We’ve finished the second week of the Nonresponse Followup stage of the 2010 Census.
The enumerators are firing on all cylinders with completed forms coming into our approximately 500 offices each day. As of Sunday, we completed roughly 36% of the nonresponse workload.
A word to our enumerators: Thanks for what you’re doing; stay safe out there; drive defensively and show our fellow residents all the respect they are due.
Please submit any questions pertaining to this post to ask.census.gov
Working at an LCO, I’ve heard there are several of our enumerators who havent been paid yet because the direct deposit # was miskeyed or they provided a wrong bank number. This would not be so bad if it could be corrected by the next weeks payroll, however we hear it could take up to 3 weeks to make the system ‘corrections’to produce a checks. I know it is not the local LCO admin team dragging their feet, it is the DAPPS system of issuing checks. Also heard that some ‘convienence’ checks issued are bouncing….? Ny thoughts
I didn’t fill out all my form. When will I get a visit? Or will I?
While I understand the government’s need to feel they have to send out folks door to door to survey, I find it highly annoying. I have filled out the forms my tax dollars paid to have mailed out. Then I immediately returned them long before getting the third letter to remind me to do so. In this age, it is hard to know who to trust & who not to trust. I for one am not about to open my door to a stranger and answer questions regarding my household. There have been 2 very disrespectful surveyors come to my door many times in the last 3 weeks. I have told them each time I have already participated, yet they continue to harass me & my children & even being derogatory & name calling to us. And I am supposed to talk to these people. I think not. I have participated in every census since I became an adult on my own by filling out the forms in private. That is my preferenc and the only way I will participate.
I do not wish to answer any questions from the census as I believe the census is no longer helping the US as they count the Illegals as part of our population when they are here as criminals.
What will happen to me for not answering any of the question when the census taker comes to my door?
All of our enumerators, crew leaders and crew leader assistants were either paid for only half of the hours they worked and shorted on mileage reimbursement or did not receive a paycheck at all this week. Several of our crew will have to quit because they have not been paid enough to keep buying gas for their cars.
I sent in my paperwork but have had someone at my door at least seven times in the last couple of weeks. Either I’m not home and they leave a paper, or I am home and trying to sleep/shower/go to the bathroom and I’m not about to answer the door. How many times will the enumerators come to my house?
Cassie – I agree with you. I’ve mailed in the form as soon as we received it. Yet, we have been pestered by 2 workers four times looking for the same information. This last time, I gave them the number of adults and children and that is it. As the one worker said, they need the number. They have gotten my numbers FIVE times; they’ve gotten names and ages four times. Where has all of this gone? Ridiculous.
We sent our paperwork – we have a home office and a residence – 2 different apartments next door to each other. regarding the form we returned on the home office… REALLY did the follow-up caller have to ask is we stayed in a group home or were incarcerated some or all of the month of April? REALLY did they need a verbal response to were there newborns or homeless persons living there? REALLY did they need to ask ANYTHING PAST: Does anyone ever live in that unit?
The paper that enumerators leave at your house is a “Notice of Visit”. There should be a phone number on that notice where you can reach them or their supervisor. Call the number and explain your situation. They can definitely do the interview over the phone if you prefer.
Jeff, if your contact phone number is correct on your form, you should get a call to have you explain or correct the information from the form. If they cannot contact you by phone, then an enumerator may be sent out to try to talk to you.
The Local Census Office for your area would be the ones to determine on when an enumerator would come to your door.
I already sent in my paperwork. I don’t want to talk to anybody. My question was how many times will they bother me? I read that the census workers’ handbook says they are to visit no more than three times, but I also read reports that supervisors and crew leaders are telling the enumerators to keep going back no matter how many times it takes to get a response. Is this true?
A rude hispanic worker has banged on my door 2 times. He bangs like he is the police. I told him both times I sent the form already. Can anyone tell me where do you complain. He came after 9pm. Is there a cutoff time for when they can come to your home. I really don’t want to give them the information face to face.
I agree also! We also filled out our form and drove it to the post office and dropped it in the mail box there yet we had someone stop at our house today and they say they will be back in a day or two. How much good does a census do if they are counting the same people multiple times? They really need to be more organized when doing the census in order to get an accurate count. This just seems like a huge waste of money if they can’t keep track of who they have counted and who they haven’t.
