It is a Wednesday night around 6:00 p.m. and I feel like drinking a coffee. Yes, I drink coffee late in the afternoon and I still am able to sleep. I digress. Anyway, the thing is, the day of this particular craving I’m actually in Sydney, Australia and I notice the following. I can’t get my coffee, in fact, a ton of stores typically seem to close between 3:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
While I’m of course irritated by this-everything is open in the U.S. at this time! I think to myself with slight irritation. I keep these thoughts to myself…except now with you LOL! Then, I put my traveler’s cap on and take off the metaphorical tourist cap. And I take some time to think about the American system of constant convenience. Is this a good thing for society?
The longer I was in Australia the more I was amazed at how well society has been organized to support the concept of community and citizenry vs. being a consumer. Trust me there is a huge difference between the two concepts. I have lived in other countries and the older I get the more I realize that societies are set up to reflect certain values of the country that you’re living in.
Australia was no different. Though I found certain things very inconvenient I realized the following truths…
Inconvenience allows Australians The Following:
- The ability to spend time with friends and family. People truly have the time to be with the people that they care about.
- The ability to turn off and focus on things like getting a great coffee in Melbourne or going to the beach in Sydney.
- A serious work/life balance.
- The ability to manage their consumption. If stores are closed after work, it’s hard to spend money in them.
The Price Americans Pay For A Life Of Convenience
- We are more likely to be working at times that we could be with family.
- We don’t have downtime.
- We consume more. It’s easy to constantly consume things when our stores regularly close at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. for malls and have 24-7 availability at a number of grocery stores.
- We’re always “on.” It’s difficult for us to take time off and it has been
- How we’re defined by our government has changed. We are now consumers vs. citizens to a large extent.
The Upside of Convenience:
There is an upside and I might be reaching!
- We create more jobs because businesses are always open
- We are able to take care of tasks outside of work hours
While I do like being able to do whatever I would like to do whenever I would like to do it, I’m more and more reluctant to pay the price of lost time, high levels of stress, and no work/life balance.
The older I get the less I care about shopping, and having the increased ability to consume. I want TIME. That is priceless. I am more and more interested in living a balanced life while working hard to achieve my dreams.
I Am Not Anti-Work or Business
I am pro living a healthy and balanced life. I am pro me and my family. I am pro you and your family too. As I reflect on how different societies function I realize that Americans have an inherently hard time going against the grain because our society is set up to encourage us to consume vs. to spend more time with family, etc.
When I’ve observed us hanging out with friends and family on a Saturday at the park it’s the same as anywhere else in the world. We have our music, some beer, men having fun with fire and meat while grilling. When given the chance we do enjoy our lives. It’s almost as if we need to be encouraged to enjoy our lives.
It is up to us to to go against the grain and to try as much as we can within the context of our own life to prioritize what is important to us.
I feel like these are revolutionary thoughts. But, they really shouldn’t be.
How Do You Feel About Our System of Convenience? Am I Being Hysterical?
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Interesting observations… Here in Aus the subject of out of hours and week-end/public holiday pay rates is receiving a lot of attention. The government wants to get rid of as much of it as possible and there’s growing unhappiness around that.
I’m not sure being open extended hours really helps business that much anyway. There are only so many consumer dollars available at any time so whether your business is open 9 – 5:30 or 24 hours there’s still a finite amount of money that shoppers have to spend.
I’d be quite happy for the shops to be closed on Saturday afternoon and Sunday.like they used to be. It wasn’t a great imposition… it just meant you planned your shopping trips around the standard trading hours. Easy.
The big benefit, as you say, is that it enabled a different and more relaxed lifestyle. And… we were all still citizens not consumers. I’m glad we’re not as 24/7 as the US. Besides, there’s always 7Eleven if you really need something – even if it’s just a Krispy Kreme and a coffee!
Great post Michelle.
Diane! I didn’t realize that there is a push to change the hours. I don’t believe that the Government will get that to happen because the lifestyle seems to be very connected to the leisure aspect as well. You bring up an interesting point a finite amount of money to spend. I think that’s true. But, there are so many people working at night that it’s helpful for them to have shops open so that they can run their errands. I will admit that if shops closed on the weekends, Americans-myself included, would go NUTS. Luckily, I live in a place where people are very attached to their leisure time so that is good for me 🙂
Not so much the hours themselves, Michelle, but what people are paid to work them. Not surprisingly, people expect to be compensated for working crazy hours, like at night or Sundays. I know I would!
It’s an interesting question though, what did everyone do when the shops were closed?
This is interesting. Most people get paid the same regardless of time-unless working the Swing Shift (11 p.m.-7 a.m.) those individuals will receive a little more per hour. But if you work 1:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. there is no uptick in pay. I truly don’t remember shops ever being closed.
I think you’re totally right! It’s hard to push back against the dominant trend, and here the government is so in thrall to employers and what’s good for them, that we’ve lost track of what’s good for *us*.
I do think that people are starting to ask themselves what’s the point to all of this? But, people have to be offered an alternate narrative so that they can imagine what they can do with their free time.
It reminds me of that episode of SATC where Carrie was really upset because she couldn’t get her dry cleaning done because every place was closed. She expected that being in NY that something had to be open so she had a fit. I think that convenience makes us super entitled and that’s why we get the reputation as “ugly Americans” when we travel. It’s OK to enjoy those things because they exist, as long as we manage our expectations elsewhere.
