Curious About Cost Of Census Goody Bags
WBZ
The folks at the U.S. Census are busy sending out forms and counting people for the $14 billion project.
The Census Bureau says the law states you can be fined as much as $5,000 if you fail to return it.
Those goody bags the Census is giving out, how much are they costing taxpayers?
It's a $208 million marketing blitz to get you to mail in your census form.
What's inside the bag?
A t-shirt, a coffee mug, buttons, a coloring book, a tote bag and a hat.
"We don't need constant reminders to fill out the census," one person told us.
Not true, say the people doing the counting.
"We need to brand the Census," said Kathleen Ludgate, the regional director for the Census.
She said the goal is to get as many people as possible to mail in their forms.
Ludgate says spending the money on gift bags could possibly mean $300 million in savings.
How?
If they can get you to fill out your census form, they don't have to send somebody to knock on your door.
That's a good thing, because every time they come knocking it cost you as a taxpayer $57.
When you're counting millions of people that adds up.
Census officials watch an interactive map to see what percentage of people mail in their forms.
Every one percent increase saves $85 million in door knocks.
So, they use the goody bags to target neighborhoods that aren't doing well, often times because of a language barrier.
Organizations like the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers then hand them out.
"We've seen familiarity grow with the Census and have gotten phone calls about the Census which is really what we were trying to accomplish," the Alliance's Michael Deramo told WBZ.
Still, many people we met said "count me" as someone who thinks there's a cheaper way.
So, is it a waste of money or fresh idea?
If it's fresh, at least you'll have a Census chip clip to keep it that way.
Did I mention it's made in China?
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