2020 Census

[CalGalTraveler]

Just completed mine. It was shorter, faster than I had anticipated. There must be a long version also.
Glad to have read above regarding ethnicity. I don't have one I identify with.
I entered: American Varietal

LOL...we jokingly to refer to ourselves as Northern European mutts.

 

[Brett]

got my form in the mail today, now have to go online and choose "American" and not "white"

 

[pittle]

We got 2 notices also. It is cheaper to do 2 or 3 mailings than to send someone to your house to ask the questions.

 

[SandyPGravel]

Now that you mention it, I really don’t remember previous censuses either. Strange!

2010 I remember because I was so confused on how to fill it out. My DH has a daughter. At that point she was in a dorm, freshman year of college. But prior to that she was at our house 50% of the time, actually more than 50% but that's another story. I remember not being sure if we should count her at our house. If she was being counted at the dorm. If her mother was going to add her to her house form.
2000 I was in the beginning stages of going through divorce. (would have been nice to fill out for only one person, but alas he was still there in the spring)
1990 was the first one I filled out for myself and we were moving that spring so I had to determine which address to fill it out for.
1980 we received it after getting back from vacation in California, my first plane ride. (Kind of a dork about stuff like this. I remember making my mom register to vote in 1984, so I could vote. I was only 16, she didn't give a rat's behind about voting, but I did.)

 

[bbodb1]

We got 2 notices also. It is cheaper to do 2 or 3 mailings than to send someone to your house to ask the questions.

..but one mail piece followed by a phone call, text, etc. Would be even cheaper.
Although the postal service needs the business I suppose...

 

[bogey21]

Anyone get a second notice in the mail for the 2020 Census? I had a second letter come with the exact same code about a week after the first. The first notice was a larger envelope with the notice folded in half. The second was a standard letter envelope with the notice trifolded. Nothing like paying to mail out the same thing twice.

Yeah, I got the second notice too. Mine basically said to ignore it if I had already responded...

George

 

[Talent312]

Yeah, I got the second notice too. Mine basically said to ignore it if I had already responded...

I assumre they're sending a notice for each adult at an address to get one of us to do it.
.

 

[DaveNV]

2010 I remember because I was so confused on how to fill it out. My DH has a daughter. At that point she was in a dorm, freshman year of college. But prior to that she was at our house 50% of the time, actually more than 50% but that's another story. I remember not being sure if we should count her at our house. If she was being counted at the dorm. If her mother was going to add her to her house form.
2000 I was in the beginning stages of going through divorce. (would have been nice to fill out for only one person, but alas he was still there in the spring)
1990 was the first one I filled out for myself and we were moving that spring so I had to determine which address to fill it out for.
1980 we received it after getting back from vacation in California, my first plane ride. (Kind of a dork about stuff like this. I remember making my mom register to vote in 1984, so I could vote. I was only 16, she didn't give a rat's behind about voting, but I did.)

Great memory, Gina! I don't remember doing anything with the Census prior to 2010. But as I think about it, as a kid we moved all the time. Then, in the military, I moved all the time. Then, after retirement form the military, i moved a lot, (Notice a trend here? ) My current home I purchased in 2003, and I'm still here. So maybe the previous Censuses couldn't find me, and 2010 was the first year I stayed still long enough to be counted. I do remember filling out a multi-page document and mailing things back. Much easier this time around.

Dave

 

[WinniWoman]

I received one while living in the rental house in NY. It took me forever to complete it. I even had to call to make sure they received it.

So when I received one here the other day I cringed. To my surprise it was extremely brief thankfully.

I also see I have another notice coming in the mail today. I mean- during this time they have to waste money mailing these things out a second time?


I also noticed on my walk yesterday that there were 2020 census bags hanging on the doorknobs of all the little summer bungalows on the lake. Meanwhile, no one is in these homes, as they are seasonal and many are even seasonal rentals. SMH...

 

[SandyPGravel]

Great memory, Gina!

Thanx Dave. My memory tends to creep people out. My DH loves to tell people to tell me thier birthday and I'll remember it forever. Quite the exaggeration. I'm not Marilu Henner. But I do tend to remember things that relate to numbers and dates etc. But, tell me your name and it never even stops between my ears, gone before it ever had a chance.

 

[x3 skier]

I entered United States for the “White”question. It was accepted.

Seems to me if you didn’t come here as an immigrant or born overseas to American parents thus have dual citizenship, that’s the best answer since you were born here, not England, Ireland, Australia or the other examples.

