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?

Yes. I work in professional services, but one that’s open 24/7. I do and have worked evenings, weekends, and nights. I’m there to serve the clientele. So I’m available when it suits them.

I live alone, and don’t have close family nearby. Does that mean I have to sit at home alone, whilst others have ‘precious family time?’
I live in Scotland, and thankfully we can access lots of services/shops on a Sunday. I often have to work a Saturday morning, so it’s a good opportunity for me to do my errands on a Sunday.
I do find it slightly mad that I couldn’t even buy petrol at a self service pay at pump, on a Sunday, at about 6pm. I was running out of fuel, and had to make it back over the border to get some!

@HollaHolla idk what family setup is supposed to benefit from the enforced quiet on a Sunday... when our kids were little and we lived in London, we used to go to the half-closed shopping mall on a Sunday in winter because it was a change of scene and somewhere warm for the kids to run around. Now they are in high school (and we live in Germany where there is full Sunday closing) Saturday is a mad dash to do the shopping and they always end up having to do homework on Sunday which is a total pain as it is hanging over them the whole weekend. I guess there were some nice years in primary school when I wasn't working where we would often go on a hike with them on a Sunday and go to a playground with a picnic but the bloody forest is there all weekend whether the shops are open or not!

All on minimum wage I'm sure

Definitely YABU, there's more to life than shopping.

Yes, same with bank holidays. If they insist on opening workers should get paid time and a half

My work (coffee shop) are considering opening Christmas Day for Christ sake

YANBU. Many people don’t work Monday - Friday. Sunday can be one of their only opportunities to get anything done

And busses need to run

Bank holidays are a pretty unfair arrangement.

I'm sorry but there is no way that the only possible time someone can get things done is on a Sunday.

We don’t have Sunday trading hours in Scotland already. I do notice the difference when I’m in England and yeah it feels odd that everything is so limited. One of the perks, or not depending on your point of view, of living in Scotland.

I haven't rtft.

Retail workers can opt out of working Sundays anyway, by law.

Personally I am in favour of closing most shops on Sundays. We have the Internet now, orders including food shopping can more easily be fitted around people's working hours and don't need to include Sundays.

I'm glad to see some supermarkets are electing to stay closed on Boxing Day.

OP- my husband does the Sunday roast. Just saying.

I work in a shop in London we open until 7pm apart from 11.30-5.30 on Sunday. Even tho Sunday is a 'short day' we still do a full day (9.30-6.30) and have reports, replenishment, putting money in the tills etc before the shop opens and after close. The 1st train gets me to work by 9.15 but if its cancelled for any reason my 45 min commute turns into 1.5h.
At Christmas we are now open an hour later - but we don't have any more staff we are just stretched over a longer day. The first hour or 2 are really hectic because we have less staff as they're all on later shifts. A few people come in after 7pm but I feel like people just come in because were open not because that's their only time to shop. Its usually people going out to dinner/theatre not people 'going shopping '.

You don't know the circumstances of everyone's life.

People have long commutes M-F, or activities in the evening, or elder care, or child care, or dog walking, or volunteerism, or are chronically ill and tired. Increasingly, for the "precious families" that some claim to be so concerned about, Saturdays are filled with childrens clubs, sports and other scheduled activities, or birthday parties, or visiting grandparents, or needing help with studies, or socializing with friends and extended family.

For non-churchgoers, which is an ever-growing cohort, not to mention people whose faith holds Friday or Saturday as special, Sunday is a day to catch up on errands, DIY, gardening, grocery shopping/cooking and other life maintenance that require access to stores.

In any event it's not for you to judge. Those who don't want to work Sundays should find another line of work.

