2010 Census

kelliejo83 · March 2010

Have you guys gotten your forms yet? We just got ours yesterday and sent it back today. It was so lame... I would have asked WAY more questions because I'm so nosy! DH says that a random sample get a longer form, but I guess we didn't luck out.

Also... who has 12 people living in 1 house?! Well, other than the Duggars...

I just hope the commercials and "hype" end soon. I'm just sick of hearing about it. How has it not gone electronic yet? Maybe for 2020, huh? Finally, why did they send a letter LAST week that said we'd be getting the census form THIS week?! How does the government have the extra money laying around for 2 mailings to everyone in the US?

Ok... rant over. Thanks for listening!

2dBride · March 2010

We got our form. We got to report ourselves as married for the first time. :-)

The only issue we had was that we have a guy who rents from us and lives in our basement. The form treated him as part of our "household," so we had to figure out his year of birth. We didn't know, but finally found an online profile of his that said what it was.

Jkip0705 · March 2010

I agree about sending out a letter a week beforehand. They say they wanted to cover all their bases with trying to get people to hand it in...I think it was a waste of money to do.

We have yest to get our form though...maybe today!

Fotophreak4c · March 2010

I did mine yesterday....I got a huge census packet right around the time of the wedding last year and didnt fill it out. I didnt know it was required by law. Let's just say this weird man for like 2 months kept banging on my door (always when DH wasnt here, so I wouldnt answer it). Turned out he was from the census trying to get the info that we didnt send in. I felt so bad!!

Reinedumonde · March 2010

We got ours yesterday and to be honest, I was a little disappointed that there were so few questions. All this hype and then it was the easiest form ever to fill out. I did enjoy checking the "husband or wife" spot, though.

I think the reason that it hasn't gone electronic that a LOT of people still don't have internet. Probably one-half to one-third of our clients don't have a cell phone or email address. Personally, I don't know how they do it, but some people either don't want to or don't have the means to go electronic.

And that's probably why they sent the mailing out--because the commercials can't reach everyone and they want to cover their bases. I definitely thought it was silly when I got it, though. They could have just sent me the form and I would have dutifully filled it out and mailed it back.

wittyschaffy · March 2010

Our local paper ran a story about the pre-mailing and the Census Bureau decided it was going to be more cost effective to send that out so that people wouldn't look at the real Census and throw it out thinking it was a scam or junk. If you don't fill it out, they send someone out to your house to get the info which costs more time and money than you'd think.

wittyschaffy · March 2010

kelliejo83:

Also... who has 12 people living in 1 house?! Well, other than the Duggars...

We have a lot of new folks to the country in our neighborhood and I can guaratee that in some cases there are 12 people or more living together. If you figure 2 families from a culture that traditionally puts a huge value on having children sharing a house until one of them can save enough money to get their own place - it adds up to a lot of people! I'm not gonna say that it isn't a problem because the houses in my neighborhood are all about 1500 square feet or under, but the city can't bust them because they're all related. Pretty crazy!

Karen2905 · March 2010

Reinedumonde:
I think the reason that it hasn't gone electronic that a LOT of people still don't have internet. Probably one-half to one-third of our clients don't have a cell phone or email address. Personally, I don't know how they do it, but some people either don't want to or don't have the means to go electronic.

I researched this for my Masters. About 3/4 of the people in the United States are considered internet users. 1/4 of 307 million is a lot of people to consider.

Frankly, I think it would have been cheaper to set up the online database, open it up to the Internet Users for a month or two, and then follow up with those who didn't fill it out.

kelliejo83 · March 2010

Fotophreak4c:
I did mine yesterday....I got a huge census packet right around the time of the wedding last year and didnt fill it out. I didnt know it was required by law. Let's just say this weird man for like 2 months kept banging on my door (always when DH wasnt here, so I wouldnt answer it). Turned out he was from the census trying to get the info that we didnt send in. I felt so bad!!

Foto -- you got a census packet last year? I thought they couldn't do it until 2010? Was it for the 2010 census? What kind of questions were on there? Maybe that's the "long" version DH was talking about!

Did you finally just have to answer the guy's questions in person?

mikesboo23 · March 2010

I saw something about a week ago that said people are going up to houses claiming to be Census takers then asking to come inside. They steal everything worth any money.

A real Census worker will have an official badge and is not allowed to ask to come in.

Anyway, we got that notice over a week ago and haven't gotten the census yet.

