The Census Burea is planning on hiring more than 700,000 temporary employees to pull off the 2010 census, which according to the U.S. Constitution, must occur every ten years.
Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan is proposing the Postal Service be the ones to conduct many of the census duties next year. His logic is that all U.S. addresses are already intricately mapped and most of the residents are known by letter carriers.
Utah Representative Rep. Jason Chaffetz also proposed a similiar idea, coupled with a "postal holiday from mail," which would free postal employees to perform census work.
The 2010 Census is projected to cost more than $14 billion. If the Postal Service were asked to fulfill census duties, it certainly wouldn't be for free. And it probably would be for far less than $14 billion.
What do you think? Good idea? A way to infuse some money into our system? Or something we don't need to venture into? Comment here.
13 comments:
NO! We should NOT do it. I know people who work for the Census Bureau on a part-time basis every 10 years and they tell of problems they encounter that we do not need! Our Postal carriers are trusted members of the community and chance losing some of that trust by collecting personal data that some people do not want to share.
The idea does not sound too bad, but needs a lot more thought. What is someone got hurt performing these duties, who is responsible? In addition, carriers should not be the only employees trying to collect the information. At least two employees should canvass an area on this POSTAL HOLIDAY, and the OK from the Unions should be sought. It is important to reduce costs and this may be a way.
I would be willing to bet it would be a heck of a lot more accurate if we did it. We have no agenda. I also think people would be more willing to give us information than strangers. It only makes sense, to have people who know who lives where, do it.
No-The Census Bureau has already been in trouble in our area for just droping the survey in the mailbox instead of going to the door (They were afraid). Our carrires don't need this kind of stuff.
It would certainly take more than one day for the carriers to canvass everyone on their routes...my carrier has around 500 stops! There is no way he could survey everyone for, say, 10 minutes per house in one day!
Oh, yeah, and what about PO Box customers??
Not to say we COULDN'T do it, but more thought needs to be given to this before it can be implemented.
Best idea in years and is a guaranteed revenue resource that we need.
Linda
Great Idea! We know our customers and would certainly be able to conduct an accurate count. We need to be creative and grab any additional revenue!
YES. The carriers would benifit because they would also recieve feedback on a face to face with thier customers. Although it could have a negative side if the carrier is one of those that is not frendly or is giving poor service.
Postmaster
I don't think that this has been thought out to well. I vote no. Most of the cost to us would be labor and therefore we would make no money from it. We'll still be in the hole and it will take carriers alot of time to conduct (Much more than 1 day).
Liked the comment about PO Box customers. In my area most NBU customers live quite some distance from the boxes we deliver to.
I have mixed feelings. The revenue would certainly be welcome, the results would probably be superior -- since we would do a better job of including everyone, and people would be more likely to cooperate with their own Carrier than a stranger -- but, there are people objecting to the census on Privacy grounds, as well as anti-government factions objecting to it because they object to everything linked to the Federal Government (a Census Worker was recently found murdered, with "Fed" scrawled on his chest), and our participation could hurt us with those who oppose the Census.
In rural areas like mine, we don't deliver every address and have mostly PO Box deliveries. It would be difficult for us to track everyone down
I think it would be a good idea, we should bill them for the extra time used by the employees. Maybe if we approach it from a "volunteer" perspective? Our employees could volunteer to do it and do this work off the clock, with direct compensation from the census. Durig the summer months my carriers are often back in the office by 2:30...that would give them 3 hours a day to make some extra money.
honestly people, do you REALLY think that if USPS does this we will receive just compensation from the Census Bureau? any other branch of the government?
The only way we should consider this is if there are guarantees that the service will receive prompt payment or, in lieu of that, a reduction in the debt load commensurate with the work. This second alternative would also lower the interest we have to pay on certain loans by reducing the principal on the debt.
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