Wasted Postage?

Four weeks back all American households were mailed a notice that the
Census forms would be arriving shortly.
Three weeks back all American households were mailed the Census
forms.
Two weeks back all American households were mailed a reminder that
returning the Census form was mandatory.
One week back all American households were mailed another Census form,
just in case the first one never arrived.
That is a lot of mailings at a greatly reduced rate. I wonder if USPS
is losing money or breaking even.
It certainly is a waste of paper.
I see India is also going to do the Census, I wonder if they will mail
all their households four pieces of mail.
Inquiring minds want to know. (Stolen from Tracy Barber)

Ralph

On 4/3/2010 4:21 AM, Ralphael1 wrote:
Four weeks back all American households were mailed a notice that the
Census forms would be arriving shortly.
Three weeks back all American households were mailed the Census
forms.
Two weeks back all American households were mailed a reminder that
returning the Census form was mandatory.
One week back all American households were mailed another Census form,
just in case the first one never arrived.
That is a lot of mailings at a greatly reduced rate. I wonder if USPS
is losing money or breaking even.
It certainly is a waste of paper.
I see India is also going to do the Census, I wonder if they will mail
all their households four pieces of mail.
Inquiring minds want to know. (Stolen from Tracy Barber)

Ralph
I, for one, only got one census form in the mail. I did get the two
postcard notices before and after receiving the census form.

I mailed the form back on April 1, since that was the reference date for
who was then living in the household. Didn't want to send it back early
in case I keeled over before April 1...

The real expense comes in when the census workers have to go
door-to-door to get those counted who didn't respond. I was a census
worker 20 years ago and know how much of a problem that was then. It's
probably worse now. The extra postcards are worth the expense if at
least some of the people respond to these notices.

What is really a waste of paper is the multiple subscription forms
tucked into many magazines that I already subscribe to.

Bill

On Apr 3, 1:34*pm, Billns wrote:
On 4/3/2010 4:21 AM, Ralphael1 wrote:

Four weeks back all American households were mailed a notice that the
Census forms would be arriving shortly.
Three weeks back all American households were mailed *the Census
forms.
Two weeks back all American households were mailed a reminder that
returning the Census form was mandatory.
One week back all American households were mailed another Census form,
just in case the first one never arrived.
That is a lot of mailings at a greatly reduced rate. I wonder if USPS
is losing money or breaking even.
It certainly is a waste of paper.
I see India is also going to do the Census, I wonder if they will mail
all their households four pieces of mail.
Inquiring minds want to know. (Stolen from Tracy Barber)

Ralph

I, for one, only got one census form in the mail. I did get the two
postcard notices before and after receiving the census form.

I mailed the form back on April 1, since that was the reference date for
who was then living in the household. Didn't want to send it back early
in case I keeled over before April 1...

The real expense comes in when the census workers have to go
door-to-door to get those counted who didn't respond. I was a census
worker 20 years ago and know how much of a problem that was then. It's
probably worse now. The extra postcards are worth the expense if at
least some of the people respond to these notices.

What is really a waste of paper is the multiple subscription forms
tucked into many magazines that I already subscribe to.

Bill

Good show Bill.
I agree the door-to-door count is very costly. The Census Bureau had
people at our local library several days offering jobs at $15 for
people to do the door-to-door count. Another big expense for the head
count.
Did you run into any hostile people when you did the head count?
I just wonder how India is going to do their head count.

Ralph

Billns wrote in news:hp7u5u$vb3$1
@speranza.aioe.org:

I, for one, only got one census form in the mail. I did get the two
postcard notices before and after receiving the census form.

I got a second form after and a letter previous to getting the first
form. No postcards.

I mailed the form back on April 1, since that was the reference date
for
who was then living in the household. Didn't want to send it back early
in case I keeled over before April 1...

Me too. Sort of. I filled it out 4/1 and the mailman picked it up 4/2.

The real expense comes in when the census workers have to go
door-to-door to get those counted who didn't respond. I was a census
worker 20 years ago and know how much of a problem that was then. It's
probably worse now.

Ouy of curiosity, how did you handle the aggressive dogs in the yards?
They would scare me to death.

