To think that Sunday trading hours need to be abolished?

[HFJ]

I remember the hullabaloo about Sunday trading back in the late 80s

Whenever I talk to people about this, many usually give the following reasons why Sunday trading restrictions are a good thing:

1. Everyone can have Sunday lunch/family time together
2. Retail workers can have some weekend time off

However, I can’t be the only person who thinks the above is BALONEY

On the family time thing, I object for feminist reasons because it usually means a hard-working woman somewhere has to peel potatoes and rustle up a Sunday lunch for everyone else. Then, when she has done all that, can she treat herself to an emergency handbag, pair of shoes, just get away and meet a friend for coffee, or perhaps get the family shopping in on before the working week starts? Can she heck. Why? Because of some Bishops in the house of lords decree that the world should shut and therefore her indoors should remain indoors.

On the weekend time off thing, I really don’t see what the issue is. There are plenty of students who would like to and need to work. Also, there’s nothing to stop religious workers asking their employer to prioritise time off on Sunday for them (just as Muslims, Jews, people with caring responsibilites can make requests).

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Maybe they should hold a referendum but only people who work in retail can vote, then we can see how they feel about it. They’re ultimately the ones who matter most here, nobody needs shops to be open any longer on a Sunday when some shops are 24 hours every other day of the week.

but you might be disturbing somebody else's Sunday by adding to the traffic?

We can shop online 24/7.

Can't see point in extending it on a Sunday - it's not a benefit for the quality of life for those who are required to work on Sundays.

Should be scrapped, load of outdated shite. It's always when I'm finishing work at 4pm on Sunday that I find I need or want something specific from a supermarket, but oh no, because of some archaic bullshit, I have to go without or go to an "express supermarket" and pay more (funny how they can stay open, isn't it).

Ohh and the mental gymnastics done on how some places have to close, but others are fine to stay open while being staffed by people on equally as low pay, because... reasons, always seems hilarious to me. Supermarket and shop staff are entitled to set "family time", but god forbid if your favourite restaurant, takeaway or cinema told you they were closing on Sundays at 4pm due to an archaic law. And it's funny how people forget, that even after closing hours on a Sunday, there's still plenty of people working inside a supermarket and it's distribution chain.

Bet the people who would rather work Sundays because they have childcare cover from a partner or family member on that day, instead of having to work a weekday, and pay for the privilege of childcare, really love the Sunday trading hours nonsense.

So you're ok with pub and museum employees working on Sundays? Who else? How do they differ from shop workers?

Nobody in retail is required to work on Sunday, - everyone has the legal right to opt out, unless they are only employed on a Sunday.

I agree op they drive me mad.

Yeah that's the letter of the law - meanwhile in practise.......

You do realise that online retailers employ people to fulfil these orders. They will be working 24/7.

And online retailers are no good when you realise you forgot to buy onions.

I think they've got it about right. However I would say that shops and cafes tend to close too early in this country. There is a favourite cafe of mine that starts shutting up shop at 2pm on a weekday! Which I think is completely dumb there are still loads of people about. I think we should open later and close later.

you would hate it here, the garden centre is closed on sundays!

NI absolutely has it!

i am not sure that is right,
most jobs say one sunday a month for example, those that involve sundays of course.

Or you could see it as I don't want to go shopping on Sundays so shops shouldn't open, even if the staff want to work and the managers/owners want to open.

Works all ways!

As for staff not agreeing to work Sundays - that is effectively the issue. When I had a Saturday job the weekday staff used to work every other Saturday to supervise the Saturday (school age) staff. So they had every other Saturday off. It was the same when I had a Saturday job in a library. As several people have said on this thread the law could be relaxed to allow as much Sunday opening as traders want, but they'd have to offer set shifts.

As for Scotland, mainland Scotland may have Sunday opening but some of the islands didn't want i.! They didn't even want ferry services on Sundays!

