Thursday, February 18, 2010

Making Sense of the Census

"We Can't Move Forward Until You Mail It Back." That's the message being communicated to the public about the importance of filling out and returning your Census form.

To help expand the U.S. Census Bureau’s extensive public outreach and communications campaign encouraging Americans to participate in Census 2010, on Friday, February 19, the Postal Service will begin displaying Census posters in postal retail lobbies.
The U.S. Census Bureau this month will enter the first of six separate Census mailings slated to be sent out through mid-April. Scheduled for in-home delivery February 17–19, the initial mailing will consist of approximately 10 million “advance” letters mailed to residences in rural areas.
These letters will alert residents that the Census questionnaire is coming and tell them what to expect. That will be followed in March by similar “advance” letters mailed to residences in suburban and urban areas.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that each percentage point of non-responding residents costs the federal government $80 million to $90 million because of the need to follow up with in-person visits from census takers.

With Intelligent Mail (IM) services, however, these costs will be reduced by several million dollars because the government will not have to send out census takers to those residences that are returning a questionnaire. When an IM barcoded questionnaire hits the postal network, the Census Bureau will know that it’s on its way back.

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