I was left two notices, both in pencil (two different phone numbers, both numbers from new york when I live in california), anyone in the apartment complex could change the phone number, call the number, etc! I called the first number and received an ex-census worker who said it was a fraud. The second number was the same name as put in pencil (I answered the questions because it wasn’t worth the hassle fraud or not!). There was nothing in pen or pre-printed form with the local number, just pencil! Anyone could copy this form and place it on people’s door and make it more professional. The alleged census worker said his cell phone from New York was used because they had to use their own cell number? Also, the threats on the form are so unprofessional! What a joke!
Counting more than 300 million Americans this year should cost us at least $11.3 billion, if all goes according to plan and if costs stay within budget which I doubt very much. Just listen to our story if you want to appreciate our dysfunctional this project is; we have a PO Box address and therefore never received the form (yeah, that was the “plan”).
We found this out when we realized that we had not received the form in the mail and after talking to a census staffer camped at our public library and who gave us the forms, plus a free grocery bag. We filled the form, mailed it out, that was 6 weeks ago. What about the internet? This was an available option in 2000, but not this year; No, I guess it would have been too easy, cost-effective and too much in keeping with our times. This would have meant huge savings in terms of paper, postage and labor costs!
While we were out this week, one of the many individuals hired for counting stopped by our home and left a note with his phone number. We called back and told him that we already had mailed the form. “Never mind,” he said, “I’ll return anyway” and set up an appointment for this past Saturday morning. The man showed up for the appointment and wrote down on his sheet what we already had jotted down more than a month ago.
He said he was making $17 per hour, plus mileage, thought the whole process was utterly disorganized but that it was a great gig for him. I can appreciate that the project gave a lot of people otherwise unemployed a chance to work, but it remains a huge waste of taxpayers money as 90% of it could have been done on line saving all of us at least $7 to $9 billion!
I hope that you and the other people who have had the problems that are endemic in the 2010 census will voice your concerns to your Senators and Congressmen. The waste of taxpayer dollars to collect this data is outrageous and the lack of accountability is all too apparent.
I have been trained in two separate operations. The first was 4 days of training and four days in the field. The second was also 4 days of training that ended in April. Today is the 24th of May and I have yet to be contacted by anyone in the Census Bureau in spite of my calls to the local Census office. The only answer that I have gotten is that some of the trainees “fell through the cracks” and my name would be put on a list and I would hear from them. The amount of money invested in training me and others who have contributed only a few hours of actual field work is a poor investment of taxpayer’s money. If this was meant to be a “stimulus package” for the unemployed there are better ways to see that the billions of wasted dollars could have an impact.
This blog allows people to voice their concerns but it offers very little in the way of answers.
My CLD is not getting new NRFU binders as of last week. With 36% of NRFU complete, should I assume that my CLD is way ahead of the rest of the country or will the work continue?
I hope so!
I would say that you probably weren’t contacted to return to work due to your attitude. The Census trains extra due to attrition in case there is a need, but during the training they do get a feel for who will actually work and have a good attitude and who just won’t “fit” with the Census. It seems you fall into that latter category.
Stop whining people, it takes 5 minutes to answer the questions.
I’m amazed by all you “GREAT” and “PATRIOTIC” Americans out there who have an excuse not to be kind and respectful to the citizens just like you who are working to complete the census.
Steve-
There is no census police that will come and arrest you for not participating; however, by not being counting, you are ensuring your community will be losing thousands and thousands of dollars in federal and state funding. When your community doesn’t have enough money to repair the roads you drive on, just remember-you could have made a difference by choosing to be counted.
Our completed Census was mailed back a day after we rec’d it. Rec’d a phone call this week stating that she was from the census bureau and started asking all kinds of questions. I informed her that I already mailed the questionnaire back and she said that she knew that but she had to ask me more questions…thought ok…then she started asking about each individual in the home asking if any were in jail or living away from home, etc and etc during the year of the census in which I thought was even more strange…I proceeded to tell her that I felt very uncomfortable and she just kept on. I hung up. These days…who do you trust…. I depend on the census for my ancestry hunt and I do know how important is for the well being of our country, state, and local.
Great answer. I agree with you. If the enumerator is really rude, then report it to the census office. Each enumerator has an id number, and if they won’t give it to you, the office can still find out who the enumerator was by the address and day they showed. Everyone in the country needs to get over the whining all the time. Yes, we need changes, but you might have to cooperate in order to see those changes. Complaining about something this simple doesn’t usually help anything.
I hope that you and the other people who have had the problems that are endemic in the 2010 census will voice your concerns to your Senators and Congressmen. The waste of taxpayer dollars to collect this data is outrageous and the lack of accountability is all too apparent.