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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think some large supermarkets should be open until 8pm

387 replies

jnfrrss · 15/04/2018 21:34

Fed up of getting back on a Sunday after a busy hetic weekend and having to do my shop at a Tesco garage.

There's three large supermarkets in my town and all close at 4pm on a Sunday. Why can't at least one do an evening shift?

After being used to Scottish shops it really sucks in England. Sunday evening would be perfect for me to do a shop. I just dont like online shopping either, but if they have to work Sunday late evenings why is it so different for the shop workers?

OP posts:
iBiscuit · 16/04/2018 08:23

Derestricting Sunday trading laws isn't sticking it to the man and flicking the Vs at religion. It's fucking over workers and their families.

turnipfarmers · 16/04/2018 08:27

Many things only have a few days shelf life

So buy a freezer, they are really the most wonderful invention. Either that or get yourself organised and do your weekly shop on a Monday.

IIIustriouslyIllogical · 16/04/2018 08:28

I'd like to go back to no shops open at all on a Sunday.

Me too, when supermarket car parks were used for teaching kids to drive, BMX riding & general playing around.....

On a serious note - it's good for retail workers who, despite what the teachers think, have pretty grotty working conditions, pay & perks, to have a day off (although the warehouse staff & shelf stackers would still be working).

I'm a little worried at the amount of people who can't seem to survive if the shops aren't available all the time - another example of the "I want it & I want it now" lack of forward thinking we seem to be slipping into as a society??

ICantCopeAnymore · 16/04/2018 08:35

I've been both a retail worker and a teacher. The two are incomparable.

Also, I'm not sure what people don't understand about the fact that a lot of retail workers want extra hours. In many cases, that's WHY retail workers work in retail. When I was a student and when I worked in retail full time, I'd grab the opportunity to work as much as I could because I wanted the extra money.

ICantCopeAnymore · 16/04/2018 08:37

@turnipfarmers

It's that easy? Just buy a freezer?

In my disability adapted house, I have room for a very small fridge freezer. The freezer compartment has a very limited capacity. I have no room for appliances that would make my life easier such as a dishwasher and a tumble dryer, never mind a massive luxury like a large freezer.

NataliaOsipova · 16/04/2018 08:42

As a pp said, the Sunday trading laws were a fudge....in a time when the world was very different. So now the system is stacked hugely against the high street shops, which not only have to pay business rates etc but are restricted in a way that any online competitor isn't. You can buy whatever you like from, say, Amazon at 8pm on a Sunday. You can have an online grocery delivery. You can place one for the next day. But you can't go down to your local independent retailer and buy the same thing from them. If that's because they don't choose to open, then that's entirely up to them. But at the moment, the law says they can't. And I think that's very unfair.

Bekabeech · 16/04/2018 08:46

@ICantCopeAnymore when I grew up. No one had big freezers, in fact I can remember when we got our first Fridge. Shops shut at 5pm most days of the week, early afternoon on Saturday, 12:30 on one day, and if you ran out of milk on a Sunday you had to take two buses to the closest "Jewish" shop as the only one allowed to open.
So being disabled and having a small fridge doesn't mean you need longer Sunday trading hours.

Yes people did tend to work 9-5, but often still had a long commute. The Washing machine was a twin tub. Yes Nurses still worked onSundays, as did some other workers.
And in a lot of ways the country was far more productive.

I wouldn't want to go back to everything from then, but working less hours and Sunday closing would be improvements.

RunMummyRun68 · 16/04/2018 08:51

My 2 days off are usually midweek. So mostly schooldays

Not great when you've got kids. At least on a Sunday I get time with them

A bit of organisation and there's no problem op is there? When did people become so incompetent at organising themselves?

mydogisthebest · 16/04/2018 08:52

I can't believe so many people need to go shopping on a Sunday. The supermarkets close at 4pm so deal with it.

In a lot of Europe they are not even open on a Sunday (often close on a weekday afternoon to) and, surprise surprise, the people there cope perfectly well.

There must be something wrong with some people if they can't manage to shop Mon to Sat even when 5 of those days the supermarkets are open 24 hours!

