[steveBK123]

I was thinking about the loss of local shops a lot recently. There's definitely a confluence of factors at play, and it's not just price economics vs online & big box.

One thing I think is that theres just never enough time. Everyone is so over-scheduled. The white collar work day really has expanded vs what I remember my dad doing 30-40 years ago. There's more two income households than in the past. Parenting is far more active for both parents than it's ever been, and kids are being shuttled between events all weekend.

Most local shops are not open past 5pm or at best 6pm, and often closed Sunday. Who is off work by then to stop by?

Easier to click buy on amazon, and stop by the big box store after dinner Saturday open til 9pm for anything you need sooner.

[inigyou]

It's rent. We are all working so hard to pay the rent. Which always expands to take any money available and then some. It's stack-ranking us on working hours.

[bix6]

Was just talking with an older colleague about this. Work used to end Friday afternoon. The amount of emails I get (and send) over the weekend means there is truly never any off time.

[liveoneggs]

reading and responding to those on the weekend is your choice

[afavour]

It isn’t, really. If it’s the expected norm in your job then there’s a real chance you’ll lose your job if you don’t do it. And particularly the kind of jobs market we see today that’s a real risk.

[SoftTalker]

Actually not for most people. This is a peculiarity mostly of the tech industry. Most people don't read their work email after 5:00.

[zbikowski]

I'm not sure what authority you have on this subject, but anecdotally speaking as a non-software engineer who would lump himself with "most people," when it comes to white-collar work, I have noticed that all of my colleagues are, at the very least, expected to read email during time off (weekend or PTO) if not respond.

This applies to adjacent industries as well. I semi-regularly get email from firms (in the same time zone as mine) in the 11PM–2AM range.

Again, I'm not purporting to have any more experience than you do, but you can't assert that this is a tech-industry-only phenomenon when I am sure applicable examples other than my own could be found. I wish I could go without, but spending the first billable hour catching up on email is not really acceptable.

[ryandrake]

I think this varies widely across industries and jobs. You're both right. I've personally seen both types of jobs. I quit one and joined the other.

[SoftTalker]

Fair enough, I'm only speaking about the people I know and work with.

[alex0015]

In my experience in white-collar and tech jobs since 2019, nobody I've ever worked with has been expected to be reachable after hours. Same goes for my wife, all tech jobs as well. If someone messages me and I'm online, I'll answer, and it's about 50/50 that they say "Oh you didn't need to respond this late, just work on this tomorrow!"

Sample size of six jobs total, three per person.

[bix6]

No it’s not. Realtors respond after hours and weekends. Tradesmen as well. If you want to win business you have to be available when people reach out.

[bix6]

Yeah that’s a privileged point of view. You lose clients if you aren’t responsive enough.

[blitzar]

Yeah that’s a privileged point of view. You lose your job if you aren’t responsive enough.

[toofy]

the time thing rings very true to me as blocker.

when i get off work i would absolutely (and do) shop at stores that are open.

i stopped 90% of online shopping a couple years ago so once i regained the lay of the land of where to get what, shopping at mom and pop stores is tough since they seem to close right when everyone gets off work.

larger chain stores seem to keep longer hours so they get more of my business than i’d like. even then i’m still happier than when i bought everything online, no question about it.