# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/61 "2017-03-13T03:56:15Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > I vote for no DST and no timezones. > > Put the entire world on GMT-0 switch to 24 hour clock, and set schedules accordingly as needed. > If i guy in Glascow says hey lets teleconf at 13:45, no math needed, at 13:45 i teleconf with him, then i go back to bed, and he goes to lunch. > > I dunno, seems simple? China, which is roughly the size of the continental US, has only one time zone when it ought to have several, and [this has caused problems](https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/11/china-only-has-one-time-zone-and-thats-a-problem/281136/). ---
**Author:** ![sear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sear)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/62 "2017-03-13T04:11:11Z")
> [@JackieLikesVariety](#): > > go chill yourself, I hate the change both directions but especially going forward. We have a right to complain. one hour my foot, it’ll take me two weeks to adjust. > > :mad: And each time we revert to “standard” time, aren’t there two 2:AMs in one day? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/63 "2017-03-13T13:50:28Z")
Daylight savings time. This is why Benjamin Franklin was never President. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/64 "2017-03-13T14:26:34Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Daylight savings time. > > This is why Benjamin Franklin was never President. Nit pick: it’s Daylight Saving Time. No “s” at the end of saving. 😉 No one in the thread has yet to establish a valid reason why it should be scrapped. Saying that it bugs you, or that you have trouble adjusting is being selfish. For those of us who don’t have trouble adjusting, why should we give in to your particular whims? The main argument against DST is that the assumed benefits of it aren’t clearly occurring in actuality. Thus, we could argue that there is no “need” for it. However, I predict that, should we stop going on DST, then we’d immediately be facing complaints all summer long about how the sun now goes down too early. And if we simply stay on DST (that is, if we accept that the sun should be at zenith at 1:00 pm), then all winter long everyone would bitch about how the sun isn’t up early enough. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/65 "2017-03-13T15:19:13Z")
> [@KittenKat](#): > > I listen to a radio station that does this, and a listener wrote in asking when during the four note signal did the new hour start. One of their on air personalities said that on the last note is when the hour changes. So that’s what I use to reset the clock in my car, as it tends to gain time. If accuracy is your goal, tune in [WWV.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWV_(radio_station)) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/66 "2017-03-13T15:27:52Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I honestly don’t get what would be wrong with keeping DST year round. I get how it can be better in the summer, but not why it’s better to change back in the winter. One issue is that, at least in the northern part of the U.S., you wind up with dawn in December and January coming relatively late in the morning. (I know, I know, people in Canada and Ireland will tell us that that’s no big deal. 😃 ) In Chicago, during the shortest days of the year, sunrise isn’t until around 7:15 a.m. If you have DST running year-round, that pushes sunrise to 8:15 a.m., meaning that (among other things) kids are going to school in the morning in the dark. In the mid '70s, during the first energy crisis, I remember the Ford Administration instituting a year-round DST, and “children are now waiting for buses in the dark” was one of the complaints. ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/67 "2017-03-13T15:45:13Z")
I’m a huge fan of DST. Please see [this graphic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time#/media/File:SpringFwd-FallBack.png) from Wikipedia. I am also in the “no big deal” camp on the time change. I am always amazed at how people moan over a single hour switch. Does anyone here fly? You would think if these people flew from one coast to the other they would be permanently disfigured by the 3 hour change. Never to recover! ---
**Author:** ![sear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cab0a1/32.png) [@sear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sear)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/68 "2017-03-13T15:53:15Z")
Regarding DST > [@](#): > > “This is why Benjamin Franklin was never President.” DA I wasn’t aware he ever sought the office. 1706 By 1789, the year President Washington took office, Franklin was 83 years old. And those were hard years, long before central heat, indoor plumbing, or even a nice Harley to straddle. I doubt at age 83 Franklin thought it a good move to burnish his political credentials. ---
**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 13, 2017, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/69 "2017-03-13T16:05:52Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Nit pick: it’s Daylight Saving Time. No “s” at the end of saving. 😉 > No one in the thread has yet to establish a valid reason why it should be scrapped. Saying that it bugs you, or that you have trouble adjusting is being selfish. For those of us who don’t have trouble adjusting, why should we give in to your particular whims? > > The main argument against DST is that the assumed benefits of it aren’t clearly occurring in actuality. Thus, we could argue that there is no “need” for it. > > However, I predict that, should we stop going on DST, then we’d immediately be facing complaints all summer long about how the sun now goes down too early. And if we simply stay on DST (that is, if we accept that the sun should be at zenith at 1:00 pm), then all winter long everyone would bitch about how the sun isn’t up early enough. :dubious: You’ll hear those complaints from some Americans who are likely hippies, terrorists, or Communists – people not to be listened to. All red-blooded, real Americans have better things to do, like going to Mars (where there is no DST!) or drinking beer (which can happen at any hour!) than whine about whether the sun goes down at 9pm or 10pm in certain latitudes of Earth during the summer. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/70 "2017-03-13T17:09:05Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > 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? No, but they would run into problems the other way, townspeople scheduling a PTA meeting for 5pm when it was only 4pm “cow time” for example. There were a lot of protests that “cows don’t know what time it is” from the farm belt when the proposal came up. I remember decades ago reading a comment by Isaac Asimov regarding daylight savings time. It was (paraphrasing) Here in the Home of the Free and Home of the Brave, if Congress tried passing a law mandating that everyone get up an hour earlier there would be a great hue and cry along with calls for impeachment. But it can pass a law saying clocks be set ahead an hour which is the _exact same thing_ without a peep of protest. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/71 "2017-03-13T17:56:03Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Nit pick: it’s Daylight Saving Time. No “s” at the end of saving. 😉 > No one in the thread has yet to establish a valid reason why it should be scrapped. Saying that it bugs you, or that you have trouble adjusting is being selfish. For those of us who don’t have trouble adjusting, why should we give in to your particular whims? I’ve never met anyone who said they liked Daylight Saving Time, but I’ve met lots who said they hate it. If there were a referendum, I suspect that an overwhelming majority would vote to abolish it. Who’s giving in to whose whims? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/72 "2017-03-13T18:00:45Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’ve never met anyone who said they liked Daylight Saving Time, but I’ve met lots who said they hate it. If there were a referendum, I suspect that an overwhelming majority would vote to abolish it. Who’s giving in to whose whims? No one? Not one person? Yeah, right. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/73 "2017-03-13T19:13:17Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > I’ve never met anyone who said they liked Daylight Saving Time, but I’ve met lots who said they hate it. If there were a referendum, I suspect that an overwhelming majority would vote to abolish it. Who’s giving in to whose whims? I like Daylight Saving Time. Now, you’ve heard it. People don’t legislate things like DST without having a large amount of support for it in the first place. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/74 "2017-03-13T19:48:38Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > I like Daylight Saving Time. I love DST - lots of post work mountain biking from spring through fall. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/75 "2017-03-13T20:03:48Z")
And golf. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/76 "2017-03-13T20:26:50Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > Where I live, which isn’t that far north despite being in Canada, not changing the clocks would either result in sunrise at 4:41AM in the summer or 8:51AM in the winter. I’m happy to keep it. And why is that undesirable? If the choice is between 4:40 AM sunrise / 8:00 PM sunset, vs. 5:40 AM sunrise / 9:00 PM sunset, the former seems more natural to me. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/77 "2017-03-13T20:28:14Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I love DST - lots of post work mountain biking from spring through fall. If your state/area didn’t observe DST, what would prevent you from going to work earlier and leaving early enough for post-work MTB? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/78 "2017-03-13T20:50:23Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > If your state/area didn’t observe DST, what would prevent you from going to work earlier and leaving early enough for post-work MTB? My job - I need to be at work through certain hours to overlap my day with people in far away time zones. Plus, my wife is a school teacher and her hours are set so if we want to meet after work we have to go by her hours. Other people have job hours set by the clock in other ways but most have to work until 5 or 6 PM. If I wanted to I could take off work early to ride or run but I couldn’t do it all the time and I couldn’t meet up with friends who can’t take off early. Having it light at a later hour means we all can do activities after work. I can run in the morning but I can’t really ride in the morning, this allows me to do both. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/79 "2017-03-13T20:55:52Z")
Fair enough. But I suspect for every outdoor enthusiast who wants as many hours of daylight as possible, there is a city dweller who’s happy to get out of the hot summer sun as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000/80 "2017-03-13T22:10:20Z")
Yeah, that’s the issue. Umpteen million employers across the country won’t all agree at the same time to start business an hour earlier in the summer so that their employees can enjoy more sunlight when they get off work. But the government can do that, so they did. (And “enjoy more sunlight” means “spend more money”, which is why businesses like it.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daylight-saving-time-in-usa/782000.md?page=5)