KatieintheCity · March 2010

We got the notice but haven't gotten the official form yet. The reason it's short this year is that in past years it's been really thorough, but they didn't get a good response rate because 1) people just don't have the time to sit and fill all that out when they have kids, jobs, etc. etc. and 2) people think it's an invasion of their privacy by the big scary government and that they'll end up on a death panel. Wait I think I'm getting my issues confused...

jlk0219 · March 2010

The reason they do the pre-mailing is that past research shows that people are much more likely to respond to a survey etc. when they are expecting it. So that's what the letter and TV commercials are about. It seems counter-intuitive but it's actually cheaper for them to send the letters and pay for the advertising than to follow up with people who don't respond. The only part that I thought was strange was that Hispanics were segregated into a separate question ("for this census Hispanics are not considered a race"). I thought that was weird.

mikesboo23 · March 2010

jlk0219:
The only part that I thought was strange was that Hispanics were segregated into a separate question ("for this census Hispanics are not considered a race"). I thought that was weird.

I've noticed that in a lot of job applications. They don't give a list of races to chose from anymore, they just ask you to mark a box if you are hispanic.

Fotophreak4c · March 2010

kelliejo83:
Fotophreak4c:
I did mine yesterday....I got a huge census packet right around the time of the wedding last year and didnt fill it out. I didnt know it was required by law. Let's just say this weird man for like 2 months kept banging on my door (always when DH wasnt here, so I wouldnt answer it). Turned out he was from the census trying to get the info that we didnt send in. I felt so bad!!
Foto -- you got a census packet last year? I thought they couldn't do it until 2010? Was it for the 2010 census? What kind of questions were on there? Maybe that's the "long" version DH was talking about!
Did you finally just have to answer the guy's questions in person?

Yes I got this HUGE packet from the census last year right around our wedding. I am guessing it was for the 2010 census, I have no idea. I live in my mom's house and she owns it, but doesnt live here. It was asking all kinds of detailed questions about the house and square footage and all kindsa crazy stuff. I just threw it away because I didnt know I had to do it and I didnt know alot of the answers (and my mom lives in AL and I am sure she didnt have all the info with her about the house). The man came to my house and he was asking me how many rooms I had in the house, and all this WEIRD stuff. This happened prob in January when we finally opened the door when he came lol He would come every week and bang on my door and stand outside my house for like 10 minutes and he creeped me out SOOO bad, I'd never open the door for him. Finally, Mike was home and he opened it and found out what he wanted! I now understand what the census is though...I never really understood that it was mandatory. I wont throw it away ever again!!

kelnyc · March 2010

We got nada. No notice, no census, nothing. And everyone is talking about it. Grrrr

munkii · March 2010

wittyschaffy:
kelliejo83:

Also... who has 12 people living in 1 house?! Well, other than the Duggars...

We have a lot of new folks to the country in our neighborhood and I can guaratee that in some cases there are 12 people or more living together. If you figure 2 families from a culture that traditionally puts a huge value on having children sharing a house until one of them can save enough money to get their own place - it adds up to a lot of people! I'm not gonna say that it isn't a problem because the houses in my neighborhood are all about 1500 square feet or under, but the city can't bust them because they're all related. Pretty crazy!

It's not always a matter of money--in fact, more often than not, it is a cultural thing. Just saying.

wittyschaffy · March 2010

I think that in a lot of cases that is true - emphasis on intergenerational living and such. In my neighborhood though in particular, it is mostly new immigrants moving in with their sponsors- usually a family member - until they get their feet under them.

juangela · March 2010

mikesboo23:
jlk0219:
The only part that I thought was strange was that Hispanics were segregated into a separate question ("for this census Hispanics are not considered a race"). I thought that was weird.

I've noticed that in a lot of job applications. They don't give a list of races to chose from anymore, they just ask you to mark a box if you are hispanic.

DH is really upset about this, actually. He is Hispanic, his dad is indigenous to El Salvador (so like, Native Central American) and his mom is Colombian, but is African and indigenous to Colombia (part of her family was bought in Colombia during the slave trades)...we really had no idea what to choose as his "race." We ended up going with black, but that really isn't representative of what his race really is. I suppose we could have chosen "other," but really? My first question was, so what does this make Baby J? Hopefully they add a "mixed race" option soon so my poor kids aren't always stuck choosing "other."

munkii · March 2010

juangela:
mikesboo23:

jlk0219:
The only part that I thought was strange was that Hispanics were segregated into a separate question ("for this census Hispanics are not considered a race"). I thought that was weird.

