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?

Once again, how do people in other European countries manage? As for having more locals shops - the UK is rammed with towns close to each other, how hard can it be to shop? Where I live there are many more miles between towns, and yet even people in the most remote areas manage to get to a supermarket.

Thoroughly enjoying the lashings of hyperbole on this thread. 😂

I've never been in any shop which has had "an after-school or just finished work crowd" swarming in, other than perhaps a supermarket

It happens where I live. I like to go out for a walk at some point in the day and usually go early afternoon before the kids come out of school so it's not busy. But sometimes I can't manage it, so then I go out at 3.30 once the main school run is over and if I need to go into town, the shops will be full of (generally) mums with kids in school uniform.

@ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming I don't know how people "manage" in other countries because I don't live in those countries.
But it would be interesting to compare about the type of products people NEED to purchase in different countries.
For example in England if your child breaks their school shoes on a Friday afternoon the current obsession and strict rules within schools about uniform means you need to get new shoes by Monday morning (yes school rules in England are frequently that strict). If it's a country with no uniform and your child has another pair of shoes at home - you don't need to get replacement shoes so quickly.
Different environments, cultures and ways of life mean people will be buying different things in different ways.
You can't always compare country vs country.

@ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming also a lot of the shops I have been talking about this whole thread are not supermarkets.

Isn't it strange how other countries can manage to navigate their way around shops not being open 24/7 and yet the UK can't possibly cope

Well I can only talk about Germany, but a lot of shops don't close until 8pm on a Saturday (and are open later than in the UK during the week) and even on a Sunday the bakeries are open, tourist shops will be open and shops in railway stations are open, and sometimes there's a full blown supermarket in there. Yes I'm talking about larger towns and cities, but they are by no means as "closed" s people make them out to be. I don't know about other countries.

@MissBuffyAnneSummers I had to look up what "hyperbole" means.
Maybe I am over exaggerating a bit 😂
But it's just daft. An industry that is struggling and needs to evolve and improve is prevented doing that by a silly law that isn't relevant to the 21st century.
That was the whole point of what the OP was saying.

Why restrict it to shops? Why not just make seven day working the norm.

I don't think anyone is arguing for 7 day working.

@BigFatLiar it pretty much is. As far as I know no other industry is prevented by law about when it can or can't function.
Edit : pubs/bars/clubs etc do have to follow laws and restrictions about their alcohol sales - but that's about it I think.

But you want to decide when others work to fulfil your wants/needs. Okay then.

Ridiculous, @ithinkthatmaybeimdreaming

My patronage on any day of the week doesn't force anyone to work in any industry if they don't like the job requirements. They aren't indentured servants.

Those who don't wish to work retail can develop other skills, as can pub workers, cinema workers, nurses, hotel employees and many others who work weekends.

Furthermore many people want weekend shifts. When i was a journalist I chose to work Saturday to Wednesday, 8-5, because I liked having weekdays free.

Industries that find it profitable will do so. Amazon for example; in my area they now have 4am delivery slots even on weekends.

Well 'tradition' needs changing! They can work sat/sun and have 2 days off in the week same as retail do!

@GirrlCrush a lot of people do already work Saturdays and Sundays. The difference is they are unlikely to be prevented by an outdated legal restriction about when they can work.

But a lot of these working women are not necessarily working mon- Fri. Many of them work at weekends so it's a moot point If you work in a shop on Sundays you are not getting family time or time to go shopping yourself

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I massively disagree. No need at all to change Sunday trading hours. There are plenty of other times to shop.

the shops are open on sunday, in the main, but close at about 4 pm.
i think that is fine.

I work in sales and dispatch admin, I have to be in work at the crack of dawn to process supermarket orders and organise traceability and lorry paperwork (id rather start work at 9, but hey ho thats the job, i need to earn a living, and thats the timing supply and demand dictates). Our kitchen and production teams have to work saturday nught shift through to sunday morning to make the produce. Our warehouse team have to work Sundays to pack the orders and load the pallets onto the lorries. The lorry drivers are working Sundays to deliver the products to the supermarket warehouses. The warehouses at the other end have staff working to receive the orders. There's a whole chain of people involved working unsociable hours just getting it to tesco or wherever, so why are retail staff the only ones exempt? At least they're not packing customer online deliveries on a Sunday, eh! Ffs such naivety. There are so many industries and sectors that work unsociable hours. Why is retail exempt? And how dk you think stock gets into retail for retail workers to serve customers the rest of the week? Coming from someone who worked in retail for years, and BENIFITTED from working weekends when I wad a student, and a mother of young children when I could work and bring money home because my husband was available to look after the kids so I wasn't cancelling out my wage with childcare. There are negative sides to every job, and negative impacts for most working patterns - paying for childcare if you work during the week, messed up body clocks if you work shifts, missing social occasions if you work in hospitality, leaving the house in the dark year round if you work early mornings.... potentially a few extra hours on a couple of Sundays if you work in retail. That's life. If you don't want to work Sundays, find a job that doesn't involve you working them, but there'll be a trade off somewhere else.

What is so special about Sunday, that so many of you think the rest of us should be hamstrung in getting our errands (or recreational shopping) done if we choose??

It's not a day of worship for most, and at any rate, superstitious beliefs have no place driving commerce. Many people want weekend work so their OH can do childcare. Many people are busy with kids sports on Saturdays. The list goes on.

It's just another day.

Well said, @Lopella !!!

I hope your post provides some much needed education for those who are so maudlin about Sunday retail workers, so clueless about the real world and so pejorative about those of us who want or need to accomplish things on Sundays.

Yes I would love longer opening hours on Sunday. I'd like to be able to get out early and get the shopping done or pick any bits we've forgotten up at 6.

Banks are much worse though.

YANBU: it's a real pain that shops have shorter opening hours on Sundays. And massively outdated.

Ridiculous that we are nearly in 2024 and there's still this old-fashioned hangover from a very different time.

Yes, online shopping is now a thing and high streets have to adapt or die. No-one really wanted to spend Saturday morning rushing around the shops through crowds of other people doing the same thing, but there used to be no other option.

Have I missed anyone explaining why retail workers should get this special pass to get Sundays off but not staff in things like hospitality, bowling alleys, cinemas etc? Presumably there’s something special about shop staff but no one has yet explained what it is?

Anyway. I’m in Scotland, so I’m just off to the supermarket. Toodle pip!