Just received a weird survey -what do you think???

[Nords]

I understand what it is for, I just have a problem with being required by law to report when i get up in the morning to go to work, what my finances are and various and sundry private and personal details - especially under threat of imprsionment.
And I will be polite to the census worker if they come to the door - they're just doing thier job and following orders. (wait a minute - I don't think that was accepted as a defense.....never mind)

Next time we read one of those articles that claims "99% of Americans have 0% saved for retirement"-- we'll know where the data came from.

I filled mine out last month. Took about an hour to do the research on the utility bills and the income.

Now give us all your passwords so we can be sure you reported everything accurately .

I think it's easier, faster, and more accurate to just send him a Facebook friends request!

OTOH, it is only offered in English and Spanish, so I might be tempted to ignore it and have some fun with the Census worker who came to follow up. Here in the Midwest, there really aren't that many fluent speakers other languages, and my Brazilian Portuguese has come to my rescue more than once.

That must depend on where you live. Out here we can get it in Hawaiian, Mandarin, kanji, hangul, Tagalog, Samoan, Tongan, and a few lesser-known languages...

 

[Nodak]

I wonder what would happen if you invoked the 5th amendment on each question.That could be interesting.

 

[EllisWyatt]

Nords has given me an excellent idea - I'll answer all the questions, just not in English - First question in Spanish, second in Arabic, tird in Cantonese, forth in Tagalog and fifth in Japanese. (Then start the process over).

We're having fun now

 

[Nords]

Nords has given me an excellent idea -
We're having fun now

Yeah, just wait until you try to register to vote, and you don't want to know what this will do to your property-tax assessment!

 

[Bestwifeever]

We'll write to you in prison, using pig latin. Earday Ellisyay....

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Nords has given me an excellent idea - I'll answer all the questions, just not in English - First question in Spanish, second in Arabic, tird in Cantonese, forth in Tagalog and fifth in Japanese. (Then start the process over).

We're having fun now

You may be surprised.

I read once that someone filled out their tax forms in Roman numerals. An agent at the IRS happened to have skill in that area and was able to check it properly.

 

[Nords]

You may be surprised.
I read once that someone filled out their tax forms in Roman numerals. An agent at the IRS happened to have skill in that area and was able to check it properly.

I suspect that one of the IRS computers was programmed by the Romans.

 

[justplainbll]

I just received a strange survey in the mail........the "American Community Survey"

Fisrt question - my name (so NOT anonymous), age and birth date
Same question for every one living in the house

Then it gets weird:
Value of house, mortgage payment, cost of taxes, cost of insurance, type and cost of fuel used to heat and cool the home, etc...
Education level, majors in college, adcanced degess received and when.....
Income (in detail)- salary, dividends and intrest, self-employed income, employers name and address, how long you have worked for the employer, job duties.....
Number of miles you commute, how many minutes it takes to commute, when do you leave home to go to work, type of vehicle you commute in....
If married, how many times, date of last marriage...

This is just a sample. The survey is 27 pages long! and they want all the above information (and significantly more) for every person living in your residence.

First thought - this is a scam. NO WAY I'm providing this information to ANYone.

But no, it really is the "American Community Survey" from the Census Bureau.

According to the information included and the web site, failure to accurately fill out and reurn the form is punishable by fines and jail time.

Fines: $100 for every blank not filled out, $500 for intentionally incorect information. Maximum fine of $5000.

All of this - to me - falls so squarely into the "None of your (fill in the blank) business, that there is NO WAY I fill it out and sent to the Feds.

I wonder if filling out "None of your Business" in each form would be considered inaccurate?

Guess I'd better budget for a $5000 fine and jail time.

Data being collected for statistical purposes should not require personal identification. The government has plenty of data about most of us from sources like public assistance and tax records.

 

[Rich]

Just read the entire survey. Really not that intrusive, mostly boiler-plate info wanted. And much of the survey is taken up by blank pages or superfluous questions that can be ignored.

No big deal, IMHO.

Rich

 

[Redbugdave]

I got that same survey a year or so ago. I looked it over and promptly shredded it. Didn't hear a thing until a couple months later. Then got another one in the mail with a note saying to fill the d@@@ thing in. I left it lay for another month with my other paperwork. Then, I got a phone call from the census people requesting me to fill it in. So..I relented and filled the d@@@ thing in. And they got the answers I wanted to give them. It's the idea of the whole thing. Yes, I know just pick your battles and roll over...now take your cod liver oil like a good boy...

And now for your humor and entertainment...
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/3426410

And you ought to have seen the survey I got when selected for federal court 90 miles away...

 

[Telly]

Yes, they will let serial killers out of prison early, just to free up a spot for someone who didn't want to fill out the long form survey.
What was your shoe size in 7th grade? Do you use any type of hemorrhoid preparation? In 7th grade? What type? Do you follow the instructions to the letter? What letter? Did you mail it? From what post office/box? Did you receive a box? A box lunch? Do you eat lunch? Where? What do you wear when having lunch? How far from the nearest doo-dah room? Have you ever seen the inside of a Turkish prison?

The threats are worthwhile for those who it has a positive effect on. For those that it doesn't...

 

[Blackwoodt]

I got that same survey a year or so ago. I looked it over and promptly shredded it. Didn't hear a thing until a couple months later. Then got another one in the mail with a note saying to fill the d@@@ thing in. I left it lay for another month with my other paperwork. Then, I got a phone call from the census people requesting me to fill it in.