Luckily I’m a good traveler so no one could access those thoughts! And, then I just went to the Beach and got over it. But, I think the thing I was more concerned about in the grand scheme of things is maybe this life of convenience truly isn’t convenient because we lose out on so many other things.
Great article Michelle! If the shops were closed after work and/or we didn’t have online shopping, I’d be in much better financial shape for sure!
Thanks Kayla! I am just starting to get very deeply philosophical about how I live my life and how I notice other people living their lives. There is an imbalance and luckily it can be fixed…if we want it to be.
I absolutely agree! I’ve lived in Australia, and also Italy and England. I’m pretty sure my consumption goes down in direct relationship to the shop hours. It is a small pain when we discover that we’re out of milk at 4:30 on a Sunday afternoon, but there are still a few small convenience shops for the absolute essentials. I am scared for our move back to the US this summer. I’m not sure how we’ll be able to resist the crazy abundance of restaurants and ability to go to Target at 8 pm.
I try to just stay out of the stores at this point. I just find that I’m unable to resist depending on my mood. It does drive me crazy when I can’t what I want every once in awhile when traveling….but, there is a point where you just get over it. I just make sure that I get everything that I need before the weekend is over. You’ll be overwhelmed when you get back! But, you can handle it.
I don’t think you’re hysterical at all. There is something to be said for those employees who are keeping the businesses going and the families they have to leave to do so. I just had a conversation with a lady who has a very non-traditional work schedule – she manages a team in a manufacturing plant. I questioned the rationale for such a crazy schedule and how it didn’t seem to make employees more productive. She didn’t know either. LOL! I don’t know if this is something that the government can (or should) be involved in…but I can admit it will be hard trend to reverse. We’re really deeply entrenched in our need for convenience…as I ponder running out at 1 am for supplies.
I am not convinced that there is a higher level of productivity. The Kellogg Cereal company used to have its workers work fewer hours for more pay. They found that the workers were more productive check out the link link
I agree that Americans pay a high price for convenience. So much of what we spend on is aimed at gaining convenience. Tablets, smart phones, fancy kitchen appliances, prepackaged and fast food, many baby products and disposable paper goods…it’s all about convenience. While some of these things may be helpful and worth the price, when you are over-spending, the place to start cutting is often convenience items that feel necessary but are truly a luxury.
I do a number of things that people find to be inconvenient but they have saved me a lot of money. I think we just like having life with “soft” edges. Do you know what I mean? I’m about to go into a couple of months of super strict budgeting and I’ll be ok because I don’t need much…and I just had a vacation LOL!
As an aussie, recently returned from the US, i have the opposite experience. I’m annoyed I’ll have to duck out of work to pay postage on two packages, cause the post office isn’t open outside my hours of work+commute. But then, I doubt the US post would be open, but more pricey options like DHL/UPS might be – can you advise?
We still run a lot of things longer hours, even, than France where I’ve lived, who are FAR more against Sunday trade (which I grew up with in Australia, but was phased out). Interestingly, our Target and Kmarts are open til 10pm or 12pm, and likewise some grocery stores, in Sydney. In Brisbane, laws have so far prevented such late trading. So we’re a country in flux – big centre shift closer to the US/Asia model of open longer hours, but the more ‘regional’ cities maintain their country roots/traditions and are open less. comparatively.
And we don’t use/have the late/24hr drug stores you have! If it’s that bad, there’s a hospital! But it seldom is!
The best thing about short hours/days working is that more people are more likely to have the same ‘time off’. I can imagine, if all my friends worked all hours, it’d be THAT much harder to spend TIME with them that I want to. And that’s tough, that I agree with you on.
I’m really surprised by your experience. The United States Postal Services actually has automated machines that are located outside of most post offices in larger cities. You can then: weigh and purchase postage for packages outside of regular business hours (or during business hours). Then, you can put the package in the mail box next to the machine. Were you in a tiny town?? UPS and DHL are also open extended hours so usually you can go up until 7:00 p.m. during the week and then most of the day on Saturday. I do think that the prices are pretty comparable between the three businesses.
It’s funny you used to live in France-I did too and loved it. They will NEVER let go of their free time. I think that it’s great that there have been laws against late trading. It’s too late for us because we love the whole 24-7 concept of things being available to us. You point out the best thing about the shorter hours-everyone is basically on the same schedule which is really nice.
Agreed. Here in Switzerland, we still have old-fashioned shop hours. Sundays are a no-go, small shops will still close at midday for 2 hours and on Mondays to compensate for being open on Saturday – when shops close at 4 or latest 5pm. Bigger stores have now begun to stay open until 8pm on a weekday and 6pm on Saturday and not everyone is happy about it. They open around 8-8.30 am these days, used to be grocery stores all opened by 7am at the latest…
We have had opportunities to vote for more and longer opening hours, but interestingly, the majority (and we are in a true democracy!) has chosen to veto that idea and it’s never been passed – makes you think, doesn’t it?!
I don’t ever remember Sundays being closed here…but things used to close earlier on Sundays. They still do compared to the other days of the week but not as early as when I was a kiddo. That’s interesting about the shift to a later opening. I think if I were a parent or had things to do earlier in the day that would be annoying. I’m glad you keep voting no. Keep doing it!! Don’t lose your time.