If they can sell booze, why not cars?
Rocky Mountain News
Sunday, July 6, 2008
And then there was one. One blue law left on the books, that is. With today's formal end to the ban on Sunday sales of liquor in Colorado, coupled with soaring gas prices eating away at their business, it has to be increasingly uncomfortable for the state's car dealers to defend their no-sales-on-Sunday perk.
Car dealers can't of course claim any moral rationale for the anti-sales law, nor do they. Although most blue laws have religious roots, the car sales law was championed in the legislature in the mid-'50s (when America's post-war love affair with the automobile began to really take off) by car dealers themselves as a way to cut back on costs.
It only stands to reason the churches had nothing to do with this peculiar fossil of public policy: Lots of preachers condemn excessive drinking, but whoever heard of a fire-and-brimstone sermon against the family Chevy wagon?
Today's car dealers still like the law that keeps them closed - and for most of the same reasons that their predecessors cited.
"For us, it's an economic issue," admitted Tim Jackson, president of the Colorado Auto Dealers Association. "Currently, [auto dealers] are in one of the tougher times in history. Even in good times, though, our profit margins are 1 percent to 3 percent. That's lower than Wal-Mart. This [law] is a protection for us. . . . the cost would be another 12 to 14 percent" to car dealers if they had to open for business on Sundays, Jackson said.
In a slower age when the public's expectations differed from today regarding purchasing convenience, maybe the Sunday sales ban didn't matter a great deal. But times, as they say, have changed. Many Americans are working longer hours. Meanwhile weekends, including Sundays, have become a major focus of shopping.
The car dealers have answers for this, too. Jackson argues that car buyers - unlike those who might run out to buy a six-pack of beer - "very seldom contemplate a purchase on an impulse," so an extra day won't matter much to them. And, he says, "consumers like being able to kick the tires on Sunday without having to buy."
Moreover, Jackson cites alleged savings to car buyers, who would have to pick up the added costs dealers would incur by having to be open on Sundays.
Finally, Jackson argues that a Sunday closure makes sense for his industry since automobile licensing and insurance offices, as well as financial institutions, are closed that day, too.
Maybe so, but similar hurdles don't prevent Realtors from showing houses on Sunday - even though they have to wait for a title company to open, for example, before they can close a sale.
In any event, if it truly makes sense for any industry to close on Sunday, then it can do so. The point is not that auto dealers be required to open on Sunday but that government has no business ordering dealers to remain closed.
Plenty of establishments close on Sunday because they want to, not because they have to. What business is it of the state of Colorado if one or more auto dealers wants to break ranks and open, say, Sunday afternoons? Why does the law permit Coloradans to shop for virtually anything else throughout the weekend except for a car?
Now that the ban on Sunday liquor sales has fallen, after many a hard-fought battle, it's time for lawmakers to storm and sack the last fortress of this state's blue laws: Repeal the ban on the Sunday sales of autos.
Post your comment
Registration is required. Click here to create your free user account, or login below.
Comments are the sole responsibility of the person posting them. You agree not to post comments that are off topic, defamatory, obscene, abusive, threatening or an invasion of privacy. Violators may be banned. Click here for our full user agreement.
July 6, 2008
1:13 a.m.
Suggest removal
ezekiel777 writes:
thanks for the history lesson. i always thought the sunday closure was an auto dealer in-house agreement...sort of like the monday closures for barbers....boy, does that date me.
i'm never for gov't laws benefiting only one segment of society, especially a business group.....but that's just my basic simpleton nature coming out as gov't is rarely if ever neutral. our gov't entities are regularly used as a hammer for someone to pound upon another or as a way for someone to get a break. such goings on are built into the system, that for all the intentions of being otherwise, is profoundly corrupt.
gee, you can't even buy a car without bumping into some special favors coming from "we the people".
July 6, 2008
3:05 a.m.
Suggest removal
clyde writes:
May I suppose there was a reason for this? How many people can only buy a car on Sunday, when all the loan houses are closed? Unless you pay cash, you can't consumate the deal on a Sunday. This sounds like a solution in search of a problem.
July 6, 2008
7:37 a.m.
Suggest removal
rwmorrisonjr writes:
With the amount of customer traffic growing, many dealers are starting to question the reasons for staying closed on Sundays. In states where dealers are open on Sundays, those tend to be the busiest days as most customers will spend Saturday shopping for a car and actually complete the purchase on Sundays. This is much easier for the customer than trying to complete the deal on a weekday, as well as opening up some much needed competition in the marketplace.
Clyde, most banks do have loan reps working on Sundays, so they can complete the financing. And since the majority of loans are completed via computer, a person is usually not even involved in that part of the process.
