

[DWGal210]

That's a good,concise way to say that; thank you!

Believe me, I am not some wacko, I am not looking for trouble & I certainly don't want any hard feelings or fight; if I have come across that way, I apologize. I just get frustrated when things could be (& I think should be) done to save $$, be more efficient, etc - and they are not.

I think the point that many of us are making is that it is the year 2010, yet the gov't is still conducting the census pretty much the way they did in 1960. If this is an example of what the best and the brightest can do, we are in bad shape.
Believe me if the gov't wants to verify any information on any one in the country, they can do it.

 

[SunnyP4Disney]

As quickly as the government deliberately lies to me (and the rest of the citizenry).

Besides, Literal Larry, it was a joke. Man, some people have no sense of humor, it must be a very unhappy existence.

I actually have a fabulous sense of humor and my life is very full, k thx. I just think someone who has said some negative things in regard to the Census and the goverment in this thread is not being funny, they're just being belligerent. My enumerators and I work hard everyday to dispell misinformation and outright defiance that some people like to perpetuate. It's attitudes like your and your ilk that make their job harder...

 

[Wall-E1]

Re; the PO boxes.........I have PO box for most of my mail, but my census came to my physical address. it was pre printed on the census. I didn't have to write it in.
and one post said an entire street census forms were missing.........so that entire street has a PO box?

You have a point. I don't think I had to fill out my address either.
I'm not sure what the other poster was talking about, or if he/she was just assuming that was the issue. Perhaps that poster will elaborate. In either case, I don't think census forms are disappearing in mass numbers. I guess we could debate the efficiency of the post office on that issue. I do know that the government has said that they have had a 72% return rate which is right in line with the previous census, so there can't be that many census forms that have gone missing.

and also somewhere on the thread it mentioned re-interviewing people. If there is such a concern about cost and going out, why RE-interview anyone......

I would think that is just a quality control thing. A lot of corporations and government agencies take out a sample to double check.

 

[HHSTigerFan]

They are going to have to send SOMETHING to people in the mail, whether its a pin code to complete the form online or simply to remind them that it needs to be done..

 

[FireDancer]

They are going to have to send SOMETHING to people in the mail, whether its a pin code to complete the form online or simply to remind them that it needs to be done..

Well, perhaps they would need to send one post card as opposed to many but that is still a substantial savings. The reminder could be done via email, which is practically free, if a person logged on and opted in to electronic correspondence.

I do all of my banking and much of my shopping online and can think of only two institutions that mailed a physical PIN. The vast majority do all of their verification electronically, not physically. For every way someone can commit online fraud there is a way to commit physical world fraud. I was the project manager for my financial institution's online banking and bill pay product and am the ongoing manager of the product. Our registration requires no paper component. Our members can also opt out of all paper mailing (statements, notifications, marketing) and get them all online. If the private sector can find a way to do it the census can. We have never had a single penny of fraudulent loss online, the same can't be said for physical world.

It would not be that hard of a project to do, no harder then the same project in the financial industries.

 

[disney1990]

So how are you going to verify that the person giving the information is the person at that residence? Are you going to ask for Social Security numbers as an identifier? Banks use account numbers.

Just exactly how is your plan going to work? I would be interested to have more details.