# Daylight Saving Time (in USA) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 12, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000 "2017-03-12T14:51:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/1 "2017-03-12T14:51:24Z")
It’s occurs too soon. When I was a kid, DST started on the last Sunday in April. In the 70s, it was moved to the first Sunday in April. Europe starts the last Sunday in March, which is where I think it should be. Late sun rises in January are bad enough. Not only that, but, “Winter forward and fall back” just doesn’t have the same ring as the old slogan. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/2 "2017-03-12T15:05:39Z")
When “standard time” occupies only a third of the year, I think it ceases to be “standard.” I’d have no problem with it going forward sometime in April and backward sometime in early October. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/3 "2017-03-12T15:11:50Z")
This whole idea of messing with our clocks twice a year is supremely stupid. Let’s just change our clocks once more, by half an hour, and never touch them again. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/4 "2017-03-12T15:13:15Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > This whole idea of messing with our clocks twice a year is supremely stupid. Let’s just change our clocks once more, by half an hour, and never touch them again. Why half an hour? Would you accept 28.5 minutes? ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/5 "2017-03-12T15:13:32Z")
Arizona has the right idea. Let’s have a march on Washington to repeal Daylight Savings Time. We need a URL and a slogan. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/6 "2017-03-12T15:15:11Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Why half an hour? Would you accept 28.5 minutes? Grrr. Next someone will suggest we change our clocks four times a year. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/7 "2017-03-12T15:20:18Z")
I was just starting to see a little bit of daylight on my AM drive to work. Now I’m back in the dark again every morning, for a while longer. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/8 "2017-03-12T15:29:28Z")
What about when they changed the end of daylight savings time from the first weekend in November to the last weekend in October? Does anybody remember how much that messed up Halloween? ---
**Author:** ![sear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sear)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/9 "2017-03-12T15:58:49Z")
Alright! Since everyone else posting in this thread is posting so sensibly, I guess that leaves being the rabid radical to me. Daylight Savings Time results from an act of congress. Time is time \*. Offsetting it by an hour with a stroke of the pen seems a short-sighted approach. If it saves $money by starting work an hour earlier, why not just change the start of shift from 9:30AM to 8:30AM? Why fliddle paddiddle with clock-settings? And btw, the only man that really reset time was J.C., the man whose birth distinguishes BC from AD. - Tell me what you think of time, and I will tell you what I think of you. St. Thomas Aquinas PS Railroads ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/10 "2017-03-12T16:01:02Z")
> [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](#): > > What about when they changed the end of daylight savings time from the first weekend in November to the last weekend in October? Does anybody remember how much that messed up Halloween? What do you mean? It was never in November, until it was. Prior to that, it was at the end of October, which meant that Halloween was always dark early. Candy companies tried for decades to get that changed. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/11 "2017-03-12T16:13:31Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I was just starting to see a little bit of daylight on my AM drive to work. Now I’m back in the dark again every morning, for a while longer. So what? It’s OK to be miserable when you’re going to work - you’re miserable anyway, on account of the fact that you have to get up and go to work, so what difference does it make? At least now you have some sunlight when you get home and begin to live your life. I’m for cancelling “regular time” (as Americans call it) altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/12 "2017-03-12T16:14:11Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > What do you mean? It was never in November, until it was. Prior to that, it was at the end of October, which meant that Halloween was always dark early. Candy companies tried for decades to get that changed. Sorry I got that backwards. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/13 "2017-03-12T16:17:20Z")
> [@sear](#): > > Alright! > Since everyone else posting in this thread is posting so sensibly, > I guess that leaves being the rabid radical to me. > > Daylight Savings Time results from an act of congress. > > Time is time \*. > Offsetting it by an hour with a stroke of the pen seems a short-sighted approach. > If it saves $money by starting work an hour earlier, why not just change the start of shift from 9:30AM to 8:30AM? Why fliddle paddiddle with clock-settings? Businesses are already free to do this. With the exceptions of things like emergency services, utilities, and broadcast stations, which must have workers 24/7, companies can always set their own hours. No need to wait for Congress. ---
**Author:** ![sear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sear)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/14 "2017-03-12T16:21:26Z")
Corrections Eagerly Invited I get the impression that “solar noon” is when the sun appear to reach zenith for the day. Problem is, that means “noon” is a time that increments across the continent from East to West, creating trillions of time-zones. What I read was, the railroads couldn’t use such a system, because it complicated plotting out a railroad timetable. So my uncorroborated source said it was the railroads that divided North America into time-zones, so they could publish and follow practical schedules. So which is worse? - Time Zones? - Daylight Savings? - BC / AD? - Leap Years & leap seconds? - Digital (numerical display) vs hour & minute hand sweep clock face? Bonus Q: Have you noticed? Several radio stations broadcast a tone to alert the listener when the top of the hour arrives. But they’re often more than 10 seconds apart from one another. wtf ?! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/15 "2017-03-12T16:21:37Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > When “standard time” occupies only a third of the year, I think it ceases to be “standard.” I’d have no problem with it going forward sometime in April and backward sometime in early October. And yet, an airplane with a wheel at the tail is said to have ‘conventional gear’. 😉 There is no reason for Daylight Saving Time in the modern world. I think we should stay on Standard Time year-round. Most of us are not farmers, and most of us have jobs with ‘standard business hours’. I hate having to drive to work in the dark, just as I was starting to drive in daylight. And it sucks to go bed at nine when I have to get up at 0430, when there is still daylight at ten o’clock at night. ---
**Author:** ![sear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sear)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/16 "2017-03-12T16:23:13Z")
PS > [@](#): > > “Businesses are already free to do this. With the exceptions of things like emergency services, utilities, and broadcast stations, which must have workers 24/7, companies can always set their own hours. No need to wait for Congress.” bk #13 My point precisely. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/17 "2017-03-12T16:26:43Z")
> [@boffking](#): > > Businesses are already free to do this. With the exceptions of things like emergency services, utilities, and broadcast stations, which must have workers 24/7, companies can always set their own hours. No need to wait for Congress. Cite that broadcasters mush have workers 24/7? Many tv stations (used to, at least) go off the air in the wee hours. ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/18 "2017-03-12T16:37:34Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > Cite that broadcasters mush have workers 24/7? Many tv stations (used to, at least) go off the air in the wee hours. I’ve worked in a radio station, that did not go off the air at night. We were told that by law, there must always be someone in the control room. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/19 "2017-03-12T16:59:10Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > And yet, an airplane with a wheel at the tail is said to have ‘conventional gear’. 😉 > > There is no reason for Daylight Saving Time in the modern world. I think we should stay on Standard Time year-round. Most of us are not farmers, and most of us have jobs with ‘standard business hours’. I What do farmers have to do with it? You think farmers are anxiously looking at their watch, wishing they could go out and start milking the cows, but it’s not 8:00 yet? ---
**Author:** ![Okrahoma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90db22/32.png) [@Okrahoma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Okrahoma)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2017, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/20 "2017-03-12T17:02:38Z")
I hate DST with a passion. China has the right idea. Not only do they not have DST, they don’t have time zones either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000.md?page=2)