Yes, and were it my preference the data would be in GMT/UTC until someone asked for it in another TZ. (And yes, I'm aware there is a slight difference in GMT v. UTC, but most people aren't aware of them until they hear about a "leap second", or the possible horror of a "negative leap second".) Unfortunately the data I am given includes time stamps from at least five different time zones, and it falls to me to compare them as part of other processing. Since Time::Piece is core and pops up periodically as a suggestion when questions arise about dates/times including TZs (such as a response to a post yesterday), I thought I should go ahead and post my question.