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Original poster

To wish there was some way to ban shops from starting their sales on Boxing Day

231 replies

Daisysbear · 08/12/2015 13:39

Yet again, unfortunate shop staff will have to turn up for work at crack of dawn on boxing day to deal with the throngs crowding in for the sales.

Years ago, it was just understood that the shops stayed closed for a couple of days after Christmas. Customers survived forty eight hours away from retail therapy, staff got a proper Christmas break, and we were all forced off the shopping treadmill for a couple of days.

AIBU to wish it was mandatory for all shops (except small corner shops etc selling essentials) to stay closed for at least one day after Christmas to stop all the frenzied buying.

ps I know this wouldn't really work in an increasingly multi-cultural and secular society, but it would just be nice if it could.

OP posts:
Jelly101 · 08/12/2015 16:00

YANBU.

As someone who has worked in retail, I can honestly say Christmas is a nightmare. I worked a nightshift on the 23rd December till 4 am and worked Boxing Day an 8 hour shift on Boxing Dayz

I can honestly say that it was awful. People were queuing up outside, as soon as the doors opened people were pushing and shoving to get in the store and there were huge queues all day.

The majority of customers were rude and argumentative, especially as the company wasn't accepting returns on the day and the fitting rooms were closed (there had been signs by the till all throughout December stating this). This lead to several customers benign abusive and swearing at members of staff, upsetting some of the newer employees.

I honestly couldn't wait to get home

TheBunnyOfDoom · 08/12/2015 16:03

If people are going to buy, they'll do it when the shop is open, therefore if none opened until 28th, that's when the shopping would happen - as it used to. Opening 26th, 27th and 28th doesn't create more demand, it just dilutes it.

Precisely. People who want to buy a TV/stereo/cheap jeans will just buy them two days later. They won't suddenly lose that desire because the shops are shut for two days!

ILiveAtTheBeach · 08/12/2015 16:04

We are all dancing to the Retailers tune. We swing from Christmas to New Year, to Valentines, to Easter, to Mothers day, Fathers Day, Halloween, Bonfire night, then back to Christmas. Aargh! We are the puppets. I would have everywhere shut for at least 4 days and let everyone get a rest. And it's so annoying that all the stuff we paid full price for before Christmas, is slashed in price just one day later. Soooo annoying!

LaurieMarlow · 08/12/2015 16:10

I assume if all shops remained closed on Boxing Day then no shop would have the edge and people who couldn't indulge in their shopping addiction on 26th Dec would simply wait until 27th. But I accept that might be a simplistic way of looking at it

That's exactly true and not simplistic at all. The difficult bit is trying to work out how that's regulated and how to frame the rationale. The current government has shown no inclination whatsoever to interfere with the desires of big business - and big business are fundamentally motivated by their profits.

So for the moment there is impasse. But I'd like to see the debate opened up to customers, employees, leaders, shareholders, society leaders. I think there is appetite for change out there, but it needs to be leveraged in the right way. And i've no idea what that would look like.

FretYeNot · 08/12/2015 16:27

The older I get, the less I like Christmas. Seven weeks of awful christmas music, a ton of money to be spent for a whole one day off, and you can't let loose because you're working boxing day anyway.

FellOffMyUnicorn · 08/12/2015 16:33

well the debate is open to customers, those who want it, use it and those who don't = well dont

yeah its shitty if the rest of the world and his wife is off and you're working, but you could apply that logic to working evenings/nights/weekends.

When you take a job you have to work when they want you to, i've worked night shifts on 'special' days (xmas etc)

redstrawberry10 · 08/12/2015 16:48

Bunny that all depends on the business, and sweeping statements like yours don't make sense. Clearly for some businesses it's a win and for others it is not. But that's not a decision for you, me, or the government to make.

TheBunnyOfDoom · 08/12/2015 16:52

Why is shops closing on the 25th but not closing on the 26th as well a win/lose situation? It's two days. I fail to see why it makes a difference. If you need something, buy it on the 24th or the 27th.

The shops will get their money regardless.

redstrawberry10 · 08/12/2015 16:59

The shops will get their money regardless.

why not close for a week or a month?

RaptorInaPorkPieHat · 08/12/2015 16:59

DH is working Xmas eve evening and day (although hopefully from home).

He's in IT (manufacturing industry) and the only time they can install big upgrades is when the factories are shut down (which only happens on bank holidays - night shift starts again 7pm boxing day evening). Consequently we very rarely get a free bank holiday any time of the year.

Slightly sucky but it is what it is. (and I wouldn't want to work in retail over the sales period).

TheBunnyOfDoom · 08/12/2015 17:02

Well, because people still need food? Hmm

Chattymummyhere · 08/12/2015 17:09

Snap raptor my dh is in IT for a company who make sure your shops all have their stock. The only times he can run the big updates and upgrades are when everywhere closes otherwise the warehouse cannot run anyway. I've been told the likes of dpd/yodel etc are still collecting parcels/palets/trolleys from his place at 1pm Christmas Eve. It's so sad that we cannot even manage one day of closed shops without having a mad frenzy the day after.

