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US holidays by tiers

Started by ftballfan, January 21, 2019, 11:04:48 AM

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ftballfan

If you were to tier US holidays, how would you align them?

Here is how I would tier them:
Tier 1 (very few places open)
Christmas
Thanksgiving

Tier 2 (many/most service industry and retail places open; offices mostly closed)
New Year's Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day

Tier 3 (schools and government-related offices mostly closed; private sector offices tend to be open; retail universally open)
Martin Luther King Jr. Day - could be tier 2 in the near future
Presidents Day/Washington's Birthday

Tier 4 (schools generally open unless required to close by state law; most if not all private sector offices open; retail universally open)
Veterans Day
Columbus Day - not a state holiday in several states

Non-federal holidays and special events
Christmas Eve - tier 3 (tier 1 after 6pm)
New Year's Eve - tier 3 (tier 2 after 6pm)
Black Friday - tier 2/3
Good Friday - tier 3
Easter - tier 2 if it wasn't already on Sunday
Funeral of former president - tier 4
Funeral of sitting president - tier 2


jp the roadgeek

Veterans Day is more tier 3, as there is no mail delivery on that day.  I would also include the day after Christmas on the non-federal list as tier 4, especially when Christmas falls on a Thursday or Sunday. 
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

Max Rockatansky

Personally Columbus Day is one of my favorites because it isn't largely recognized as the others and people generally don't like to celebrate it.  That gives me a chance to go do something outdoorsy while there is an early fall-to-winter transition relatively unabated by crowds.

hotdogPi

Halloween – Tier 4
Valentine's Day – Tier 4
Election Day – Tier 4; Tier 2 if HR 1 passes
April Fool's Day – Tier 5
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

MNHighwayMan

#4
Thanksgiving should be in a tier 1.5. Last year, many of the big retail chain places around here didn't close for Thanksgiving, while a lot of smaller/local places did.

Christmas Day is the only true tier 1 holiday anymore.

kphoger

Tier 1
Christmas
Easter
Thanksgiving
Independence Day

Tier 2
New Year
Labor Day
Memorial Day
Election Day

Tier 3
Veterans Day
MLK Jr Day
Presidents Day

Tier 4
Christmas Eve
New Year's Eve
Good Friday

Barely a holiday to begin with
Columbus Day
Halloween
Mothers Day
Fathers Day
Valentine's Day
Saint Patrick's Day
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

1995hoo

Quote from: jp the roadgeek on January 21, 2019, 11:16:01 AM
Veterans Day is more tier 3, as there is no mail delivery on that day.  I would also include the day after Christmas on the non-federal list as tier 4, especially when Christmas falls on a Thursday or Sunday. 

There is no mail delivery on any federal holiday.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

vdeane

Quote from: ftballfan on January 21, 2019, 11:04:48 AM
Tier 4 (schools generally open unless required to close by state law; most if not all private sector offices open; retail universally open)
Veterans Day
Columbus Day - not a state holiday in several states
I always got off for those (through high school - not for college).  Still do, since I work for the state, and we get all the federal holidays plus floaters on Lincoln's Birthday and Election Day (we can take the holiday any work day from when the holiday happens to when it happens again the following year).  At my last job, Columbus Day and Veterans Day were a floating holiday of a different variety - you could take one or the other, but not both (that job had off all the other federal holidays plus Black Friday).
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: ftballfan on January 21, 2019, 11:04:48 AM
If you were to tier US holidays, how would you align them?

