I’m not a big fan of daylight-saving time. I don’t like the hassle of switching my internal clock and every other timepiece that I own on a random day decided by people in Washington, D.C., who don’t have to try and wake me up on the Sunday after the switch.
This year, the date is even earlier.
It’s 5 days after the shift. I should be adjusted, right? Uh-uh.
Why change in the first place?
The reasoning behind the original DST was to move time to allow for more afternoon sunlight from late spring to fall. This took effect in 1916. The plan was to save fuel by reducing the need for artificial lighting during World War I. After the war, DST pretty much fell by the wayside. It was put back into use in World War II, then, for the most part, it was randomly adopted by states. Nearly nationwide, acceptance of DST was ignored until the Uniform Time Act of 1966 took effect.
Things went haywire after that. Currently, legislators can pretty much do what they want with time. For example, in 1973, the entire country observed DST year-round.
Last year was the final cherry on the sundae for me. In 2007, Congress members decided that we needed more DST, so they moved the start and end dates to extend the time by an extra month.
Does it help?
Does DST really save power. Maybe it did in the 1920s, but I know that I use more watts in the morning than I do in the evening. Sometimes in summer, I hit the hay before the sun sets. Regardless of the season, I always get up way before the sun rises. Am I saving any power? Probably not. Am I wasting time setting my clocks over and over? Probably so.
A new study from the University of California seems to confirm this. Researchers looked at energy use in Indiana, which finally adopted DST in 2006. They discovered the time switch caused residents to spend $8.6 million more for electricity. A 2007 study conducted in Australia yielded similar results.
Would you say DST has had any positive impact on the green industry? Many surveys have claimed that retailers benefit from consumers gaining an extra hour of sunlight to spend outdoors. Is this the case with your customers? Do you a spike in sales when the time changes, or would you see a sales increase anyway since DST hits when the weather is warming?
I’m just curious. I’m against DST (and I’m not the only one).
-- Jyme
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