Did anyone else receive one of these? According to their web site, US Code Title 13, sections Section 141 and Section 193 your response is required by law.
In reality, those sections outline that The Secretary (who is presumably defined elsewhere) can take surveys as a part of their census process. It is Section 221 that requires you to respond:
Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided…
That’s just a crock.
Oh, sure, census information is useful and all that. It’s just the principal of it. I guess I’ll have to ask the nice lady who came to my door for some evidence that she is an authorized officer or employee of the Deparment of Commerce, or a bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of The Secretary.
Heck, I’d pay the $100 if it weren’t for Title 18, Section 3571 (allegedly Section 3559 as well, but that seems to deal with imprisonment and not monetary fines). With it on the books, the “not greater than $100” fine becomes “not greater than $5000” fine. That really blows.
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718 responses to “American Community Survey”
I had not seen any postings on this blog for a while. I thought that maybe CB is changing tactics. Guess not.
I did not respond to calls, or visits, did not open the door, they kept calling and ringing the bell many times in each visit – there were many visits. My dogs went crazy with the bell ringing 🙂 So they KNEW we were inside, we simply did nothing. Nothing at all. And they stopped at the end of April.
I keep checking the blog. It helped me. I would encourage everyone to not respond, not even the basic 5 questions, screen calls (its a good habit any way 🙂
joe
The Wod,
My whole ordeal lasted 90 days. I live in a target area, population below 65,000, so I knew I was in for the whole thing. My phone is listed in the phone book under a phony name, which I use for screening telemarketers. The pattern is mailings for 30 days, phone calls for 30 days and visits for 30 days. Those without landline may have a rep visit beginning the 2nd month. Some without direct mail (PO Boxes) have had reps appear with no prior warning. When the phone calls began, I diconnected my answering machine and left the caller ID connected, so no messages could be left. I had a camera installed to watch my front door. I left all notes left by the reps untouched. 5 visits occured while I was at home. I never answered the door. By the time everything ended, I knew the reps phone numbers, addresses and vehicle registration nimbers. I could have filled out the ACS on them!
The Wod, your rep visits ususlly last about 30 days. So if they started at the beginning of this month, they will stop soon. Expect the frequency of the visits to increase before they stop. I had 2 reps working on me and they got nothing.
TheShadow, the CB is being used as a front for various social, behavioral and economic scientists to study us. The ACS is a screening tool to find people who are eligible for other gov programs or for other non-manditory surveys. I have found groups who generate questions for the ACS. The marrage history question didn’t appear because the feds wanted the info, but because a group studying family structure did. That question was not on my 07 survey. The monthly homeowner cost questions appeared on the long form in 1980; residence 1 yr ago 1999; farm residence 1970; health insurance 2008. The CB considers the ACS to be completed if 5 data points are listed; age, gender, race, hispanic and tenure. Most people will answer at least 5 questions.
Do not be fooled by the CB’s assertion that the response rate is 95%. It is more like 50-70% depending upon the part of the country surveyed. So if 250,000/month are sent the survey and 30% are not returned, that’s about 75,000/month or 900,000/yr who don’t return the survey. That’s why only 1/3 nonresponders will get a visit. The broader plan is to send this survey to all residences once every 5 years so those social scientists can stay employed!
The thing that bothers me the most — after all the outrages described above — about these metastasizing surveys is that I, as a taxpayer, am paying the government to collect and provide free market research worth a fortune to any corporation or private business with an internet connection.
My time is valuable. If someone wants information for marketing purposes, they can pay me for it. The Census Bureau wants you to believe that you are compelled by law to provide information so Acme Plumbing and Wiring can better target your neighborhood with junk mail.
Don’t believe all that crap about how the ACS questions are formulated to help the government plan and allocate resources. Most of these questions about property taxes, commute times, and the rest can be answered by localities.