Here is how I would tier them:
Tier 1 (very few places open)
Christmas
Thanksgiving

Tier 2 (many/most service industry and retail places open; offices mostly closed)
New Year's Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labor Day

Tier 3 (schools and government-related offices mostly closed; private sector offices tend to be open; retail universally open)
Martin Luther King Jr. Day - could be tier 2 in the near future
Presidents Day/Washington's Birthday

Tier 4 (schools generally open unless required to close by state law; most if not all private sector offices open; retail universally open)
Veterans Day
Columbus Day - not a state holiday in several states

Non-federal holidays and special events
Christmas Eve - tier 3 (tier 1 after 6pm)
New Year's Eve - tier 3 (tier 2 after 6pm)
Black Friday - tier 2/3
Good Friday - tier 3
Easter - tier 2 if it wasn't already on Sunday
Funeral of former president - tier 4
Funeral of sitting president - tier 2
I never have school on Veterans or Columbus day.
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

TheHighwayMan3561

Columbus Day is pretty much irrelevant outside of the Northeast Corridor and possibly Chicago (another city with a large concentration of Italian-Americans; not everyone realizes that Italian heritage celebration is the main purpose of the day).
self-certified as the dumbest person on this board for 5 years running

Big John

In Illinois, there is Casimir Pulaski Day celebrated as a state holiday.

hotdogPi

In Massachusetts, Patriots Day is a state holiday, on the 3rd Monday in April. This has two purposes:

1. To celebrate the Patriots in the offseason Paul Revere's ride and the battles that followed.
2. In some years, it pushes Tax Day later.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

jeffandnicole

Several State Governments has off on Election Day.

Good Friday is another confusing issue. Some Governments and Offices are closed, but many are open.

Black Friday is mainly an off day for offices, however some government offices are open, the opposite of what normally happens.

Quote from: MNHighwayMan on January 21, 2019, 12:01:38 PM
Thanksgiving should be in a tier 1.5. Last year, many of the big retail chain places around here didn't close for Thanksgiving, while a lot of smaller/local places did.

Around 'here'? This has been a national issue for about 5 years now.

1995hoo

We always had school on Veterans' Day, but most of us figured the day after Thanksgiving was a fair trade. We did get Columbus Day. The day we got that most people don't was Inauguration Day every four years. Led to a really short week when it fell in the same week as what was then called Lee-Jackson-King Day. (Lee-Jackson Day is still a state holiday, but it's now the Friday before King Day. Schools are open. Courts and government offices are closed.)
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

Roadgeekteen

Quote from: 1995hoo on January 22, 2019, 07:36:15 AM
We always had school on Veterans' Day, but most of us figured the day after Thanksgiving was a fair trade. We did get Columbus Day. The day we got that most people don't was Inauguration Day every four years. Led to a really short week when it fell in the same week as what was then called Lee-Jackson-King Day. (Lee-Jackson Day is still a state holiday, but it's now the Friday before King Day. Schools are open. Courts and government offices are closed.)
Some schools don't have black friday off? That would make traveling a bitch.
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

jeffandnicole

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 22, 2019, 08:05:59 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 22, 2019, 07:36:15 AM
We always had school on Veterans’ Day, but most of us figured the day after Thanksgiving was a fair trade. We did get Columbus Day. The day we got that most people don’t was Inauguration Day every four years. Led to a really short week when it fell in the same week as what was then called Lee-Jackson-King Day. (Lee-Jackson Day is still a state holiday, but it’s now the Friday before King Day. Schools are open. Courts and government offices are closed.)
Some schools don't have black friday off? That would make traveling a bitch.

I've never heard of a school not having Black Friday off. 

1995hoo

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 22, 2019, 08:05:59 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 22, 2019, 07:36:15 AM
We always had school on Veterans' Day, but most of us figured the day after Thanksgiving was a fair trade. We did get Columbus Day. The day we got that most people don't was Inauguration Day every four years. Led to a really short week when it fell in the same week as what was then called Lee-Jackson-King Day. (Lee-Jackson Day is still a state holiday, but it's now the Friday before King Day. Schools are open. Courts and government offices are closed.)
Some schools don't have black friday off? That would make traveling a bitch.