Yes, we received the survey too. Shredded the first one, shredded the second one, and then threw away the reminder notifications. One day I unfortunately left the gate to our property open when I left for work. My husband informed me that within a few minutes we had a ‘federal’ representative at our door trying to contact us over the census. My husband let her know that we filled out the regular census, and asked her if she could read signs, or just chose to trespass on our posted property. She promptly left, and we thought that was the end of it.

Wrong.. several weeks later my husband left the gate open when he pulled in one day. He was only home for a few minutes (the feds must have our house under surveillance ) when he heard the dogs barking. We live in a remote area, and there have been a few break-ins over the last two years, so we are cautious. My husband went out to find a guy getting out of his car, stating that he was also a ‘federal’ representative. Again my husband asked if he had trouble reading the NO TRESSPASSING signs, or was intentionally trespassing. This guy decided to promptly leave as well.

A few days later we received two calls from the Census in the same day, we told them to lose our unlisted home phone number. Fine us, do whatever - but stop harassing us. From what I’ve read online, no one has ever been fined, I think they are afraid of people finding out about their harassing tactics. I read that they have 90 days to collect the information, and will go away after that if you don’t fill it out.

I would love to know how much money is wasted on the long census, They changed the name to ‘The American Community Survey’, since no one would fill out the invasive questions on the long form, I guess they thought by throwing ‘American’ in the name, that everyone would be standing in line to complete it…..

 

[ratto]

I would love to know how much money is wasted on the long census, They changed the name to ‘The American Community Survey’, since no one would fill out the invasive questions on the long form, I guess they thought by throwing ‘American’ in the name, that everyone would be standing in line to complete it…..

There is a typo in the program title. The correct name should be "The American Community Surve[-]y[/-]illance". That federal agent should be thankful to you because his full-time assignment on your case might have been extended for one more year, plus all health and retirement benefits, just because of your stubbornness.

 

[Redbugdave]

Yeah...There's no way the census people would make it to my door either...they would have to make it thru the small gate and the dogs...hope they can read signs...

 

[EllisWyatt]

Just thought I'd do a quick update.....
We still have not sent in the forms. As predicted by various posters, we have received unending calls from the Census workers at all hours of the day and night. Have received calls at 7am on Saturdays and even a 2pm call on Easter Sunday.The people have ranged from very pleasant to borderline verbally abusive (First the carrot, the the stick, I guess). Have to give them credit for tenacity. After the first couple of calls, we actually were debating whether to just give up and fill out the form, but then the callers started becoming extremely intimidating and threatening to the point of almost being verbally abusive. So we called our Congressman to file a complaint, and reported names and dates of being harrassed by the Census Bureau. He actually called us back and we had an interesting converstation with him about the situation.

They still haven't given up, however. We have had several home visits while we were out, and but now they left nice little notes. Yesterday, they were coming down the drive while my DW was leaving, so she stopped and had a pleasnat converstation with the census worker, and told her that we had no interest in filling out the form. Today, we got a registered letter from the Census Bureau explaining (again) why it was critical to the National Interests (their words) that we fill out the form, and because they were running out of time, I now no longer could fill in a form and mail it in, but had to call up a Census Worker and tell them the information so they could enter it into their computer (I think not!). Also informed us that -should we fail to do so - we are subject to a $100 fine.

$100!! That's itThat's MUCH better than what was originally quoted on the form - $100 per unanswered question.

GREAT! I now know the cost of privacy - $100! Seems pretty reasonable to me - I would have paid that 2 months ago to be left alone and not put up with the harassment!.

As an aside, one thing my Congressman mentioned is that - to his knowledge and to the knowledge of his aides - no one has ever been fined. Guess I'll find out.

 

[2B]

I haven't read the whole thread but what keeps you from filling it out and giving not quite fully accurate information? In many decades from now, one of your decendents checking their geneology might get a bit confused thinking your answers were correct.

On the other hand, why not just fill it out and be done with it. If it's the same one I got, it's not a big deal. Nobody can take advantage of you for what's on that form. Theoretically, it's supposed to be confidential for something like 70 years.

 

[EllisWyatt]

I really don't want to fill it in with erroneous information for a couple of reasons. The philosphical reason is that -while I don't want to participate in the survey, I have no reason to want to mess it up, either. The practical reason is: if you don't provide answers, the fine is $100. If you provide inaccurate information, the fine is $500. I'll stick with the low cost alternative. (By the way, this is not the short form census that every has to fill in every ten years. I've already filled in two of those, because I live in one state and work in another. This is a long form census for randomly selected households that ask everything about you, your income/income sources, and your life in excruciating detail, down to and including what time you leave for work and how many minutes you commute each day)

Actually, it is not held confidential at all. According to both the Census Bureaus and my Congressman, your name and address are not released, but all other information is available to anyone. It is used by the Federal, State and local governments for demographic analyses for planning, resource allocation, etc. Don't particularly mind that, however it is also available to anyone requesting information (specific example quoted to me was WalMart, who use it to decide where to locate new stores). Not that interested in sharing extremely detailed information about myself that only my wife, FA and CPA know.

 

[Nords]

I really don't want to fill it in with erroneous information for a couple of reasons. The philosphical reason is that -while I don't want to participate in the survey, I have no reason to want to mess it up, either.

So how much are you willing to spend for "victory" in terms of time, money, and liberty?

As far as the government can tell, I filled out mine with perfect accuracy. Not that I've heard from anyone wanting to discuss my responses.

 

[EllisWyatt]

Nords - there's no "victory" involved - I just want them to leave me alone, but don't want all my private information available for all to see. Hadn't decided what I was willing to pay to not provide my personal information, but as it turns out, $100 seems more than reasonable to make them go away.