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Original poster

To think that when this is all over, we should restrict Sunday trading again.

161 replies

TheoriginalLEM · 13/04/2020 09:00

Just that really. Sunday's used to be special because all but the corner shop was closed and it encouraged an actual break. Now the weekends are gone in a flash and we're back on the treadmill.

This situation is making me reflective and wanting to slow down.

OP posts:
MockersxxxxxxxSocialDistancing · 13/04/2020 09:58

For some people, Sunday is special because it is the day they like to go shopping.

YouJustDoYou · 13/04/2020 09:59

I loved it when shops opened on a weekend, it was how as a teen I was able to get my first job. I chose to work Sundays- no one forced me, funnily enough.

Cacaca · 13/04/2020 09:59

Move to one of the Scottish islands that still respects the sabbath then.

NoIDontWatchLoveIsland · 13/04/2020 10:11

For many people Sunday trading is really useful, if you work a lot and have other commitments on a Saturday.

Sunday trading restrictions were a relic of a time when the majority of the country were practising Christians, that's no longer the case and the UK is largely secular now. people can still choose to have Sunday or Saturday or whenever as a day of downtime, it doesn't need to inconvenience or restrict others.

Saladaysior · 13/04/2020 10:11

It’s no good harking back to yesteryear. When I was small there was no Sunday trading and Wednesdays were half day closing too. But this was back when a lot more jobs were mon- fri 9-5. Also a lot more women were housewives; in fact some of my early memories were going round the various shops, grocer, butcher etc with my mum.

Life is different now. Working patterns are way more varied and People want their free time to be flexible too. Also my kids like many others relied on Sunday working to supplement their student loans. Back in the day I didn’t need to do that because I got a grant, but then only about 7 % of the population went to university when I did, not the massive numbers that go now.

I don’t think you can cherry pick the bits of the past that appeal to you while ignoring the parts that don’t. Sure, my mum had a slower pace of life than I did to have time to do all the family shopping during the week. But the flip side of that was she didn’t have a career or a university education like many women do now.

Life has changed massively over recent decades, and I’m not sure it’s possible or even desirable to just switch bits of it back to how it was in the past.

I don’t think that view conflicts with the importance of living a balanced life with down time either. No one is forced to shop on a Sunday. And if you work on a Sunday then you’re more than likely to be getting time off during the week, which suits many people.

plunkplunkfizz · 13/04/2020 10:12

I agree proper downtime is important but think it ought to be addressed through changing work and social culture, not through restricting shopping hours in a way that penalises those who can’t shop during the week or those whose religion requires them not to shop on a Friday and/or Saturday.

I also disagree with shops being shut earlier.

All of this will disproportionately affect women who still bear the majority loss of household tasks but now have to fit them in around work. That was all very easy back in the 60s and 70s when fewer women worked out of home but it’s only workable now if the household load is shared and we are some way off that (and equality is now being pushed further away due to the pandemic according to a UN report released last week).

cactus2020 · 13/04/2020 10:15

You can observe it as a quiet day, but I'm not sure why you (or religious groups) would feel you have the right to stop others treating it as a normal day...

Bathroom12345 · 13/04/2020 10:20

My DS works at a sm, there is no extra pay unless you are on a very old contract and the store has to be desperate to ask those people. You don’t get a day off during the week. You are allowed to either be paid or bank the hours and then the nonsense starts.

If you want to take the time off (rather than be paid) you have to apply for a day off. Anything less than a month causes issues for the rotas and you constantly have to remind your manager to approve (or not).

Supermarkets like part time staff. They can put pressure on them to do extra hours and then all the staff have to keep their own records as the company constantly get the pay/time off wrong.

The supermarket opens until 2100 every day bar Sunday and is medium size. Between 1930-2100 there are hardly any customers bar the selfish who come in at 2055 and proceed to mooch around.

Yes, I am looking at the middle aged grey haired man who berated one of the supervisors and claimed they were rushing him. He gets to the till gone 2100 and then spends the next 10-15 mins faffing around. He forgot his bags last time and insisted the staff open up the front door to let him get them and then took a phone call and stood outside chatting. The manager went to speak to him and he waved them away!!!!

cologne4711 · 13/04/2020 10:20

No, having shops open on a Sunday makes town centres safer. Nothing more boring (and threatening) than an empty town centre precinct on a winter Sunday afternoon. And students and sixth formers (not just them, but they're a good example) need jobs, and Sunday opening gives them some options and not just Saturdays.

That said, I wonder how many retailers will still be going after all this anyway.

Femail · 13/04/2020 10:22

No thanks I work in retail every sunday and enjoy it. The shut shops at 4pm and still got a afternoon

EngagedAgain · 13/04/2020 10:28

There's for and against depending on one individual situation. I suppose the people that are shop workers but don't like working Sunday are the worst off, but I don't think it's every week they have to work? A good point a PP up thread said - if they are going to be open at least make them open for longer. I rarely shop weekend if I can help it, but on a Sunday seems like you've got to cram it in. Will also help the economy.

