Vehicle Inventory Survey

[bilbo]

I received a couple of semi-threatening letters from the census bureau about a vehicle use survey I'm supposed to take. It says the law requires my response. Some research shows its a survey of only truck owners. Has anyone else seen one of these in their mailbox?

 

[Curious Hound]

Nope.

Call the census bureau and ask about it. Don't use any contact info from the letters. Look up the phone # online. They could be a scam.

 

[bilbo]

I checked it out on the web and it appears to be legitimate. Apparently they've done them before but not for 20 years. My first thought too was scam. The letter looked suspiciously like the warranty ones that imitate IRS mailings. It looks like they're surveying 150,000 people. Not sure why, but the whole "response required by law" makes me not want to fill it out.

 

[97RangerXLT]

wow. why would the census need info on use of a non commercial small truck?

Tell them you use it as yard art and occasionally to show the DudeBro's in their skinny tire lifted full size trucks what a real truck is capable of.

AJ

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

My understanding is that the only legally required information that the US Census can force you to respond to is the number of people residing in a household. They typically threaten that you have to answer any question they ask but my understanding is that they can ask but they actually can’t force. I’m not an attorney though.

 

[09fx4guy]

For the life of me I cannot figure why they would require that. It honestly sounds like a scam to me, it just does not make sense.

 

[Curious Hound]

I looked it up after I responded earlier. It looks legit.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

From what I gathered on the Gov site, they are trying to get an idea of traffic patterns so they can put money into infrastructure where it's most needed.

 

[tw205]

If it’s from the government you can bet your ass it’s a scam to separate us from our money. They’ll say it’s for infrastructure but it will go to lining their pockets and buy off any oversight. Rule #1; Politicians, attorneys, marketers and used car salesmen can never be trusted.

 

[sgtsandman]

“For infrastructure”...

Like what was in the “Infrastructure” bill that was mostly not for what is traditionally called infrastructure?

Legal or not. It sounds like bs. What would a light truck, especially a smaller light truck have to do with anything? Road impact and traffic patterns would be no different than a car.

 

[Blmpkn]

“For infrastructure”...

Like what was in the “Infrastructure” bill that was mostly not for what is traditionally called infrastructure?

Legal or not. It sounds like bs. What would a light truck, especially a smaller light truck have to do with anything? Road impact and traffic patterns would be no different than a car.

They're probably trying to figure out how much money they can make off of a "pickup tax"

 

[racsan]

In a way they already have this information, The bmv is part of the government. I refused the census crap & nothing ever came of it. Idle threats, as pointless as a unsharpened pencil.

 

[Bill]

My understanding is that the only legally required information that the US Census can force you to respond to is the number of people residing in a household. They typically threaten that you have to answer any question they ask but my understanding is that they can ask but they actually can’t force. I’m not an attorney though.

No, you are legally required to respond to the Decennial Census, American Community Survey, and the Economic (business) Census.

I don't understand why people are so paranoid about the Census. The Decennial Census is used to count the number of people. That information is used for redistricting and apportionment. Federal funding is based on population. That's money for schools, road improvement, infrastructure, disaster aid, and many other things.

The American Community Survey expands on the Decennial Census. Through the information gathered in it we can correlate income levels and demographics. What kind of jobs (job sectors) people have, where people are commuting to and from to get to work, educational attainment levels, and other trends. The types of new vehicles people have been purchasing over the last decade has shifted away from cars to SUVs and trucks. I can only speculate that the ACS is gathering data to get a better view of the trends. The data is then released and is public, but depersonalized. Various government agencies can use the data for things like future planning. If the data shows more people and more cars, that means more funding for roads. Businesses and the general public also have access to the data. Just as an example, if you develop shopping centers and you are building a new shopping center where there is a disproportionately large number of SUV/truck owners you might consider making the parking stalls large enough to accommodate something larger than a go cart. If you are building a shopping center where there are a lot of senior citizens, maybe you add more disabled parking stalls. Or, charging stations for areas where there are a lot of electric vehicles.

 

[Bill]

In a way they already have this information, The bmv is part of the government. I refused the census crap & nothing ever came of it. Idle threats, as pointless as a unsharpened pencil.

You mean the DMV? The DMV is a state agency. Typically, information obtained by the DMV is sold. Usually to the private sector, like data aggregators, insurance companies, etc. The Census isn't allowed to use that information, or information from the IRS in bulk if it contains personal information. The Census is required to do their own independent surveys. This is somewhat standard across most Federal agencies and that's the way it should be when personal information is part of the dataset. However, in some cases, an agency may be able to get that information from other sources if you fail to respond to the survey. Most commonly, they obtain the information through a proxy, which is most likely going to be a neighbor.

 

[CrabGuy]

Ignore it like I do for jury duty summons. If something doesn't come by certified mail that you sign for it never came and the burden of proof is on the sender.