I am curious at the posters who think it's OK for hospitality staff to work Sundays, but not retail? I have no objection to anywhere being open on Sundays, but I really don't agree with anywhere opening on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. It was interesting working during the queen's funeral as more places more closed than at Christmas, it was more like the first lockdown. I work Christmas as its the nature of my job, but retail and hospitality staff shouldn't have to.

As a long time retail worker, yabu

It's literally 3 hours on a Sunday extra. What do you need so urgently specifically at 9am or 5pm on a Sunday?

Well I'm in Scotland and we don't have 'restrictions' on our Sunday shopping, although most shops to do keep shorter hours on a Sunday - often opening an hour later than they do during the week and closing a couple of hours earlier, but they do vary. I am used to them being open and it's a shock when we go South of the Border and remember that it is not the same. There

Having said that, I am well old enough to remember the half day Wednesday and Half-day Saturday closing which many shops did. It was just something you accepted and got on with and didn't think about really. You just knew you couldn't shop then. Sunday opening was always just a few hours up here, in those days ( there was no law though that said they couldn't open or were restricted to certain hours) and many still shut all day

The biggest issue I have is the Christmas and New Year Period, when shops still insist on opening on Boxing Day and New Year's Day, don't close nearly as early on Christmas Eve as they used to and workers in Retail HAVE to be in at work. WHY? Is it impossible for people to stock up with enough Groceries etc for 2/3 days

I worked PT in a Supermarket and folk used to come in on Boxing Day or New Year's Day and comment on how sorry they were we had to be in working - and every one of us had to bite our tongues not to say in reply ' If you're really sorry for us, why have you come into the store today? If no-one came in, the shops wouldn't be open on those days in future years''

YANBU. We don't live in the 1970s anymore, most retail shops are open 7 days so there are now shifts. We live in a free world where if you want to have a quiet Sunday having Sunday Lunch you can. If you want to go shopping you can, if you want to go to cinema etc you can, if you want to/need to work at weekend you can. This idea that everyone is part of a family and want to spend sunday having lunch is not everyone. Some people might want to work weekends as they need to pay bills, as they look after kids all week. There is not just one type of family. Thankfully we don't have this in Scotland.

It is time for these bishops to be removed from making decisions. They only speak for a small minority in a multicultural country.

The problem with the "well you can shop online 24/7" argument is that people will tend to click on the cheapest option (so Amazon, Shein, Temu etc) rather than buying from the website of an actual retailer.
So when the next Big Name Retailer goes bust and your local shopping mall is boarded up and another load of 1000s of people lose their jobs....don't complain.

It's right.

I work in retail.

Many retailers are on their knees at the moment. Even when I worked in shops 7 ish years ago, managers would often work 2/3 Sundays a month just so there was enough cover. We were constantly begging people to work overtime on Sundays.

In practise, certainly for the supermarket I work for, it's the same as the law.

Can't comment on other places of course. But it's a highly unionised industry, so...

@justanothernamechangemonday the problem in the past was when Sunday trading became more of a thing getting the staff to work Sundays was either extra shifts or swapping a day - which many people didn't necessarily want to do.
But then retailers started to employ people for just the weekend shifts - they chose to work those days. It wasn't "extra".
I have mentioned students working weekends several times on this thread. A teenager having a "Saturday Job" has been a thing for decades. Then it changed and it was a "Saturday and Sunday Job".
When I worked retail it was the management/supervisors who had to do the weekend shifts as extra and taking turns. The regular staff were there because they wanted to work weekends.
Unfortunately - as I mentioned upthread - a lot of retailers don't do that anymore. Everyone is practically on a "flexible" contract and it's all a bit crap.
Sometimes the retail industry doesn't actually help itself.

@Alwaysworriedwoman My post about retail workers working on Boxing Day was only a couple above yours. It quite plainly said that retail workers are often working this day just to pay the cab fare there and back, The buses here dont run that day. We dont even get a Sunday service Its not like London everywhere else You do know that right?