- Oysterville Post Office Boxes
According to last night’s news, yesterday was “Census Day.” It was the date targeted by the Census Bureau for having our 2010 forms mailed in. Only 54% of us, nation-wide, have sent in our forms so far and the anchor man said that, unless we mailed them in soon, “the feds” would be knocking on our doors. And that, he said, could cost taxpayers several hundred million dollars extra give or take. I felt vaguely guilty. The 2010 census slogan is “It’s In The Mail. We Can’t Move Forward Until You Mail It Back.” More guilt.
But, for those of us who live in Oysterville, no census forms have appeared in our mail. The forms are sent to householders at their physical addresses. We do not have Rural Free Delivery in Oysterville. We get our mail in our boxes at the Oysterville Post Office. So if mail is addressed “resident” at our house number and street – an address assigned by the county so that emergency vehicles can find us – it goes to our post office but no farther. Our postmaster cannot put such mail in our boxes. It’s against U.S. postal regulations. So the census forms have been returned to the sender.
I think there is an 800 number I can call to rectify the situation and, perhaps, become guilt-free. I’m looking into it.
I was wondering why we had not received our census forms. Leave it to the Feds to address the mail to our street addresses. Such is life. Let us know if you figure out a way to rectify the situation. Otherwise, we just have to wait for a census worker to come visit. MC