This report presents the results of the self-response kiosk pilot conducted by the Census Bureau in partnership with the United States Postal Service (USPS) during the 2018 End-to-End Census Test. The kiosk pilot leveraged 30 post office locations in the Providence County, RI test site to house a kiosk and related signage to promote the Census Bureau’s internet self-response option for the 2018 End-to-End Census Test questionnaire. The purpose of the kiosk pilot was to determine if placing kiosks in post offices would encourage and facilitate self-response, as well as to highlight the USPS-Census Bureau partnership in an operational environment.

The kiosk pilot was governed by an Interagency Agreement (IAA) between the USPS and the Census Bureau. Once in the field, the kiosks generated 252 interactions with respondents across 30 post offices that resulted in the completion of 111 census test questionnaires.

Many metrics were examined to determine the effect of the kiosks on the response rates at each post office. A correlation was found to exist between the amount of time required for a page on the internet self-response (ISR) questionnaire to load and the number of completed questionnaires. A significant drop-off in questionnaire completion was found to occur when the ISR questionnaire response time surpassed 10 seconds for a single page. Additionally, the overall rate of response may have been affected by the limited promotional opportunities available for the 2018 End-to-End Census Test, combined with the compressed timeline between final project approval and project execution.

Promotion opportunities for the kiosks were limited because of the lack of funding for the communications campaign associated with the 2018 End-to-End Census Test. However, the kiosks did receive media coverage through mentions in articles within the Wall Street Journal and on Federal Computer Weekly. The New York Regional Office and local area census office staff in Providence County supported and recommended the Kiosks as an option for selfresponse during their engagements with the public and elected officials during the 2018 End-toEnd Census Test. A tip sheet with information about the kiosks was available on the 2018 Endto-End Census Test website, and signage promoting the kiosks was placed outside the Post Offices and accompanied the kiosk inside the post office.

The ability for the USPS and the Census Bureau to work together in a short timeframe to implement the kiosk pilot demonstrated the strength of the USPS-Census Bureau partnership and highlighted USPS’ commitment to being a prospective solution provider for future Census Bureau operations.