I said we got the day after Thanksgiving instead of Veterans' Day and most of us were reasonably happy with that trade. We also had two teacher workdays earlier in November. By the time I was in third grade, those always coincided with Election Day so they could use the cafeterias as polling places. I recall one year we had school on Election Day and they wanted us to eat in silence due to adults coming in to vote. That didn't work so well and it was part of what led to the teacher workday schedule being adjusted.
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

tdindy88

Interesting, in Indiana (at least on the state level,) Black Friday is actually celebrated as Lincoln's Birthday. And Washington's Birthday is celebrated on Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas (depending on when Christmas falls in the week.) As a result the state doesn't celebrate any holidays in February with President's Day being purely a school holiday. That is if we didn't have to make the day up due to a snow day.

abefroman329

Quote from: Roadgeekteen on January 22, 2019, 08:05:59 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on January 22, 2019, 07:36:15 AM
We always had school on Veterans' Day, but most of us figured the day after Thanksgiving was a fair trade. We did get Columbus Day. The day we got that most people don't was Inauguration Day every four years. Led to a really short week when it fell in the same week as what was then called Lee-Jackson-King Day. (Lee-Jackson Day is still a state holiday, but it's now the Friday before King Day. Schools are open. Courts and government offices are closed.)
Some schools don't have black friday off? That would make traveling a bitch.
In GA, where I attended high school and college, not only were the schools closed on Black Friday, they were also closed the day before Thanksgiving. 

I think this tiering is accurate.  I currently work for a bank and we don't observe Presidents' Day, Columbus Day, or Veterans Day (most banks do), and Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are not holidays, nor is Black Friday, but we do start with 25 days of PTO a year and you get a bump of about 3 days every 5 years (maxing out at 35), which I think is better than having a bunch of random holidays.

nexus73

Despite the low ratings given here by some posters, Hallowe'en is right behind New Year's Eve as a party day.  Then comes Super Bowl Sunday, followed by St. Patrick's Day.  If you are living in Louisiana or along most of the Gulf Coast, Mardi Gras is one to peg the meter with. 

Very low tier holidays not mentioned: Earth Day, Talk Like A Pirate Day, Arbor Day, Flag Day. 

A holiday which faded away: VJ Day.  Who would have thought something as important as the end of World War II and once was a holiday in many states, would just flat out disappear?

Utah has a statehood day holiday.  You can buy and shoot off fireworks then. 

Yom Kippur drifts around the calendar like Easter and Mardi Gras.  For non-Christian holidays it rates highly in some parts of the USA.  With few Moslems, Ramadan gets little mention here.  No Hindu, Shinto, Buddhist or more minor religions make honorable mention here.

Political holidays: Election Day.  In some states this would be an anti-holiday since the sale of liquor would be prohibited. 

Groundhog Day: Such a good one they made a movie about it.  Go see it again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again...and again

Rick
US 101 is THE backbone of the Pacific coast from Bandon OR to Willits CA.  Industry, tourism and local traffic would be gone or severely crippled without it being in functioning condition in BOTH states.

hbelkins

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has 11 1/2 official holidays when state offices are closed in most years. That number increases to 12 1/2 in presidential election years, and also usually when a new governor is inaugurated in Frankfort (primarily because they have a big parade, and street closures tie up access to many offices.)

Those holidays are:
Jan. 1 and one extra day for New Years Day.
MLK Jr. Day.
Memorial Day.
Independence Day.
Labor Day.
Veterans Day.
Thanksgiving and the day after.
Dec. 25 and one extra day for Christmas.

The half-day is for Good Friday.

Kentucky has shuffled holidays around. When I started in state government, Columbus Day was no longer observed as a state holiday. My understanding was that it had been swapped for MLK Day some years prior. Presidents Day was observed but Veterans Day was not. Somewhere along the line, the decision was made to swap Veterans Day for Presidents Day. This means that there are three holidays every November, and every four years, four holidays whenever there is a presidential election.