Local governments have a pretty good handle on what’s happening in their communities, who’s living there, who doesn’t have plumbing or electricity. But Acme Plumbing and Wiring doesn’t — until they access that information for free at http://www.census.gov/ .
It’s no accident that the Census Bureau is part of the Department of Commerce. The Census has morphed from a simple decennial head-count for the purpose of apportioning representatives into a hydra-headed monster dedicated to insinuating itself into your underwear on behalf of corporate interests.
Hello all,
I was happy to find this site. I received two long surveys a couple of weeks apart a couple of months back and ignored both. I was not even sure if they were legitimate, as I thought it could be someone phishing for ID theft, so I did not bother even looking into it and they soon got lost in the pile of the other mail on my table that I rarely open. Then a few days ago, a rep left a business card on my front door saying it was urgent that I call him. I ignored it. Then my girlfriend must have found one a few days later and brought it inside. Then I think I got a third one, before this weekend, when according to the card, the person showed up three times in one afternoon. Fortunately, I work on that day. I took that card and dropped it at the foot of the door, as if it had fallen and I had not seen it. How long will this person keep on trying? I nearly cracked last week, as I filled out the form but decided to check what if anything people on the net thought about it. Then I found you nice folks and did not feel as alone. Thus, I deposited my completed form in a box and am standing my ground as someone who does not want to share every aspect of my life with complete strangers.
What a colossal waste of our tax money; doesn’t that person have anything better to do. I was a bit annoyed to read above where they even showed up at night. Not too bad, though, as I usually don’t get home until 8:30 or 9pm and enter thru the garage in back. About the only time I go out the front door is to walk the dog around 9 or 10. I guess they haven’t got my phone number, so no calls (yet).
I hope they don’t catch me in the morning when I walk the dog. What have you done when you have encountered them? Do I just refuse on principle or answer only the most basic of questions and refuse the rest. Do you go as far as to ignore answering the door, even when they know you are in there from the noise inside? Has anyone sent it back with only the basics filled out, such as name, address, age…? If so, what happened? Just wondering what I can expect and for how long. Thanks a bunch for all the detailed posts. I hope that some of you are still out there.
Its June 10th today, and there has been no action on the part of CB for over 7 weeks. So I guess for now I am off the hook.
As a blessing in disguise, we started screening ALL calls, and now pick them up only if we feel like some entertainment (mostly from Direct TV, and many representatives of telecom companies from India posing as local people…)
I think it is absolutely worth resisting this intrusion. Builds character for sure 🙂
Wish you all the best. This blog gave me a lot of moral support. Invaluable.
-joe
The plot thickens. After getting my first survey form Jan 30th, I got a second one and heard nothing. Today my wife just called and said a middle-aged man parked, got out and walked up and started pounding on our door. When she mentioned he was wearing a sweater vest, I felt comfortable in concluding he was a civil servant.
Game on!
Hi Lazarus!
When I entered the field rep phase, I didn’t get visited until the 2nd week of the month. At first I thought the CB would skip me, but no. I got a letter from the local CB office introducing my field rep. It arrived the day after I got my first visit.
Hang in there Ralph! Remember that these people work for you, you don’t work for them. Without any fault of your own, you are being expected to comply with a very intensive interview. An interigation without a crime.
But if you don’t answer, well, where to the schools go?, where do the fire stations go? Mental health services? You must be some kind of nut if you resist.
The American Community Survey is simply a tool for the already bloated government to use to create more government.
I was a fairly Liberal person politically, at least before I was subjected to the ACS. Now I am still fuming about the whole thing. The funding for this sort of thing must GO.
First weekend of my 3rd month of harrassment by the ACS. Nobody showed up.
Thank you for keeping this blog going. I just got my first phone call and it was weakening my resolve. I was thinking of sending the survey back with accurate answers written in an illegible manner. Had it all filled out. Planned to tell them that all the answers were accurate and it wasn’t my fault that they can’t read my writiing. My writing is pretty bad anyway. Now I intend to fight it out. Thanks again.