Last year dh's next up wanted him in at 5pm Christmas Day to change something, while he who could also do the same thing was going to be sat at home....That didn't end well...

LovelyFriend · 08/12/2015 17:10

What is so special about Boxing Day anyway? As opposed to Easter or any other bank holiday here in the UK?

or do you think shops should be shut on ALL bank holidays?

starry0ne · 08/12/2015 17:22

I don't shop on boxing day.... Some people work in industries like nurses are needed people can't not be ill on boxing day.. however I don't think there is any need to shop on boxing

teatowel · 08/12/2015 17:25

We have the same amount of money to spend whether we spend it on the 26th or 27th. Completely ridiculous to think we all have to rush out on Boxing Day. It is quite simple. Bring in a law to say no large shops can open on Boxing Day . As the mother of a doctor I know she has to work but I can't think of any reason at all why anyone has to be selling socks or fridge freezers! Retail staff could have another day of. Unfortunately when the retail laws were relaxed and some stores decided to open all the others followed suit in case they missed a share of our money. I can and will ignore the shops opening but my neighbour will arrive home shattered on Christmas Eve, spend a few hours with her family and be back in the shop at 8.30 on Boxing Day. It is so pointless.

LouisaGlasson · 08/12/2015 17:33

Yes I do think they should be shut on all bank holidays. They didn't used to be open on Sundays and we all coped. And before that there was half day closing on a weekday too! I can't think of anything I might need that I couldn't wait an extra day for or organise in advance.

Penfold007 · 08/12/2015 17:35

Boxing Day sales have been around for decades.

teatowel · 08/12/2015 17:54

I lived in a large town (decades ago!) and remember wandering up and down the empty streets on Boxing Day looking at the lights. Nothing was open then. People used to come and watch the hunt go down the High St but there was no shopping.

ivykaty44 · 08/12/2015 18:05

Years ago before internet shopping

My p worked in a shop selling bikes, so December was busy

One year we had snow so bad that one weekend most shops were shit and those that opened hadn't got customers as they stayed home.

Consequently the month of December was the worst for twenty years - they never made up that lost Saturday of trade. Trade didn't concentrate onto other Saturdays people just didn't spend

So I suspect it maybe the same with boxing day, but that doesn't now stop online shopping on boxing day.

Lockheart · 08/12/2015 18:15

Last year I worked until 7.30pm Christmas Eve on the tills (Asda - closed at 7 but of course had to get all stragglers through and close down), then was there at 6am Boxing Day. The poor sods doing stock had to stay until midnight, and then had to be BACK at 12am on the 26th to get the shelves and stock ready for 6am.

Who the actual fuck needs a half price TV or cut-price George clothing that badly that approximately 100 staff have to have such a short Christmas? My cousin used to work at Next and people would queue for the sales from midnight!! Even if Chanel advertised that they were going to give away suits for free, it STILL wouldn't tempt me to queue up at 4am. It's pure greediness.

I did get a small laugh out of it though. When I came off shift at 7.30 and went out to the car there were still quite a number of people putting pounds in the big trolleys and trying to get in! God knows what they wanted, because they weren't getting little baskets to pop in for a pint of milk and some bread. But seriously, who waits until nearly 8pm on xmas eve to do their shopping?!

Alfabetibisgetti · 08/12/2015 18:18

I work for a retailer who has closed on BD the last few years. It was wonderful and great for the family knowing I'd be off for at least 2 days.
We were told that, over the week, takings were the same whether we opened 6 days or 7. So no loss to the business either. Win win Xmas Smile
Strangely they seem to have forgotten that this year because BD falls on a Saturday and they're miserable, money grabbing bastards Xmas Sad

reup · 08/12/2015 18:28

I'm almost 50 and remember a relative going to a Boxing day sale when I was a child so its not a new thing. Maybe it was mainly big department stores.

Before kids I loved working over the Xmas period as I had no family. When you have no family and all yr friends go to theirs it can be really lonely.

reup · 08/12/2015 18:32

Also I can understand why people think everyone working in shops should.get a break but it doesn't seem to apply to anyone else who works in a service industry - pubs, restaurants, attractions, cinema etc. Things that people use on their day off.

SideOrderofSprouts · 08/12/2015 18:35

Here in Jersey the shops never open on Boxing Day as it is against the law. Even the famed Next sale has to wait till the next working day after

megletthesecond · 08/12/2015 18:48

There's also the problem of transport for retail workers on what is actually a bank holiday. The young staff I used to work with often had to fork out silly money for a taxi to get in on boxing day, because there weren't enough buses.

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