Once again, this is an area where legislation isn't needed. If a dealer wants to be open or closed on Sunday, that should be their choice, not mandated by an outdated and unnecessary law.
July 6, 2008
8:18 a.m.
Suggest removal
uncledave writes:
Amen. Get the State out of the picture. If a car dealer wants to stay closed on Sunday, fine. With most people working during the week though, why not close on Monday if you must be closed one day? Makes a lot more sense than eliminating a prime shoppping day. The argument that it will increase costs to dealers, I think is B.S. I think the increased sales opportunities will more than make up for any costs incurred by the dealers.
July 6, 2008
8:21 a.m.
Suggest removal
anarchist writes:
Long ago Sundays were a day of rest, a time for families to gather together and enjoy lifes pleasures. The only buildings that were "open for bussiness" were churches. Families spent time together, talking, picnicing, Norman Rockwell sort of things. Thank heavens cell phones and texting to a person 3 feet away, computers, tv's, dvd blue ray, bluetooth and gameboy/x-boxes have saved us from all that. Open up the dealerships too, they haven't anything better to do on a Sunday either.
July 6, 2008
9:03 a.m.
Suggest removal
peterpi writes:
anarchist, if the law was changed, car dealers could still close on Sundays. Car dealers just simply wouldn't be forced to do so.
If pagan atheist America-hating car dealers wanted to be open on Sundays, they could do so. If washed-in-the-blood, born-again, slain-in-the-Spirit car dealers wanted to close on Sundays, they could do so. It would be "their" choice, not the government telling them they had to close.
July 6, 2008
10:16 a.m.
Suggest removal
Brain writes:
I like that they are closed on Sundays so I can do some "window shopping" without a salesperson hovering around. Not a big deal either way though; I don't see this as important enough to have legislatures spend time on. Interesting how some that want government out of the picture here are the same ones that want more government in our health care and schools.
July 6, 2008
10:35 a.m.
Suggest removal
DougH writes:
This was one of the best editorial rants the Rocky has been on in quite awhile. The real point is, who cares when car dealers are open. They seem to sell plenty of cars the way it is and collectively they won’t sell one more car if they are open on Sundays. Every time you ask the car dealers, they are happy with the system in place, even if it is based on some hooky , old fashioned law. I am sure that the car dealers have donated enough campaign money that they could get the law changed if they wanted, But they don’t..so why don't we just leave it alone.
July 6, 2008
1:12 p.m.
Suggest removal
Darwin writes:
While we are getting the government out of over-regulating everything, it is time that they allow supermarkets the right to sell alcohol as the liquor stores. It would be nice that the interests of the consumer, rather that businesses, be taken into account for a change.
July 6, 2008
2:45 p.m.
Suggest removal
Brain writes:
Darwin, It is coming in the next 2-5 years; in my opinion it won't do much of anything for consumers, it will benefit the supermarkets.
July 6, 2008
7:19 p.m.
Suggest removal
anarchist writes:
peterpi, fair enough, does that mean the government has no right to tell me who to hire, who not to fire, when to mow my lawn, when not, and water my lawn, even or odd no longer applies, and my taxes, what gives them the right to tax me and redistribute my money elsewhere? Speed limits and rules of the road should be abolished as well. What about the gestapo tactics of immunizing children for admittance to public schools, lets toss that out too. Government regulations on automobiles, safety and emission wise should be disbanded. Repeal drinking ages.Just how far are YOU willing to go, are you up for it?
July 6, 2008
7:24 p.m.
Suggest removal
anarchist writes:
Brain, "Interesting how some that want government out of the picture here are the same ones that want more government in our health care and schools.", like socialised medicine? I still want to see the figures that when everyone is covered it wont diminsh the level of care, wont raise my taxes. I want the figures from Canada, England, and any other socialised nation, after all, we have proof it worked so well in U.S.S.R..
July 7, 2008
1:56 p.m.
Suggest removal
anarchist writes:
SAS, I bet Pelosi/Reid,obama stop that.
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ene...
"I went to Detroit, I stood in front of a group of automakers, and I told them that when I am president, there will be no more excuses", "Obama will double fuel economy standards", so sign up now to buy your mandated obamamobile, dont make him come to your house.
July 8, 2008
11:28 a.m.
Suggest removal
BirdiusHighBallius writes:
Hopefully, the smart people will realize that there is no such thing as more consumers, just more days open for the businesses.... this means more overhead with no more people to sell to. Now people will just shop on a different day and the business open on sunday loses the money for their overhead to be open one more day a week. Oh... as a side thought, when will their employees get a day off? to give them a different day off is also more expensive, because then a business has to hire yet another person to take that day. Hmmmm... open on sundays just sounds like economic suicide for the businesses who have little profit to begin with, like Car and Motorcycle Dealers.