CENSUS: Inefficiency increases the cost

Mr. Stockdale, if you think the postage for the 2010 Census is ridiculous, how’s this grab you: Last week NBC news reported that it’s going to cost $57 per citizen for this census.

Here’s ridiculous-plus: Last year in June 2009 my wife and I were stopped while walking in a rural U.S. Forest Service road by a census “scout,” who with a GPS was supposedly trying to locate where people lived for the upcoming 2010 census. Telling the person that no one lived up the road, they continued on.

The next day, same road, same place, we were stopped again by another person. Same question, same answer along with 15 minutes of unsolicited chit-chat. When I finally hinted that they should get on with their job, I was told, “I’m not in any hurry; the Census Bureau is paying me $14 per hour, plus .56 per mile.” I told him that someone else had just been up this uninhabited road the day before; the response was, “Oh well.”

Love the government!

PAUL UNDERWOOD

St. Maries