The extra postcards are worth the expense if at
least some of the people respond to these notices.

What is really a waste of paper is the multiple subscription forms
tucked into many magazines that I already subscribe to.

I use them for bookmarks, though I often have one or two extras. g

Ken




--
"When you choose the lesser of two evils, always
remember that it is still an evil." - Max Lerner

On 4/3/2010 12:30 PM, Ralphael1 wrote:


Good show Bill.
I agree the door-to-door count is very costly. The Census Bureau had
people at our local library several days offering jobs at $15 for
people to do the door-to-door count. Another big expense for the head
count.
Did you run into any hostile people when you did the head count?
I just wonder how India is going to do their head count.

Ralph

Hostile people? Not really, but some were very hard to reach -- had to
ring doorbells on weekends, figure out their phone numbers, that sort of
thing. And I worked in a pretty upscale neighborhood, near the beach.
Most all finally cooperated.

I would think India's head count would be much tougher...

Bill

On 4/4/2010 10:07 AM, KenK wrote:


Ouy of curiosity, how did you handle the aggressive dogs in the yards?
They would scare me to death.


No aggressive dogs for the census. However I ran into the dogs when I
was a Christmas mailman many years ago. That's dating myself, as the
Post Office hasn't hired temporary help at Christmastime for many, many
years. There were two-a-day deliveries then, morning and afternoon.

Bill

On Apr 4, 5:30*pm, Billns wrote:
On 4/4/2010 10:07 AM, KenK wrote:



Ouy of curiosity, how did you handle the aggressive dogs in the yards?
They would scare me to death.

No aggressive dogs for the census. However I ran into the dogs when I
was a Christmas mailman many years ago. That's dating myself, as the
Post Office hasn't hired temporary help at Christmastime for many, many
years. There were two-a-day deliveries then, morning and afternoon.

Bill

WOW! Two mail deliveries per day? I can't believe it.
I'll bet there was only one delivery on Saturdays and none on Sunday.
And they had cars running around delivering Special Delivery mail with
10¢ postage.
You are OLD, welcome to the club.

Ralphael, the OLD one

On Apr 3, 3:30*pm, Ralphael1 wrote:
On Apr 3, 1:34*pm, Billns wrote:



On 4/3/2010 4:21 AM, Ralphael1 wrote:

Four weeks back all American households were mailed a notice that the
Census forms would be arriving shortly.
Three weeks back all American households were mailed *the Census
forms.
Two weeks back all American households were mailed a reminder that
returning the Census form was mandatory.
One week back all American households were mailed another Census form,
just in case the first one never arrived.
That is a lot of mailings at a greatly reduced rate. I wonder if USPS
is losing money or breaking even.
It certainly is a waste of paper.
I see India is also going to do the Census, I wonder if they will mail
all their households four pieces of mail.
Inquiring minds want to know. (Stolen from Tracy Barber)

Ralph

I, for one, only got one census form in the mail. I did get the two
postcard notices before and after receiving the census form.

I mailed the form back on April 1, since that was the reference date for
who was then living in the household. Didn't want to send it back early
in case I keeled over before April 1...

The real expense comes in when the census workers have to go
door-to-door to get those counted who didn't respond. I was a census
worker 20 years ago and know how much of a problem that was then. It's
probably worse now. The extra postcards are worth the expense if at
least some of the people respond to these notices.

What is really a waste of paper is the multiple subscription forms
tucked into many magazines that I already subscribe to.

Bill

Good show Bill.
I agree the door-to-door count is very costly. The Census Bureau had
people at our local library several days offering jobs at $15 for
people to do the door-to-door count. Another big expense for the head
count.
Did you run into any hostile people when you did the head count?
I just wonder how India is going to do their head count.

Ralph

http://www.stampsbythemes.com/allimages/57441.jpg

India is being very smart about their census. Beyond the
traditional "head count, they are also using the same opportunity
to collect biometric data on every citizen over 15, and this will be
used to produce modern identity cards, which will serve a variety
of purposes. (It will cover 1.2 to 1.3 Billion persons)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0...n_521224..html

Blair