I saw this article on another site and found it interesting. Being a fulltimer and not in a conventional RV park we probably won't be counted. What I found in the article was the fact that te census bureau thought we were a small percentage of the population. Obviously they don't know how many of us there are as we aren't counted . http://fulltimerver.com/fulltimers-and-the-census/
At our CG the census people came around and asked us if we had any people that were full timing there. At this point we only have people that stay here during the week and go home on weekends so they knew they would be counted at their home address. They called back to ask one follow up question and I had to inform them that they had failed to count my husband and I since we live in a house on the CG property since we are managers. In the case of snowbirds I think they would speak with them and be certain they were counted, whether at the CG or at their legal address.
That article is dead on. Escapees RV Club worked very hare to help solve that problem this year. They went to the Census people and the suggestion was that they could help by supplying forms to go into the mail box of each resident of the service. In return they wanted an office in the Escapees facilities. The Escapees supplied that office from Nov. 2009 through March 1, when Census announced that they had changed their minds and no forms would be supplied and that they would not be mailed to the Escapee addresses. They still used the free office, but did nothing to help the members to be counted. As a result of all that, I called that phone number to see where I would be able to get a form in San Antonio. The lady at the Census help line told me that all San Antonio area libraries and post offices would have them. But, three post offices had never heard of that and neither had any of the libraries that I called. Eventually we happened to see a sign in front of an elementary school that there was a census worker there to help people fill out their forms. I stopped in and was able to pick up a blank form there. But they did make it difficult.
Not related to full-timing, but the other day when I was leaving work, there was a census worker (or at least a woman dressed as one), stopping everybody trying to drive out of the garage. When I pulled up and said I had already filled out my form, she didn't care - turns out she was panhandling.
We stay at an RV park in Apache Junction, AZ from November through March. In early March all 250 of us at this park found census forms in our mailbox. We each filled them out and sent them back. There was nothing asking whether we were full-time or not.
