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.
Comments
718 responses to “American Community Survey”
Thanks for posting “itsa mystery”. We do need to remember that not everyone loves (or agrees with) his/her job. In these hard times, we all have to survive as best we can.
I try to never be unkind to telemarketers on the phone for this reason (unless they relentlessly won’t take a “no”.
That must be a very difficult job and not very rewarding when you get rude people. We should all just stick to our not backing down; but not at the expense of others trying to hang on to their homes, or provide for their families.
Our best defense against this is for more and more of us refuse to give the information. That should put them out of business. (Although I wouldn’t put it past them to make up info to “share or sell” with interested parties.)
hello I totally agree with you guys 100% I would NEVER give any info to these guys. The govt is going rouge and we need to do something! This is a first step saying we are free! WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT!!!!!! However dont hold the census takers accountable, I live in an area where NO jobs are available and the only employment I was able to find was making these stupid calls! They dont allow you to say anything you think, they give you a script and tell you if you dont say it exactly this way you will be fired!!! On top of that they provide a great wage that couldnt be found anywhere else. Sadly I am doing this just to survive! I will be nice to every person that I talk to no matter how they treat me, I cant say that for everyone though. I brought up the fact that the constitution states only a head count is legal. The trainer claimed he hadnt even heard of this. I submitted the question higher up and hopefully I will have a legitimate response from them next time I go in. So if you do receive these calls just remember that every SINGLE one of them talking to you is just a person with kids and a family. Someone who was severely impacted by this economy caused by the very organization who now imposes to slowly enslave every american until we have no where else to go. Dont be scared to decline giving any info though. Hopefully things will get better for all of us, after all we all are AMERICANS. We all know they are not. One day there will be an uprising, I cant wait.
The poor CB is frustrated with familiar patterns of non-response, which means that the follow up research is not producing methods to reduce the non-response rate. Maybe the CB should go and read the Constitution. The sole purpose of the CB is to enumerate persons every 10 years. It does not have the right to ask every question it likes.
The next phase of the ACS for 2011 is to run tests for internet responses. Just another program to waste tax money.
What’s that old saying? Oh yeah, “If we all don’t hang together, we’ll surely all hang separately.” But to be truthful I don’t think you’ll start seeing any fines this year. However, I’m willing to bet someone somewhere is busy at work right now trying to slide some sort of Census Bureau bill through Congress hidden as a rider in some obscure bill no one cares about. That’s how they usually get the nasty bills through Congress, by making a part of something totally unrelated. Anyway, it was tough on the Founding Fathers too. They were pretty scared most of the time. If it were easy it wouldn’t be a test. Hang in there.
Shannon writes:
Keep on coming, Jerry! I’ll make you visit as many times as it takes! I will not answer the door, even if the curtains are open and you can see me. I will ignore you and not even look at you as you talk to me through my window, if that is what you do.
Good Stuff LOL
Shannon I just got my first post card after getting the first AMC Census a week ago. Feels great not being alone in this.
Hello Everyone!!!
I have an announcement to make – I received my FIRST visit today!!! WOOHOO!!!! And, I was just thinking today while at work reading your posts that I was able to avoid it all. Nope! What a “surprise!”
I received my first ACS at the beginning of February two cards and one more survey since then. NO visits, NO phone calls, until today!
So, I got home and there were a couple of things on my door knob, a door knob flyer from the electric company telling me they changed out our meter today and THE envelope from Jerry Scott, U.S. Census Bureau Field Representative. Written in handwriting on the envelope is, “We can do this survey by phone. Please call me at 503-292-8857,” and a sticker stuck to the envelope that says, “Please call me at the number on the attached card (yes the business card is also attached to the envelope). I am required to make contact with an adult member of this household and am obligated to return until contact is made.”
Keep on coming, Jerry! I’ll make you visit as many times as it takes! I will not answer the door, even if the curtains are open and you can see me. I will ignore you and not even look at you as you talk to me through my window, if that is what you do. Then, one day, about 90 days from now, hoping you are frustrated, I will then answer the door and let you know I am not interested in anything you have to say.
That is my big announcement. Thank you all for listening (well, reading).
Shannon
@ Res apt 1 THANK you and Cathy and all of you for your encouragement! I wouldn’t have even given any of this a second thought if it were not for this blog! I expect more visits but I am sure they will all be busy with the flooding we have had….as long as they continue to be courteous so will but….but let one person step out of line and I will turn into mega B##CH
Standing proud in WET rural Tennessee
Cathy writes :”Having the ACS and the 2010 census overlap will ultimately do more damage than the CB thinks. After answering the 10 census question, most will not want to fill out the ACS.”
Thats where I’m at. I just did the Census myself and feel this way.
Ron Paul has his hands full……seems like he is the Lone Ranger in trying to fight the system.
Eric, yes they know that they are crossing a line. The CB is being used as a cover to invade personal privacy because the public won’t volunteer the info so that all the social and behavioral scientists can stay employed while publishing their useless articles about the American public. The threat of a fine is used as leverage to garner cooperation. I call it extortion. Congress wants the info to pander to voters. Various groups lobby to get their questions on the survey. The marriage history questions, insurance question and college major questions were all added after I had my run in with the ACS.
Rep. Ron Paul hand more recently Rep. Michelle Bachman have been against the ACS. Having the ACS and the 2010 census overlap will ultimately do more damage than the CB thinks. After answering the 10 census question, most will not want to fill out the ACS.
Thank you Cathy and Eileen for responding.