My preference would be to observe Presidents Day but not Veterans Day, merely because there are already holidays in November but none in February, and it's a long stretch between January (MLK Day) and May (Memorial Day). I also think it's odd that Kentucky observes MLK Day but not Presidents Day,which is officially still known as Washington's birthday but is also generally considered to be an observation of Lincoln's birthday, too. Lincoln was Kentucky's only native-born president, and I would argue that he did more for the civil rights of blacks via the Emancipation Proclamation than MLK did through his ministry and protests.

I do know that West Virginia celebrates a holiday for the anniversary of its statehood.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Brian556

I think its extremely unfair that workers in certain industries get these little BS holidays off, while workers in other industries don't.

inkyatari

Nobody celebrates National Aluminum Siding Week anymore.
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

abefroman329

Quote from: inkyatari on January 22, 2019, 12:04:12 PM
Nobody celebrates National Aluminum Siding Week anymore.
Perhaps you could change that.

SP Cook

In WV the state takes the federal holidays, plus "West Virginia Day", which is June 20, which means it always falls on the same day of the week as the 4th of July. Plus both the general election and the primary election (2nd Tuesday in May) in even numbered years.  The state used to get Lincoln's Birthday and the governor would always give state workers the day after Thanksgiving off by proclamation.  About 10 years ago they eliminated Lincoln's Birthday and made "black Friday" a legal holiday "in honor of Abraham Lincoln".    State workers get a half day on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, if they are work days, but get no make up day like you do for the actual holiday if it hits on a weekend. 

Until the early 80s, the state gave workers a "shopping day" which was a half day on a Wednesday in December, because stores did not keep late hours.  The advent of malls made that obselete long before it was eliminated.

Back in the day, in the coal fields, union miners got John L. Lewis' birthday (April 1) and "Coal Miner's Vacation" because all of the mines would shut down at the same time (last week of June and first week of July).  Both long gone now.  Textile mills in the Carolinas also used to all shut down at the same time, which is why the Firecracker 400 was started, to draw them to Daytona for their week off.

As to the holidays in tiers, IMHO:

LEGAL

ONE

Christmas.  About the only day the vast part of the country shuts down.  Most everybody, regardless of religion, notices at least.  96% of people celebrate it in some way, according to polls.

Thanksgiving.  Again, celebrated by most everybody.  While cracks are appearing, most of the country is still shut down.   

TWO

Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.   Most people get the day off, and they act as the start, mid-point, and finish of "summer" for many people. 

New Year's Day.  Most people off.  Used to be bigger when the college football season actually ended then.  Now it is just another day off with some ball games, not much different from any other Saturday during football season.

THREE

MLK Day, Washington's Birthday, Columbus Day, Veteran's Day.  Government is shut down and people with an axe to grind that they can relate to the figure(s) involved open their yaps, but that is about all.

NON-LEGAL

ONE

Halloween.  When I was a kid, Halloween was for kids and was one evening.  This has moved up the charts big time, with people decorating for weeks ahead and adults having parties.

Super Sunday.  Everybody, even people who don't like the NFL, watches the game, often at a party. 

TWO

Mother's Day, and, although slightly lower Father's Day.  Most people with a living parent will at least call and send a present, even if not living where they can visit. 

Easter.  This one has moved down, as Halloween has moved up (which might be a commentary on the country).  Still, a lot of people celebrate the non-religious side with the bunny and the eggs for kids, and a lot of people only go to church that one Sunday.

THREE

St. Patrick's Day, and, in certain places, other days associated with other ethnic groups.  Really only a thing in big cities, mostly, other than the "get drunk" part of St. Pat's and Cinco de Mayo.  Most people in the USA cannot trace their ethnic group to any single European country any more, and most do not care.  I certainly don't.

Valentine's Day.  If you are not in a relationship, you still notice because it is impossible to get a table at any restaurant.

New Year's Eve.  Many people have a party.  Many people just go to bed. 

                                                               



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