I've noticed that in a lot of job applications. They don't give a list of races to chose from anymore, they just ask you to mark a box if you are hispanic.

DH is really upset about this, actually. He is Hispanic, his dad is indigenous to El Salvador (so like, Native Central American) and his mom is Colombian, but is African and indigenous to Colombia (part of her family was bought in Colombia during the slave trades)...we really had no idea what to choose as his "race." We ended up going with black, but that really isn't representative of what his race really is. I suppose we could have chosen "other," but really? My first question was, so what does this make Baby J? Hopefully they add a "mixed race" option soon so my poor kids aren't always stuck choosing "other."

My job/univ asked me to complete an online form with my race info on it the other day. I was tempted to mark all the boxes but decided to leave it blank. Some people (like our govt) forget that a single race doesn't represent all of us. What do Juan's parents do? My dad always marks "white" but he's not...it's quite funny.

nicoleabrock · March 2010

juangela:
mikesboo23:

jlk0219:
The only part that I thought was strange was that Hispanics were segregated into a separate question ("for this census Hispanics are not considered a race"). I thought that was weird.

I've noticed that in a lot of job applications. They don't give a list of races to chose from anymore, they just ask you to mark a box if you are hispanic.

DH is really upset about this, actually. He is Hispanic, his dad is indigenous to El Salvador (so like, Native Central American) and his mom is Colombian, but is African and indigenous to Colombia (part of her family was bought in Colombia during the slave trades)...we really had no idea what to choose as his "race." We ended up going with black, but that really isn't representative of what his race really is. I suppose we could have chosen "other," but really? My first question was, so what does this make Baby J? Hopefully they add a "mixed race" option soon so my poor kids aren't always stuck choosing "other."

My husband is upset about this too. He gladly picked Mexican but when it came to race, he didn't feel like white accurately represented him. He said he wanted to write in beige since white or black didn't fit him.

juangela · March 2010

munkii:
juangela:
mikesboo23:

jlk0219:
The only part that I thought was strange was that Hispanics were segregated into a separate question ("for this census Hispanics are not considered a race"). I thought that was weird.

I've noticed that in a lot of job applications. They don't give a list of races to chose from anymore, they just ask you to mark a box if you are hispanic.

DH is really upset about this, actually. He is Hispanic, his dad is indigenous to El Salvador (so like, Native Central American) and his mom is Colombian, but is African and indigenous to Colombia (part of her family was bought in Colombia during the slave trades)...we really had no idea what to choose as his "race." We ended up going with black, but that really isn't representative of what his race really is. I suppose we could have chosen "other," but really? My first question was, so what does this make Baby J? Hopefully they add a "mixed race" option soon so my poor kids aren't always stuck choosing "other."

My job/univ asked me to complete an online form with my race info on it the other day. I was tempted to mark all the boxes but decided to leave it blank. Some people (like our govt) forget that a single race doesn't represent all of us. What do Juan's parents do? My dad always marks "white" but he's not...it's quite funny.

I don't know with the ILs choose, actually. We are seeing them this weekend and I'm interested to ask. We had dinner with Foster-BIL last night and we were all discussing this, too, because they are Puerto Rican (BIL) and Salvadoran/Peruvian (SIL), and have 3 kids...it is so confusing.

juangela · March 2010

nicoleabrock:
juangela:
mikesboo23:

jlk0219:
The only part that I thought was strange was that Hispanics were segregated into a separate question ("for this census Hispanics are not considered a race"). I thought that was weird.

I've noticed that in a lot of job applications. They don't give a list of races to chose from anymore, they just ask you to mark a box if you are hispanic.

DH is really upset about this, actually. He is Hispanic, his dad is indigenous to El Salvador (so like, Native Central American) and his mom is Colombian, but is African and indigenous to Colombia (part of her family was bought in Colombia during the slave trades)...we really had no idea what to choose as his "race." We ended up going with black, but that really isn't representative of what his race really is. I suppose we could have chosen "other," but really? My first question was, so what does this make Baby J? Hopefully they add a "mixed race" option soon so my poor kids aren't always stuck choosing "other."

My husband is upset about this too. He gladly picked Mexican but when it came to race, he didn't feel like white accurately represented him. He said he wanted to write in beige since white or black didn't fit him.

People always confuse Juan with someone from India so we joked about checking Indian but didn't do it . They definitely need to get with the times and update the forms appropriately. I don't even know who to complain to...our Congress-people?

2010 Census

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