Well, I was going to say that yabu but this thread has persuaded me. In fact, why stop at retail? I want to take my car to the garage, go to the dentist, hairdressers, etc on a Sunday. Everywhere should be open every day.
A universal minimum payment would have to be introduced to everyone. That way everyone can work a minimum of 3 days a week up to 5 days and everyone would job share. Schools would be open 7 days too so that your kids can go to school on the days that you work.
Obviously there would need to be more workers, so disability benefits would only be paid if you are working 3 days a week.
That way no matter what days you work, everything is open on your days off.
The only exception would obviously have to be supermarkets can close early mornings because fuck the elderly and disabled that like to take advantage of the quieter times.

Also, online shopping started the downfall of town and city centres, but what is finishing them off is the demise of the market stalls because the councils shoved the rates right up and also the amount of smack heads hanging around.

This.

And that is as well as all of the medics, nurses, ambulance drivers, police, fire brigade, call handlers for a range of things. The amazon drivers, taxi drivers, bus drivers, pilots and aircrew, airport staff. The care assistants. So many industries do not have protected hours. Why just retail?

Not gonna lie, as a feminist, I personally find the insinuation that all woman will obviously want to go shopping and have ‘retail therapy’ after cooking a meal far more offensive than Sunday having reduced hours for family time because that woman -might- be cooking a meal. Not to mention in your scenario, the woman is the house runner entirely - if that’s the case, then it should be addressed at an individual level of figuring out why she’s doing it all - cooking, cleaning and doing the family shop - and why she isn’t getting help. I’d much rather Sunday didn’t have trading at all because I remember how much I hated it when I worked retail and overworked employees deserve a break.
Edit to clarify: I would support Sunday trading if there was a more general overhaul on working hours though. 4 day working but things are open every day and everyone still gets a 3 day weekend? That would have my vote.

"I’d much rather Sunday didn’t have trading at all because I remember how much I hated it when I worked retail and overworked employees deserve a break"

That's interesting.

I work retail, including Sunday. I would much rather Sunday did have trading because I grew up in a place where there was literally nothing to do on a Sunday and it was my most hated day of the week. I get a break through the week (they don't make us work 7 days a week), which is great because a) the shops are quieter when I need to use them and b) everything else is open so if I need to do other 'life admin' things, offices are open so I can deal with it. Oh, and I get paid a higher hourly rate on a Sunday.

I'm a lone parent working full time and I manage. If people can't organise their lives properly it's down to them.

@Beezknees it's not so much about people not being able to "organise their lives" but the unfairness that one industry is banned by law to trade at certain times when another isn't.
At 5 o'clock on a Sunday evening you can go to a pub, restaurant, cinema, theatre, bowling alley, swimming pool etc.
But you can't go to a shop. Because they aren't allowed to be open. It's just....weird really.

I get it from that perspective, but is it really such a massive inconvenience?

@Beezknees it's not about "inconvenience" though. It's an unfair restriction on a business that wants to make money.
Company A wants to make money at 6pm on a Sunday evening.
Company B wants to make money at 6pm on a Sunday evening.
Customers want to spend money at both A+B. They have the money in their hands.
But B is restricted by law not to open and trade because B is a shop and A is a restaurant.

I forgot to mention in my post that through this thread I have also learned that cooking a roast dinner makes me a martyr. Is that just if I cook it from scratch or is it OK if I use frozen potatoes etc?
And what other foods should I avoid cooking? Or is it just cooking in general that makes someone a martyr? It's so confusing. I mean, my family needs to eat and I am a good cook and I enjoy cooking but god forbid I martyr myself to feed my family. Oh well, I suppose I will have to work 24/7 so that I can send my family for carverys and other eating establishments every day to save me having to cook. Oh wait, wouldn't that also make me a martyr?
I guess it's time for my dependants to leave school and become independent so that I don't have to put myself out for them ever again and can do what I want when I want 🤔

But then why stop there? If I want a dentist appointment I have to go when they are open, they aren't at weekends. Or is it only minumum wage workers that should be made to work 24/7?

A) the dentist has the choice to open at weekends. The shop doesn't.
B) Retail workers cannot be forced to work on a Sunday. They have the legal right to opt out (unless Sunday is their only contracted day).