Oddly, it's supposedly governmental savings. The secretary of commerce says that the mailings boost response rate by at least 6%, and each percentage point is supposed to save $85 million in followup costs. Doesn't make it less annoying, though I haven't gotten a second census.

We haven't gotten the second copy yet - maybe it's in the mail today!

This is pretty standard procedure for any mailed survey nowadays. I was "selected" to participate in a nationwide survey of engineering graduates (administered by, like, the Unversity of Pittsburg or something), and I received, in total:

(1) An email about the survey.
(2) A letter about the survey
(3) The survey
(4) Another email with a web link to the survey.
(5) Another letter about the survey
(6) A second copy of the survey
(7) A final email saying, "You never returned this survey!"

After #5, I had already decided not to return the survey out of spite...

You know what I think is so weird about the census? The race categories! First of all, "negro"? WTF?

Secondly, there are so many options for Asian Americans - which is great - and I guess there are infinite options for Native American folks since they are asked to write in their tribe, but oddly few categories for anyone else. When you consider that Iranians for example are just grouped under white, or an immigrant from Egypt and a grandchild of an immigrant from the Congo and an African American whose family has been here since slavery are all just lumped into African American. It's kind of wacky!

Expect this one in a couple weeks:≡ Click to see image ≡

I'm with muddgirl, I hate being reminded about surveys a zillion times. What I *really* hate is when a web site pops up with some survey when I am just trying to get something done. Argh!

For the Census, on the other hand, I am happy to have the government save money by sending out the notices.

serazin - they included the word "negro" because apparently, a significant number of people self-identify as Negro. It was added on the 2000 census after a pre-survey.

One of the big problems with any race question is trying to capture what people will self-identify as. That's why I wish they'd just put a free response box and encourage everyone to write whatever they want. It's atrocious that, for example, Iranian-Americans feel obligated to check "White" when they don't really identify as such.

I skip the race stuff and go to the "other" line, or the line with the most races mixed into one check box.

Given a blank; I write in American. Because last time I checked; I sure am the hell in no way similar in color to the screen I am typing on. And having been born here, like my parents, like my grandparents, and my great-grandparents; any ?ties? I have to the Causcus lands or Asia are kinda uhhhh..... distantly irrelevant?

I've had people vigorously shake my hand with glee about my choice for the race box.
Last but not least... don't call me white.

I don't mind calling myself "white" because I benefit from my skin color, no matter what I chose to call it.

That was real? I thought it was a scam and threw it away unopened.

Why don't they pay people to send back the census? I suppose that would remove a layer of confidentiality, but I think it could be a more enticing way to get people to reply.

In Australia, census forms are brought to your door in person and collected the same way - no mail involved. God only knows how much it costs to pay all those people to walk around giving out and collecting forms, but I guess they get a pretty good return rate that way.

You do get mail if there are no adults listed on the electoral roll at an address and they keep reminding you until someone puts their name on the roll.

Mandatory Hannibal Lecter census worker clip.

People got upset about this, so I researched it, and apparently this process improves response rates so greatly that it actually saves the government something like $85 million. Much of that is money they would have had to pay staff to go door to do inefficiently collecting info from households with unreturned forms. They are doing it because it uses resources more wisely, not less.

What sysinfo and Miko said. Those mailings increase the response rate enough that they actually save the government money due to census workers they don't have to send out chasing the laggards.

Is declining to respond to this racial census really against the law? Seems weird that all they care about is the color of my skin.

So I was just looking at the form online, and I don't remember seeing/filling out the question about whether person 1 ever lives somewhere else on our form. Huh.

You are allowed to check more than 1 box in the category on racial self-identification. I did.

It's funny because the Census form doesn't look at you, doesn't talk to you, and doesn't make assumptions about your race. I'm pretty sure that's just your own perceived societal expectations that are making you think you have to check any particular box. I think it's fantastic if you self-identify as "American" in terms of race, and I don't think the Census folks are going to be pissed at you for doing so; I think that they'll actually appreciate it.

You can get an idea on why they ask each of the questions here: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/how/interactive-form.php

Is declining to respond to this racial census really against the law? Seems weird that all they care about is the color of my skin.

I don't know that it's illegal. But you'd be doing a disservice to people that need this kind of information. For instance: how will we know if the Jedi Academy is getting a balanced number of applicants? Say there are 12% of the population is Mandalorian in Coruscant, but only 5% of applicants are Mandalorian. Maybe we need to do something to get more Mandalorians applying for Jedi training?

I think that ignoring race on the Census is kind of a denial that there are still racially-based problems that need to be fixed.

Also, I don't think they care about your personal skin color. They just want to know that there is a unique individual that identifies with whatever racial category you have, for informational purposes.

Well, it's illegal not to answer or to intentionally lie about any question on the census, but I don't think anyone's ever been prosecuted for it - if you don't answer, a census worker will show up at your door and ask the question in person.