It’s almost that time of year again. The time of year when Daylight Saving Time hits and you’re stuck changing clocks on everything from your bedroom alarm to your car to your microwave. While you’re changing those clocks, keep this in mind: Daylight Saving Time actually leads to more automobile crashes, slumping sales in stores, and reduced productivity for everyone.

Along with that cheery news, Bloomberg News shared research from when Indiana finally adopted Daylight Saving Time that it led to more energy usage by people in that state, not less.

The time change is more directly connected to commerce than you might think. A study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute analyzed financial transactions immediately after the time change in Los Angeles, and the same period in Phoenix, since Arizona stays on Standard Time year-round.

The good news for businesses is that shoppers spent .9% more in the month after the spring time change. However, their spending decreased 3.5% in the period after the fall time change.

Sure, they recoup that extra hour of sleep, but the change still affected how they shop, possibly because commuters heading home in the dark are less interested in stopping off to run some errands on the way home. One hypothesis is that workers make their way home and then shop online instead of visiting stores.

Some state legislatures have introduced bills that would put their residents either permanently on Standard or Savings Time, but such bills tend to just languish and not actually pass.

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