I wonder if any other online LDS oriented businesses have the same problem – orders and requests coming in on the Sabbath. This is a job for Debra and me, not a hobby or church calling. I personally try and do no work on the web site until after 10 or 11pm on a Sunday, but by then the orders and information requests completely jamb my email inbox. When I started my email program tonight (11pm) I had 95 new emails, since just before midnight the night before. What’s a guy to do?
I believe this problem is a product of the ‘always on’ nature of the internet; that is the access is always on, so the service should be to. I also believe that folks do not really think about ordering something online on Sunday, after all, it’s not like driving somewhere to shop at a brick and mortar business. That said, I am still continually surprised by the amount of orders that come in Sundays.
Are we partially responsible for this? Yes. Just yesterday we sent out an all members newsletter with links to products we hope would be purchased. We do have our reasons for sending on a weekend:
- The web server is much less busy on late Friday and Saturday than other days of the week. Seminary teachers are trying to sleep in at least once in the week and do not generally start worrying about
- Sending out thousands of emails taxes the server enough that we try to choose ‘less busy’ times.
- Frequently (this weekend) we just do not get out marketing act together early enough in the week to get a newsletter out.
