For example, you may have gotten a package via UPS or FedEx, or done some banking, or gone shopping (although you probably did not see many MLK Day sales). And the Internet never observes a holiday, not even one of its many birthdays.
The private sector generally provides half as many company holidays as the 10 federally designated days. More than 95 percent of employers surveyed by the Society for Human Resource Management closed their offices for New Year's Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day in 2011.
Last year for King's birthday, designated a federal holiday in 1983, the trade association found that 38 percent planned to close - higher than the 34 percent closing for Presidents' Day, the 21 percent for Veterans Day, and the 16 percent for Columbus Day.
Though businesses may not have closed their offices Monday, it's clear that many in the private sector were participating in the community-service projects that have become the centerpiece of the King holiday since 1994.
Ten years ago, more than 30,000 people in the Philadelphia region had signed up to paint schools, train reading tutors, and perform other tasks. In 2012, that figure had swelled to more than 85,000 - impressive growth.
That increase in helping hands had to come from somewhere. Governmental workforces did not double in 10 years. Judging by the increase in corporate sponsorships of various projects on the King Day of Service, many likely came from those work sites that remained open.
Could the weak economy be responsible for the increased participation?
Sure. Volunteering has become a strategy for many to network their way to employment.
Then again, perhaps Americans simply have taken to heart what King Day of Service organizers like to call "a day on, not a day off."
Contact Mike Armstrong
at 215-854-2980 or marmstrong@phillynews.com, or @PhillyInc on Twitter. Read his blog, "PhillyInc," at www.phillyinc.biz.
