to hope they keep the extended shopping hours on a sunday

[hawaiiWave]

I am a bit of a loser shopaholic and I love the current extended shopping hours on s Sunday, my local town centre shops are now open 10-6. I love drive,but it seems to help traffic congestion too, as shoppers are less concentrated.

Aibu to wonder why there is a restriction in the first place?

WTF is all this workers bled to the machine crap that people are coming out with?

Actual people in retail are telling you how hard this makes their lives and the response is "well I want to shop", or "get another job".

I've worked shifts for years, over Xmas etc, but then I'm a nurse, which needs to be a 24/7 service. Retail doesn't.

Workers' conditions should take priority over consumerism.

We'll all be paying for it in the end when rates of depression and ill health rocket due to people working such in such crap conditions. But hey, as long as people can shop at "civilised hours", who cares.

Why that dig at teachers there Sabriel?
And as a few people have said on this thread, we already have extended opening hours in Scotland, it's just a normality here.

Why shouldn't it be 24/7? And everything else? If there's a demand for it. People only keep it open if it's profitable.

We'd LOVE to have a childminding business that offered weekends and nights, but we rent and aren't permitted to run a business from our home.

The large Tesco near my house now has Extended Hours; but it isn't strictly necessary because locally there are lots of small corner shops, takeaways, garages & mini supermarkets that open 24 hours or until 12am on Sundays anyway.

Extended Sunday Opening for supermarkets may adversely affect those small businesses; that would be a shame.

The local clothes shops & dept stores altered their Sunday Trading hours last year so that they open eg. at 11am & close at eg. 5pm instead of 10am - 4pm.

That made good business sense because many of their prospective customers sleep in late on Sunday mornings (due to Saturday night partying or just wanting a lie in!!).

Also many shop assistants tend to be young & probably are a bit hungover / want a lie in earlier in the day themselves! :)

Expat, I find that attitude so depressing.
"The World" is not some place we exist somehow on the outside of, with no input.
We all shape the world by what we do, and by what we are prepared to put up with.
I would take the view that big business exists to make a profit at any cost (any cost to us that is) and it is our responsibility to fight our respective corners in order to try and preserve some quality of life and autonomy for ourselves, and our colleagues and children.

The more people say "oh, well, thats just the way it is so suck it up" the worse things seem to become. Whenever I hear of people fighting to defend things they care about(like the pensioners near me fighting to keep their bus service) I am glad that some people think they should have a say in decisions that massively affect them.

Anyone who believes a 24/7 consumer society is desirable - please read 'In Praise of Slow' by Carl Honore. There are quiet depressing statistics about the affects on family life, health and society of living in a world which strives for everything to be bigger, faster and wealthier.

I assume that the posters saying posters should 'suck it up' are also against any unions, protests, workers rights or human rights?

What a depressing world we would live in if people just accepted their lot.

You love driving and shopping???
YABVU

I don't think arguing for supermarkets to be open from, say, 10-6 on a Sunday is the same as advocating a 24/7 society. It just seems sensible that when people come back from a day out, holiday or weekend away that you can then buy a bit of food! I actually hate shopping in person and don't want to do MORE of it, I just want to be able to do it when it is convenient on a late Sunday afternoon.

What's wrong with liking driving though? I like driving. I mean, I don't go out of my way to use the car when another mode of transport is available, but when I do drive, I enjoy it.

I'd love shops to be open longer. Like all day Sunday till late. And it might suit a lot of people to work these hours anyway. And I know quite a few people who have their contracts changed and don't seem to have a lot of say in it.

Along with overpopulation, driving and shopping are the most destructive forces in our consumer society and may destroy the ecological balance of our planet if not contained.

Most shopworkers hours are contracted and are told they have to work weekends as part of their contract so they won't be thrilled to be told they would have to work extra hours on a Sunday for a normal days pay. It's not time and a half anymore.

I would love to see better transport on a Sunday however, but that wouldn't be fair on the transport workets I suppose

But it wouldn't be 10-6. Supermarkets already open 24 hrs Monday to Friday, they would extend it to 24/7. Then other retailers would follow.

There are a lot of inconveniences in life. I would like to be able to go to the bank or post office on my way home from work. I can't so I do the 30 mile round trip to town on my day off.

I would like the option to see a GP on a weekend. I can't so last weekend I made the 40 mile round trip to my nearest walk in centre.

I would like to have been able to have had some ante-natal appointments after work when I was pregnant. I couldn't so I took time off.

I would like to be able to call a plumber on a bank holiday without paying a double time call out charge.

It's really not that inconvenient to go to a small shop for essentials rather than a huge Tesco for just 1 evening in the week.

The small shops are still Tesco or part of the coops or some other multiple chain.

Saturday is nothing like a Friday so Sunday will still be different to the rest of the week.

The keep Sunday different theocrats never seem to have a problem making the national trust gift shop or tea room ladies work on the sunday do they. They just want to stop the working class being able to shop on a sunday

Plenty of us 'keep Sunday different' are working class you know. And the working classes won't be able to shop on a Sunday cos most of 'em will be working.

But why is ok for bars and restaurants to open and not retail? BTW, driving and shopping are destructive but so is drinking...so I ask why is it ok for pubs to open all day till 10ish at night but retail outlets not?

Yes you will as your must be given a day off after six days working so now the shops will be open on your day off.

And also pubs have only in fairly recent times been open all day Sunday so the argument that catering has always been long hours on Sunday doesn't stack up.

You CAN opt out of sunday working if you are a shop worker even if your contact says you have to. You just have to give 3 months notice.

Special rules if you are a shop worker or work in betting
If you work in a shop or in the betting industry (either at a betting shop open to the public or a bookmaker at a sports venue) you have special rights. You can opt out of having to work on Sunday even if your contract says you have to. Your employer has to tell you about this right within two months of you becoming a shop worker or a betting worker.
You may not need to opt out at all, if you already have the right not to work on Sundays.
These rights don't apply if you are employed to work on Sundays only.
How to opt out of Sunday work
You opt out by writing to your employer and giving them three months' written notice that you want to stop working on Sundays. You must sign and date the notice.
If you give the notice during the period from 1 May 2012 until 9 July 2012, the three month notice period might be reduced. For further information see the link below.

www.direct.gov.uk/en/employment/employees/workinghoursandtimeoff/dg_10028516

Well as far as pubs and bars are concerned I didn't agree with extending their hours either. It's hardly been a roaring success. Closing during the afternoon and at 11 (10 on a Sunday iirc) was fine by me.

saggar but I presume you indulge in an afternoon drink on a Sunday occasionally?

The government should not be concerned when a private business opens or closes. There is more than enough legislation about working times to protect workers.

It's naive to think that just because something is written in law that that is the way it works in reality. I had an 9-5 Mon - Fri contract, the company wanted an 8-8 6 day a week contract. We were all given notice of a change in contract and 3 months later that was that. Effectively they give you notice and then take you back on under new T&Cs. Choice doesn't come into it.

If you have a crap employer, then it's up to you initially to do something about it, report them for breaking employment law, join a union, get advice. Yes it is an "employer's market" at the moment but it's even more important then to do something about it, or they will just keep getting away with it. Naming and shaming anonymously on the internet is pretty good too, so people can boycott them.

"driving and shopping are the most destructive forces in our consumer society and may destroy the ecological balance of our planet if not contained."

But something I can do fuck all about. If I don't drive and shop my family will not eat...