To think they should abolish Sunday trading hours/ laws?

[DobbyLovesSocks]

So I've just realised that I am out of pop socks for work, not a major disaster but something I would normally think 'oh I'll pop down to Asda and grab a new box' only its now nearly 6pm on a Sunday and all the shows are now shut.
I get that Sunday's are precious and all that jazz but in this modern day of 24 hour supermarkets and shift working etc etc is it not time we thought about the fact that come 4pm on a Sunday if you haven't bought what you need, you need to wait until tomorrow. Yes I could probably be more organised etc
Am i in a minority and therefore being unreasonable??

I'm in retail, I loathe Sunday trading and would happily ban it although I can see why it suits people on so many levels. I'd want better pay if I had to work longer hours- I'd rather have a guaranteed day off and live my life. Especially as I have a colleague (management) who ducks them and so two of us end up doing more.

However, given that I use public transport to get to work, I resent the nightmare that is sunday trains. If you want a regular days trade, make the transport staff do a proper day too.

I doubt changing the hours would create more jobs. The retailers would just expect the existing staff to pick up the extra. Every shop I've ever worked in has been stripped to the bone staff wise.

Our local big shopping centre is open 11am -5pm on a Sunday . I work in a shop and customers can browse from 10.30am in some shops . Some people expect all shops to be open earlier on a Sunday because they are up . So we find on a Sunday there's a queue of people at 11am waiting to get in and then come 1pm it goes dead and then at 4pm we have a rush of customers again . 5pm when it's time to go home we still have customers trying to get in .

I don't know if all stores could afford to keep their stores open for longer . There have been days since Christmas when our big store has had hours in the work day where we have struggled to sell enough to even cover the wages of staff on shift ...
If we opened longer on a Sunday I think it would just take custom away from the week day .

No buses from our retail park to town from 3pm

But too tricky to walk... side of busy A road,no path

Sunday transport isn't on our side

People who are saying 'oh but you'll ge a different day off if you work sundays' miss the point.

What's the point in having a Tuesday iff each week if your DP and children are at home Saturday and Sunday?

I find the obsession with 'must be able to buy what I want when I want' a bit pathetic, especially when people start expecting otjer people's family lives to be messed up to fit their need to spend or have what they want there and then.

(I rarely go to town. I have a box with a few spare boxes of skin tights, black tights, invisible footsies because the machine eats them. Keep it topped up and never have a 'panic no tights' moment. Same for soap, spare loo roll abd toothpaste. But then that system works more because I hate shopping)

Traffic!!! Sunday is the one day when the car park is relatively free and the roads are not clogged.

If you live near a shopping centre it is nice to get a bit of relief from the crowds.

I am glad that the shops are open on Sunday as I remember impossibility of working full time and having an event on the Saturday and simply not being able to get any food shopping done but six hours is fine.

I’d close most shops on Sundays to reduce hedonistic, instant gratification culture. I can’t believe people couldn’t survive without shopping for a day. I’d return to shorter licensing hours too.

Agree with others - if you expect to be able to shop on Sunday then you should also be prepared to work yourself on a Sunday as we need trains, childcare etc.

The family time thing only applies to some people - true - but a significant number nonetheless. PPs right about the use of the space - shops not busy enough.

Everyone wants what they want without thinking about the consequences to others or being willing to pay for it.

Would OP be happy to pay double for her tights for the convenience of buying them on Sunday? Probably not - she'd wait until Monday or get more organized.

So people who want shops closed on a Sunday or like the current hours never go to the pub on a Sunday? Get a takeaway, go to the cinema and so on?

That's great if you don't, but it is very hypocritical if you do.

I work in retail.
We don't actually, as a store, take enough money to break even on a Sunday but we have to be open as it's company policy. The footfall is so low that we don't always have security guards.

They should stay as they are. As others have said, what's the point in DH having a day of in the week when DS is in school and I won't get home until 6.30 or 7pm? Hardly time together as a family.

DH had last week off but was in work today, same with his previous weeks leave, but then he had to work the Saturday at the start of what most people would consider their holiday as well. Retail is shit, why make it worse?

If this does happen i think the working week rules/norm should also be abolished, admin, office workers, council worker etc all open on saturdays and sundays.

Why not? if its ok for retail it is ok for all industries

YABU and you need to plan your week better.

