To think it is time to extend Sunday opening hours?

[Sundayopeningplease]

It really is time for the restrictive Sunday trading hours to be lifted. The archaic laws have not kept up with modern society.

Sunday may traditionally have been a family day but there have been a lot of changes since then. People are in increasingly different family set ups. The working hours have changed for a lot of people and being able to shop on a Sunday morning would improve things greatly. It would help trade for businesses too.

Sunday is now a major shopping day and the hours need to reflect this.

No thanks OP.

never really understand people that want society to move towards more work rather than less.

@AnnoyedFromSlough, I suspect at least some of the pressure on retail workers is to accept zero hours contracts so that the shops can guarantee having enough staff to open without the risk of having to pay for more full time or part time staff. Logical from the management point of view, but not easy for the workers who have to work with the uncertainty of whether or not they are working that week, and for how many hours.

I'm perplexed that anyone would disagree with this.

Of course the opening hours should be extended. If people wish to stay home on a Sunday they still can.

I said in another thread (I think) but how may people that want longer Sunday hours are willing to work them?

Ugh no, when I worked retail the shorter day on a Sunday made it much more bearable.

Families out and about enjoying themselves but shops closed

enjoying themselves doing what? Are other facilities/activities closed too? If they were open, eg cafes, restaurants, cinemas, play centres etc, why not shops?

I remember when I was a kid everything was shut on a Sunday. It wasn’t a time of family enjoyment is was as boring as shit as there was nothing to do!

Yes, our local supermarkets close at 7, not 10 as during the week. It’s still not 4!

still it’s funny that English posters think this is a big deal when it’s been fine here with no drama having longer opening hours.

We get caught out on visits to England on a Sunday!

It works up here without any fuss (outer hebrides aside as pretty much everything is shut on a Sunday and never hang washing out!!!)

I don't get what the fuss is!

I'm English and I didn't say it was a big deal. My impression think Dunbarton (as a base) and up as a base is that the shops were not open late. Dunbarton was fine, Fort William was fine
But as we were hiking and touring we did a few late 7 -10pm returns and often struggled to find either an open late shop or a petrol station without a detour en route. After the initial surprise we adjusted how we organised ourselves and it was fine. That's was my impression.

Disagree with this. The people working in retail carnt just stay at home.

That's meant to say I am not English.

Again: the reason Germany can afford to close everything on Sundays is BECAUSE Germany is a wealthy country. They can afford to pay workers a proper salary and they can afford to have workers' rights. That is the reason workers in Germany don't generally get forced into working multiple jobs to survive, and thus have their weekends free.

France has a legally mandated 35 hour work week. The average German works 34 hours a week. Here in Britain it's not unusual for people to have a 60 hour work week just to keep up with the cost of living crisis and the rising cost of housing which income has not kept pace with.

The only reason shops in Britain stay open all hours is because so many people are forced into working crazy hours to pay their rent. If we had worker protection and decent salary no one would need these extra shopping hours.

I honestly don't know why six days of retail plus all the online shopping available isn't enough to get everything you need

Because some people work six days a week. This really is not rocket science.

Are comfortably off people who don't need to work long hours really so sheltered and clueless the concept "other people need to work much longer hours than you do" really so baffling?

So the people who work on Sunday in retail who have commented to say they don't want extended hours should be ignored? Any everyone who thinks Sunday hours is comfortably off? Nobody works 24hours a day 6 days a week. I had three jobs at one point and worked 7 days a week to get by. I still didn't need to shop after 5pm.

Nobody is forced into a zero hours contact - and as far as I can tell, most employers have massively reduced the number of zero hours contracts that they offer. Most have a minimum number of hours.

What about the people that work in retail on a Sunday that would like increased opening hours? Should they be ignored?

So the people who work on Sunday in retail who have commented to say they don't want extended hours should be ignored?

What part of me repeatedly saying "if you don't like Sunday hours then fight and lobby for better workers' rights" are you not noticing?

It's not actual retail workers clutching their pearls about the sanctity of Sunday roasts and saying why do you need to go shopping seven days a week, it's smug SAHM who can't fathom having to work multiple zero hour contracts to survive.

I can't find any job that's not zero hours contract because no one will hire a disabled person with frequent medical appointments for a salaried role.

Most of my friends are on zero hours contracts and not by choice.

The options aren't just zero hours or salaried, but I do understand that your circumstances mean that it's trickier to persuade an employer to hire you, no matter how great an employee you are.

It surprises me that most of your friends are on zero hour contracts. Of all the young people I know (mostly friends of my children), only one has a zero hour contact (my daughter) and it works for her as she balances it with a part time job that guarantees hours.

It's not actual retail workers clutching their pearls about the sanctity of Sunday roasts and saying why do you need to go shopping seven days a week, it's smug SAHM who can't fathom having to work multiple zero hour contracts to survive

I don't know where you've got this from. There are plenty of retail workers on this thread who have said they don't want to extend Sunday working hours. Let's not pretend that opening a few extra hours on a Sunday would be for the benefit of retail workers, because it really wouldn't, whether that's because it's less time to spend with family, having to do shifts they don't want to do at short notice or having to deal with already entitled customers.

The retail workers aren't the ones posting "but why do you need to go shopping seven days a week, don't you buy enough stuff the other six days a week?" and making comments about people being entitled and disorganised though.

The actual retail workers are just calmly stating their own situations and preferences, they're not being sanctimonious and judgy about it.

It surprises me that most of your friends are on zero hour contracts. Of all the young people I know (mostly friends of my children), only one has a zero hour contact (my daughter) and it works for her as she balances it with a part time job that guarantees hours.

I imagine that we're from very different socioeconomic backgrounds, and obviously different generations. I don't know why it surprises you that not everyone has the same lifestyle as you and your friends.

I imagine that we're from very different socioeconomic backgrounds, and obviously different generations. I don't know why it surprises you that not everyone has the same lifestyle as you and your friends

I'm working class, on a 24 hour contact, only just covering my arse as far as bills are concerned by working overtime. I'm not sure what lifestyle you think I have, but I'm pretty sure that you are way off the mark.

The retail workers aren't the ones posting "but why do you need to go shopping seven days a week, don't you buy enough stuff the other six days a week?" and making comments about people being entitled and disorganised though

So are you taking umbrage with shops not being open longer or because some people who might be middle class want to keep it as it is?

FWIW, I've worked in retail and I'm working class. I work in hospitality atm on a zero hours contract (usually work on a Sunday too) and I also care for a relative. My DH works 6 12 hour shifts a week and I still don't think Sunday opening hours need to be any longer than they are currently and I still can't fathom why anyone can only shop in a supermarket between 8-10am and 4-8 pm on a Sunday.

As I said before you started judging @GreenistheGrass . I am sure someone will think to ask the retail workers what they think about extended hours. Convenience for customers is not a good enough reason when there are 7 days a week to shop, 6 of them with extended hours.
@hothands Minimising the number of people who have to work on Sunday afternoons should be sneered at. Will it be you? Its pretty classist to suggest only the middle class would be talking about the sanctity of family. There a host of reasons why extended hours should not happen.

And just to add, from my experience in retail, the ones who usually moaned about opening hours and complained that we weren't open Boxing Day etc were the familiar faces. I won't generalise as to which demographic they were, but they usually had plenty time on their hands, enough to visit at several times a week and at different hours of the day. And it wasn't a food shop and didn't sell essential items like say a chemist, either. .

@hothands AN APOLOGY! Please accept my sincerest apology for misreading what you have written and responding in my last message on that basis. I will endeavour to reread before posting. Once again, my apologies.