Cheers

 

[DaveNV]

Thanx Dave. My memory tends to creep people out. My DH loves to tell people to tell me thier birthday and I'll remember it forever. Quite the exaggeration. I'm not Marilu Henner. But I do tend to remember things that relate to numbers and dates etc. But, tell me your name and it never even stops between my ears, gone before it ever had a chance.

I'm much the same, mostly with weird number things. Most of them pointless to remember. I remember things like the license plate on my my Mother's car from when I was in 3rd grade, old phone numbers, old street addresses where I lived, CVV codes from the back of long-expired credit cards, old computer passwords - weird stuff that helps nobody. Remembering obscure things like that helped me out in my IT career. But now? Time to clear the RAM. I need a system reboot. LOL!

Dave

 

[DaveNV]

I entered United States for the “White”question. It was accepted.

Seems to me if you didn’t come here as an immigrant or born overseas to American parents thus have dual citizenship, that’s the best answer since you were born here, not England, Ireland, Australia or the other examples.

Cheers

Good point. They could have made it more clear. I found it oddly confusing, especially since they didn't directly ask where my parents were born, or if I was an immigrant.

Dave

 

[dioxide45]

We got 2 notices also. It is cheaper to do 2 or 3 mailings than to send someone to your house to ask the questions.

Perhaps, but you would think they would check to see if you actually did the Census before sending the second notice. Perhaps give it a few weeks and then if it wasn't completed, then send out the second one.

 

[bbodb1]

I'm much the same, mostly with weird number things. Most of them pointless to remember. I remember things like the license plate on my my Mother's car from when I was in 3rd grade, old phone numbers, old street addresses where I lived, CVV codes from the back of long-expired credit cards, old computer passwords - weird stuff that helps nobody. Remembering obscure things like that helped me out in my IT career. But now? Time to clear the RAM. I need a system reboot. LOL!

Dave

....still recall my account number from my first CC - Sears! Back then, having a Sears CC was a big deal because Sears was actually THE place for everything back then.
12 digits long and in this format
1 23456 78901 2
...now of course THAT is not my actual account number but you get the idea...

 

[VacationForever]

2 pieces of Census mail = helps keep USPS afloat.

 

[bbodb1]

Perhaps, but you would think they would check to see if you actually did the Census before sending the second notice. Perhaps give it a few weeks and then if it wasn't completed, then send out the second one.

As a former Dept of Commerce employee, I can tell you that using funds efficiently is NOT in their area of concern. They will spend much more money to retrieve a response than it is worth.

 

[jackio]

That one stumped me too. I tried skipping it but it wouldn't let me. I typed in "American" which it accepted...

George

Thanks for the tip. I had started to do the paper survey, but switched to online and entered "American". Then I printed out my confirmation of submission just in case...of what I don't know...

 

[Luanne]

got my form in the mail today, now have to go online and choose "American" and not "white"

You still have to choose "White". But then it sounds like you can enter "American" into the space for ethnicity.

 

[pittle]

I assumre they're sending a notice for each adult at an address to get one of us to do it.
.

Just one per address - no names are on them. The actual Census day is April 1. Supposedly, once you fill it out online, that address is tagged as done. I do not know why we got 2 within one week. Because of the Coronavirus, all face-to-face activities have been put on hold - especially community kick-off events.

 

[pittle]

I received one while living in the rental house in NY. It took me forever to complete it. I even had to call to make sure they received it.

So when I received one here the other day I cringed. To my surprise it was extremely brief thankfully.

I also see I have another notice coming in the mail today. I mean- during this time they have to waste money mailing these things out a second time?


I also noticed on my walk yesterday that there were 2020 census bags hanging on the doorknobs of all the little summer bungalows on the lake. Meanwhile, no one is in these homes, as they are seasonal and many are even seasonal rentals. SMH...

Only do it once.

 

[dioxide45]

Only do it once.

Both of our notices had the same code to use online. So it wouldn't be possible to do it twice.

 

[AnnaS]

The second mailing was just a letter - fill out what was sent or it can be done on-line with a Census ID.

 

[Luanne]

The second mailing was just a letter - fill out what was sent or it can be done on-line with a Census ID.

Sounds like I got the second mailing, but never got the first one with the form.

 

[1Kflyerguy]

Sounds like I got the second mailing, but never got the first one with the form.

I got both, from what i recall they looked pretty similar.