Summary of Changes to the 2012 CFS Precanvass Questionnaire

Attachment B

Summary of Changes to the 2012 Commodity Flow Survey Precanvass Questionnaire

For the 2007 CFS, two questionnaires were used; one for auxiliary establishments and one for expected certainty establishments. However, for the 2012 CFS Precanvass, the same questionnaire, CFS-0001 (2012) will be mailed to every establishment.

The 2012 Precanvass questionnaire is similar to the 2007 Precanvass form sent to auxiliary establishments, with the following changes:

1) The questionnaire was expanded to 2 pages (front & back)

2) Item 1, Verification of Shipping Activity, was shortened by dropping the fourth question (d) pertaining to shipping records.

3) The third-party logistics provider questions were dropped.

4) The number of check boxes in Item 4, Annual Value of Shipments, were expanded by two boxes.

5) The questionnaire attempts to better identify and differentiate between the appropriate physical location used for conducting shipping activity (Item 2, Verification of Shipping Address) and the mailing address used for receiving the CFS questionnaire (Item 3, Verification of Mailing Address).

The 2012 Precanvass expands upon the 2007 effort with the addition of two industries with a high incidence of non-shipping locations (NAICS 45411, Electronic Shopping and Mail-Order Houses, and NAICS 5111, Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers). Also, by asking Item 1, Verification of Shipping Activity, and Item 4, Annual Value of Shipments, we can identify non-shipping locations, more accurately rank/stratify the shipping locations, and improve the efficiency of sampling these two industries. Moreover, these two items are now asked of all companies, in an attempt to better identify changes, mergers, consolidations, or any other shipping-related activity/change that may have arisen from the recent economic conditions.

Another change to the 2012 Precanvass questionnaire is listed in number 5) above. Origin of an establishment’s shipments is a significant data item for the CFS. It is equally important to identify the appropriate individual (and address) where the CFS form should get mailed. Item 2, Verification of Shipping Address and Item 3, Verification of Mailing Address, attempts to successfully identify differences between the two addresses.