[tz] EU Public Consultation summertime arrangements

Brian Inglis Brian.Inglis at SystematicSw.ab.ca
Sat Jul 14 18:50:56 UTC 2018


On 2018-07-13 08:37, Paul Eggert wrote:
> On 07/13/2018 05:02 AM, John Wilcock wrote:
>> It also occurs to me that much of our discussion, and much of the
>> recommendation, is assuming that many European countries would change
>> to an offset that equates to their current summer time (i.e. permanent
>> summertime by any other name), when it is equally possible that they
>> would choose to stay year-round on their current winter time.
> 
> There is a staunch lobbying campaign to get people up earlier in the
> morning, led by groups such as convenience stores (which sell more if
> there's more evening light), tourist attractions and golf courses (since
> their customers tend to get up late), and construction firms (the
> original promoters of DST). In contrast, almost nobody lobbies for
> "noon" meaning the sun is overhead, as there's no money in that. So it's
> pretty clear which way the wind is blowing here.

I read that the convenience store lobbyists said that the 2007 extension of DST
was money well spent.
DST made more sense at a time and in a culture where business and retail hours
were shorter, and opening and closing times were more legislated, regulated,
common, and consistent.
Farmers and farm workers always work mainly when there's daylight available, but
store hours are contractual or profit driven, and business hours likewise plus
business and customer needs (e.g. markets around the world still trade mainly
during local hours e.g. ~9-~4 US ET, UK GMT/BST, EU CET, JP JST, as volumes are
higher, prices are lower, less volatile) so DST nowadays is irrelevant, it's the
impact on legislation and regulation e.g. government and school hours, and
coordination between related jurisdictions, that's important.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada


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