I too would be happy if shops closed all day on Sundays. Give everybody some downtime as well as family time and I say that after many years of nursing for the nhs.

Plenty of other hours to shop and get organised. Chances are if they opened normal hours, people would soon be asking why they aren’t always open 24 hours every day.

It isn’t the same as takeaways, cinema etc, as they don’t open early in the mornings.

What are pop socks? Can't you stick a load of washing on?

Shops are not the same as pubs and cinemas
And some years ago pubs used to have quite restricted Sunday opening hours. Personally, I'd like a move to further restrict Sunday opening for retailers and break free from our obsession with excessive buying.
Besides, if Sunday trading laws were abolished those who are required to work on Sundays wouldn't be entitled to the extra pay they should currently get.

U2HasTheEdge
Sunday trading rules only apply to large shops. I am happy with the current set up. I'm also not entirely convinced supermarkets need to be open 24h or that a 24h macdonalds drive thru is needed. It seems part and parcel of an 'always working, give me what i want now' culture. Equally I'll be happy to reduce licencing hours as well.

But as you mention it then no I don't go to the cinema or pub on Sundays. I occasionally nip to B&Q but manage just fine on normal sunday hours.

If I compare friends and family in retail vs friends and family working in thr local pub, thr ones working in the local pub get better pay, better breaks, more reasonable approach to time off in lieu and a generally happier, nicer environment with give and take on all sides with rotas. Friends in retail get 4 hour shifts over multiple days because the company don't want to pay them a lunch break, poor pay, routinely expected ti cash up after their shift ends but no pay for it, breaks eroded, toilet breaks policed, horrible environments, nightmare arranging holiday (e.g. being told a whole days holiday has to be counted when they were only rotaed in for 4h in the afternoon).

I'm not saying all pubs/shops are the same but I wouldn't trust large retailers to look after their employees if trading hours changed.

It doesn't matter, because on the current trajectory there won't be much in the way of retail shopping within ten years. The retail industry is currently purchasing as much sand as it can find, and special spades for digging head-shaped holes.

esides, if Sunday trading laws were abolished those who are required to work on Sundays wouldn't be entitled to the extra pay they should currently get.

There is no extra pay for sundays in the shop i work in

Yes you are, having worked in retail myself working a Sunday is bad enough but then to be told it's now all day is just worse!
Why don't people ever think about the people behind the counter when it comes to questions like this?! It's one day a week where you can't shop after 4/5pm is it really that big of a deal?!? I mean what do you think people did when all shops were closed on a Sunday?!?! If your that desperate and that much of a shopper pay for Amazon Prime and get that sort of thing delivered next day but give retail workers a break!!

cuboida

I agree

Internet shopping which the big boys of retail helped to make huge

And extortionate rent the councils charge (at least where i live) shops closing down all over the place

It’s a pain in the arse, especially when a lot of the shops don’t open until 11am too, and you’re trying to fit lots into your weekend as you often have to.

I’m sure that there are many students who would be only to pleased to work normal hours on a Sunday, so that it fits in around their studies. Aside from that, our country is one of the most multicultural and multifaith (or none) on the planet. I’m sure that with fairly minimal effort, it could be ensured in most workplaces that those who view Sundays as sacred wouldn’t have to work on Sundays unless they opted to.

When working in retail it's not always that easy to just "opt out" of working Sundays a lot of the time there is a penalty for doing so like you lose a days pay a week/month for the Sunday you should have worked etc.
As for students wanting to work all day Sundays that's great but you can't have a shop no matter how big or small just run by students once a week you would still need management etc in.
In the age of online shopping if you can't get what you need Monday to Saturday 9am-6pm or Sunday 10-4 that's what the internet is for! We do not need 24/7 shops!!! No one needs to shop that much!!

We do not need 24/7 shops!!! No one needs to shop that much!!
Exactly.
Sure I'll nip to the supermarket at 1030pm on the way home from a meal out and just pick up some bits for a top up shop, but I don't need to. It's not the end of the world to have a black coffee the following morning because of no milk.

If shops closed at 8pm then I'd have to be more organised. No big deal.

Yes I'm probably a bit spoilt by convenience however I have worked in retail myself, as has my mother and I now work for the NHS as does most of my immediate family so understand there are people behind the service offered.
I will be more organised in future - well I can certainly try anyhow