ICantCopeAnymore · 16/04/2018 08:58

There must be something wrong with some people if they can't manage to shop Mon to Sat

Yeah, severe disabilities and husband/carer sometimes only available on a Sunday evening due to work. I can't shop online, I can't lift the bags or put the shopping away.

Is it that hard to understand that not everyone's lives are the same?

crazycatguy · 16/04/2018 08:58

It bothers me that the Government tell me when I can go to the supermarket. Surely that's up to me and up to the individual businesses?

flubdub · 16/04/2018 09:01

I find it annoying too OP.
I have four primary school children and buy all of their lunch box food on a Sunday. If I buy it any earlier, they bloody well eat it all and we are left with nothing to go in their packed lunches the following day.
This means I have to plan any days out on a Sunday, around the supermarket shop. And it’s annoying.
I also live in a small town, half an hour from any big supermarket, that still has half day closing on Wednesdays! Confused So it is extra annoying.

frankchickens · 16/04/2018 09:07

YABVU OP People need a break - you just need to organise yourself better.

pudcat · 16/04/2018 09:08

I have four primary school children and buy all of their lunch box food on a Sunday. If I buy it any earlier, they bloody well eat it all and we are left with nothing to go in their packed lunches the following day.
Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Teach them how to eat properly and say no to them when they ask for the food.

MargaretCavendish · 16/04/2018 09:09

I always think people take such a weird and hypocritical position when they go all 'think of the shop workers!' about this. Things I can do on a Sunday night:
Go the cinema
Go bowling
Go for a meal
Go to the pub
Get an online supermarket delivery
Place a next day order on most online retailers

All of those require people to work. How and why is that different to shop workers working on a Sunday evening? And in any case, the people who think that Sunday trading laws think that supermarket workers all trot home at 4pm on Sunday at delusional. Things still have to be restocked etc - there are plenty of people working in Tesco on a Sunday night, just in a less visible way.

frankchickens · 16/04/2018 09:09

It bothers me that the Government tell me when I can go to the supermarket. Surely that's up to me and up to the individual businesses?
Except we have laws and regs to protect everyone's interests since we recognise we are a society. Apart from employment rights, there's the fact that pretty much all the independent small corner shops would be wiped out if massive supermarkets could open 24/7.

ICantCopeAnymore · 16/04/2018 09:09

People need a break

You do realise that retail staff take breaks and days off? Some want to work weekends. Some want overtime and longer hours. Some work part time. That's how it...works.

RunMummyRun68 · 16/04/2018 09:10

pudcat absolutely!!! When did excuses become so feeble? Typical mumsnet though

Happyland8 · 16/04/2018 09:14

Why is everyone okay with the shops being open 24 hours a day every other day but so opposed to them opening until a more convenient time on a Sunday?

WhatATimeToBeAlive · 16/04/2018 09:14

Sadly I'm tied to England for at least the next 4-5 years.

Charming.

RavenWings · 16/04/2018 10:20

Oh stop Whatatime . She'd rather live in Scotland than England, that's not a personal attack on you. I'd rather live somewhere other than England too.

Iggii · 16/04/2018 10:31

But frankchickens we still have corner shops and independent stores in Scotland, despite 24/7 opening (not all supermarkets do it anyway, they must have worked out what’s most profitable - it’s usually the superstores.

Iggii · 16/04/2018 10:33

Swings used to be padlocked on a Sunday in some places, you just need to plan your swinging around the other 6 days.

GnotherGnu · 16/04/2018 10:36

Natalie, you can buy stuff online from the big supermarkets at 8 pm on a Sunday. How are they at any disadvantage in that respect?

GnotherGnu · 16/04/2018 10:40

I have four primary school children and buy all of their lunch box food on a Sunday. If I buy it any earlier, they bloody well eat it all and we are left with nothing to go in their packed lunches the following day.

How hard is it to educate your children about basics like that? Seriously? If my children had tried that even once they would have lost their pocket money and I'd have sent them with the bare, most boring possible minimum for lunch.