I guess it depends on who you work for or what type of business or work you do. And aren't there certain labor laws requiring time and a half or similar for (non-union) employees who have to work on certain declared *National* (not "just" Federal) Holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Independence Day, and maybe Labor Day? (the original "big five", which does not include Memorial Day, Columbus Day, Veterans' Day, Presidents' Day (which was originally known as George Washington's Birthday), and in more recent years mlk day).
Telephone rate structures have never been fixed in stone. And remember that there are different rate strctures depending on the location (jurisdiction) of the calling and called parties (intra-state vs. inter-state, and if intra-state, which state; US-to-Canada, US-to- Alaska/Hawaii/Puerto Rico/etc; US-to-International outside of Canada, etc). "Holiday" rate structures (as well as Evening, Night, Weekend discounts) could vary as to the nature of the Holiday, and the start and stop time of the discounted period could vary depending on the jurisdiction of the call. And things were not always consistant if you were accepting a collect call (the rate period was determined at the time of the party *placing* the call, NOT the time of the person
*receiving* the call even though the latter is PAYING for the call, similarly on 3rd Party billing, the rate period is determined not by the time of that 3rd person accepting the billing, but by the time of the person *placing* the call), or coin paid calls (mostly obsolete or totally morphed now a days since AT&T no longer handles coin sent paid traffic and the local Bells have been squeezed out by COCOTs), or person to person billing, time-and-charges quotes, etc.There could be significant inconsistancies as to how rate periods and Holiday rates applied to calls that weren't completely dialed as
1+ DDD by the customer with no operator assistance, from a regular residential or business line.And Bell or Telco was always filing new tariffs with state and federal regulators modifying this or that. What I remember is the structure as it applied roughly from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, approximately twenty years. And this is the AT&T US Interstate Plan for calls originating form the Continental US. By the mid-1980s, it also included calls TO such points as Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands, and also included calls originating from those non-CONUS points if they were TO points within CONUS (but not necessarily to another non-CONUS point except for calls between Alaska and Hawaii which eventually became known as basic interstate). Most other carriers also copied the time periods that AT&T had filed for as well, in the post-divestiture period. However, with the 1996 Telecom Law, things began to change dramatically for all carriers including AT&T, MCI, Sprint.
Weekday/Daytime period (the most expensive) Mon-Fri 08-AM to 05-PM
Weekday/Evening period (the MID-range) Sun-Fri 05-PM to 11-PM
Night/Weekend period (the lowest rates) ALL Nights 11-PM to 8-AM and ALL WEEKEND LONG starting at 11-PM Fri continuing all the way through (NOTE) 05-PM SUNDAY (when EVENING rates would kick-in)
Until around the early 1980s, a call which started in one rate period but continued into another rate period would be charged at the rates of the period that the call originally began. Thus, a call begun at
4:58pm Sun-Fri would be charged at DAY rates until the call was terminated. However, a call begun at 7:58am Mon-Fri or 4:58pm on Sunday would be charged at NIGHT/WEEKEND rates until the call was terminated. I can remember having major troubles with all circuits busy trying to place interstate toll calls on Sunday afternoons after 4:30pm back in the early 1980s -- everyone else just like me was trying to get their calls started before 5pm at which time the higher (mid-range) rates would then kick-in until 11pm when the night/weekend rates would come back.In the early 1980s, all of this changed. AT&T began charging the rate period in effect for whatever minutes the call included. If you started your call at 4:58pm M-F, you started off paying the highest Day rate, but once 5pm came about, the charges went down to evening rate during the call in progress.
Holiday rates were identical to EVENING (mid-range) rates, NOT the least expensive Night/Weekend period. At least this is how it all was in the mid-1970s thru mid-1990s period. Of course, if that Holiday (observed) was on a weekend (until 5pm on a Sunday), you did get your cheapest weekend rate. (or night rate for that day at any time from Midnight until 8am or 11pm to Midnight on that Holiday regardless of which day of week the Holiday observed fell on).
Maw Bell did recognize the Federal "Holiday Observed" or "make-up" for when a Holiday itself fell on a Sat/Sun. Bell did give you the mid-range Evening (Holiday) rate on Monday 26 December or Monday 27 December (i.e., Christmas falling on a Sat/Sun), and the like.
AT&T recognized only the "Big Five" Holidays for "Holiday Rates" (identical to Evening Mid-range rates) for inter-state US calls, i.e., Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Independence Day, and Labor Day for the longest. I believe that the US Federal Government or Presidential Decree/Order, etc. identifies these as "National" Holidays.
The other four-later-five are "Federal" Holidays which apply to Federal Government employees although many state/local governments and some private sectors have also now included as well. AT&T (and possibly MCI and Sprint) began to include these four-later-five as well by 1990, for Holiday (Evening) rates. These inlcude Columbus Day, Veteran's Day, Presidents' Day, and later on mlk day.
Presidents' Day was originally George Washington's Birthday, which
*was* the ONLY Federal Holiday to honor a *specific* individual by *NAME*. It was "morphed" into Presidents' Day sometime in the 1980s (IIRC), to honor Lincoln (also with a February Birthday) and "all" of the presidents of the US. So, after a while, even the Father of Our Country lost out on the day *specifically* dedicated to him, while at about the same time this mlk gets a federal holiday by name.Anyhow, AT&T (and possibly MCI and Sprint) began to observe all ten national/federal holidays collectively, as "Evening/Holiday" rates, by about 1990.
But with the 1996 Telecom Law, everything that we had become comfortable with (especially after having adjusted to the 1984 divestiture) began to change again. AT&T's basic rate structures began to change significantly, yet at the same time, if you know how to choose/dial "wisely", you'll find that toll rates overall have decreased signficantly. And while you might lash-out at Cellular companies, Long Distance Carriers, and even local telcos, if you do your homework (and yes, it can be tedious), you can get very good savings and discount plans on ALL of your telecom services, even better than it was in the stable "good old days" of Maw Bell in the
1970s and early (pre-divestiture) 1980s.- Anthony Bellanga