Saladaysior · 13/04/2020 10:30

Agree to some extent with @plunkplunkfizz. But what’s imperative is that it should be a shift towards sharing the load, towards greater equality in the workplace and in the home. Not a harking back to yesteryear. I feel that needs emphasising because on this sort of thread it feels as though a few posters want to go back to a ‘golden age’ when women stayed home and men worked. Quite aside from the fact this is largely mythical (women have worked most of the time through history) it ignores the fact that many women were frustrated, undervalued and left very vulnerable by having less agency over their lives

MojoMoon · 13/04/2020 10:32

Why would closing shops on Sunday give a day of "proper downtime to the majority"?

The majority of people don't work in shops. The majority of people also don't go shopping every Sunday.

If people want a day not shopping or working on a shop, then the majority of people get that every week.

If you feel like you need downtime that doesn't involve shopping, you can choose not to shop. You can live slowly and spend time staring at flowers or whatever you want to do

So closing on a Sunday will make little difference to the majority.

But it is really useful for lots of people to be able go to shops on a Sunday. And so why make this some sort of special day and annoy them and make their lives less pleasant? So you don't have to have the willpower not to go shopping?

I like the suggestion that if shops were going to close it should be on Tuesday. Much less inconvenient since many more people are at work so unlikely to be in the shops anyway.

(Also it's way past the point in which public transport and parking restrictions shouldn't change just because it's a Sunday. Deeply irritating that round here Sunday is a day mostly marked by people parking like idiots )

PurpleFlower1983 · 13/04/2020 10:34

More people will need work after this - more retail hours mean more shifts to I think Sunday trading laws need to be scrapped.

middleager · 13/04/2020 10:42

Lack of Sunday trading - a day of rest on 'The Sabbath' did not bring my family together in the 70s and 80s.

My mother, who worked, would spend the whole depressing day ironing.
My dad would be at the pub, while the kids in the car with a Vimto and crisps.

Other times in the 80s as a teen, we'd sit watching bloody Antiques Roadshow or Songs of Praise/Last of the Summer Wine with elderly relatvies snoring after dinner, counting down the hours for Spitting Image. It was depressing.

scaryreading · 13/04/2020 10:46

Would be nice.

BurgerOnTheOrientExpress · 13/04/2020 10:50

Let the shops open. Not sure about letting churches open though.

LastTrainEast · 13/04/2020 10:50

It's a nice idea as long as every shop that 'I' want is open :)

Lockdowner · 13/04/2020 10:54

I do miss Sundays from when we lived in Germany. At first I hated them and the strict rules about what you couldn't do on a Sunday but after I adapted to it it was fine. Weirdly we all miss German Sundays now we're back in the UK. Even my young adult "children" agree

acatcalledjohn · 13/04/2020 10:55

Some people need weekend jobs to pay the mortgage/student fees/because partner works weekdays, and many other reasons. Retail is a massive part of that and removing that option from thousands of people is not going to help anyone.

IllegalFred · 13/04/2020 10:59

Weirdly we all miss German Sundays now we're back in the UK. Even my young adult "children" agree

I don't understand, why can't you pretend the shops are closed and treat them like German Sundays if that's what floats your boat

IllegalFred · 13/04/2020 11:00

Or are you talking about banning mowing the lawn and other such things?

TexanBlueNeck · 13/04/2020 11:01

You do whatever works for you but stop trying to dictate how I spend my Sunday op.

You have no idea about shift work, my religious inclination, or the plight of retail workers (hint: it's not how many hours to work on a Sunday). If you really give a shit about retail workers' employment conditions there are better ways of demonstrating it without resorting to some ill informed ridiculous Sunday trading law support. It's outdated and frankly shows very little experience of working in retail, with zero hour contracts, barely any full-time waged positions, warehouse abuses,etc being much more concerning... Not whether you can fucking buy bread at 9am on a Sunday morning.

Posts like this really fuck me off. "I know what's best" from a position of the utmost ignorance!!

slashlover · 13/04/2020 11:02

I'm in Scotland, a Sunday is a normal day. Our Co-op is open 7am - 10pm and our Tesco is 8am-10pm. It never bothered me to work it as it meant that I had a day off during the week if I neede to go to the doctor/dentist/hairdresser etc.

You can opt out, you have to request it, it can take up to 6 weeks to come into effect but they don't have to give you the hours elsewhere. If your hours are 16 hours with 4 on a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday then you may have to go to 12 hours if you drop the Sunday.

Astoatora54 · 13/04/2020 11:04

I think it would be a great idea.