Page 5 | To say ‘well done’ to the bosses of M&S, Waitrose, Lidl & Aldi

MargaritaThyme · 2023-12-23T00:00:17+00:00

For deciding not to open their stores on Boxing Day, thereby giving their staff, who have been working very hard through December, a proper break with their loved ones?

Heyhoherewegoagain · 23/12/2023 07:03

Alcyoneus · 23/12/2023 02:32

A lot of naivety on this thread.

Online shopping trend is here to stay. Who do you think is working in the warehouses throughout Boxing Day to process all the sales that have moved online. M&S, Aldi and Lidl are not doing it out of the goodness of the heart. M&S have a substantial online presence. Aldi and Lidl will have looked at the wage bill saving vs the sales they get on Boxing Day (since the online retailers take so much of it) and decided it’s not worth opening.

Aldi and Lidl aren’t online, and my niece is Aldi management and it is very much a staff welfare issue. There are still (vanishingly few!) some retailers with morals!

Yalta · 23/12/2023 07:08

TBH growing up I wish shops were open on Boxing Day as 24 hours with no outlet in my family and getting back to work would have saved so many arguments (family had a shop)
When people say no body died because shops are shut on a Sunday they needed to grow up in a family where not having work on those days meant lives were put in danger.

I actually think when you look at everything, people have died as a consequence.

How many posters are at family for Christmas and the break to go shopping and get out of the house and just a sit down with a coffee is what saves them from ripping someone’s head off even figuratively. Or even acting as an excuse to not go home to family because of having to be at work on Boxing Day is a win

Not everyone celebrates Christmas and not everyone has family who they want to spend time with.

EeS52 · 23/12/2023 07:10

Have any of you actually worked in retail 😂 and I don’t mean area managers 🤨
not every member of staff is needed Boxing Day! 23rd is the biggest. Then you can take it in turns / prioritise what you’d like eg NYE.

naughtynine · 23/12/2023 07:10

@Baconking Maybe specifically on Boxing Day things were closed but sale’s definitely started before January didn’t they? As a teenager I had a retail job on Oxford Street & I also remember to shopping the sales straight after Christmas but perhaps I’ve confused 27th with 26th? I’m sure I remember neighbours going off the a furniture store on the 26th to get a sofa.

LittleGreenFroggie · 23/12/2023 07:10

Meanwhile I'm working Boxing Day in a smaller food retailer where no doubt I'll be shuffling up the leftover Christmas stock to make room for the cream eggs and mini eggs we've already had in for Easter. 🙄

NonSequentialRhubarb · 23/12/2023 07:12

I hope no one in here saying how great it is that the shops are shut will be doing any online shopping that day. If you are, you're at best dim.

And I hope you're not the hypocrites who would come into the supermarket on Boxing Day to shop and loudly tell the staff "how appalling it is that you're open today, I feel so bad for you, you should be home with your family". Those people infuriated me more than the people who just did their shopping and kept quiet.

Vettrianofan · 23/12/2023 07:13

No one should be out shopping for anything on Boxing Day for non essential items like clothing.

naughtynine · 23/12/2023 07:13

The only shop I actually remember launching their January sale in January was Harrods, there was a tv advert.

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 23/12/2023 07:14

This reply has been deleted

Removed at poster's request due to privacy concerns.

You have 12 months to plan and if they are closed boxing day you would simply save a days holiday to cover that, the same as most people working in offices have to do.

I can only speak for my sector but Boxing Day, New Year's Day and, because I'm in Scotland, 2nd January are always taken as extra paid public holidays on top of annual leave - no one has to save days for them. Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day are the same. On other "public holidays" offices may or may be open but when the decision was made in the sector to open on what had been pubic holidays those days were added to annual leave.

Vettrianofan · 23/12/2023 07:14

NonSequentialRhubarb · 23/12/2023 07:12

I hope no one in here saying how great it is that the shops are shut will be doing any online shopping that day. If you are, you're at best dim.

And I hope you're not the hypocrites who would come into the supermarket on Boxing Day to shop and loudly tell the staff "how appalling it is that you're open today, I feel so bad for you, you should be home with your family". Those people infuriated me more than the people who just did their shopping and kept quiet.

Good point about online shopping. No I won't be doing that either on Boxing Day. Everyone should get a break even those distributing parcels.

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 23/12/2023 07:14

MyrtlethePurpleTurtle · 23/12/2023 06:27

There will always be a need for emergency pharmacies to be open

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Exactly! 4 years ago our then 2 year old was up screaming all Christmas day night. We got an emergency out of hours appointment and she had a burst ear drum and severe ear infection. Thank god a chemist was open for the antibiotics we needed!

ofestivetree · 23/12/2023 07:14

They don't care about the staff. They care about their sales and their image. They've obviously decided that on balance they make more on the run up to Christmas or the sales after christmas. They will have staff working to stock the stores ready for the 27th. It's also very presumptuous to assume everyone wants a day off on boxing day. Loads of people don't give a shit about boxing day or don't celebrate Christmas.

DustyLee123 · 23/12/2023 07:15

naughtynine · 23/12/2023 00:25

When I was young January sales were a thing, there was no going shopping straight after Christmas.

How old are you? When I was young hitting Oxford street etc for the Boxing day sales was a big thing

In my mind sales didn’t start until New Year’s Day, but maybe I’m wrong.

ofestivetree · 23/12/2023 07:17

Also, "Well done"?? How patronising. Its a business decision.

LittleGreenFroggie · 23/12/2023 07:18

PyongyangKipperbang · 23/12/2023 02:13

Shame that again, all the major supermarkets give Boxing day as a day off except Co-Op.

The did do it the other year but only after being shamed on Twitter. This year....nothing.

I've worked for coop for 9 years now....we've never closed Boxing Day in that time. I'm usually in as I'd rather have Christmas Eve off.

People that do come in think we're only trading Sunday hours on Boxing Day so it's quiet outside of 10-4. But we're usually given a list of chores/jobs to do.

This year though, we're closing at 7, a whole hour earlier than normal! 😲🙄

NigelHarmansNewWife · 23/12/2023 07:18

I've worked in retail and worked on BD. For the business I worked for, opening then wasn't really worthwhile as there wasn't much do and it was quiet in the massive shop. It depends on the business. I was young and living at home at the time and remember my parents being horrified I had to work. This was 30 odd years ago. I have never known all the shops be shut beyond Christmas Day and Easter Sunday and even then some corner shops will be open in some areas.

Plenty of people outside retail have to take annual leave at times their employers dictate for shut downs. Lots of people work unsociable hours and holidays.

Sunday is, I think, now the most popular shopping day of the week so closing on Sundays is unlikely to become a thing anytime soon.

Afolnerd · 23/12/2023 07:21

I work in retail and we do open Boxing Day and it will be busy.
We are given the choice of working Boxing Day or New Year’s Day. I always take Boxing Day off, but lots of the younger staff are very happy to work Boxing Day so they can go out New Year’s Eve without having to suffer a hangover at work the next day!

PuttingDownRoots · 23/12/2023 07:21

O/t... but I do wonder what happens to the excess milk from the shops being closed two days in a row. Its not like the cows can have a day off...

Or does the farmer simply lose out on the money?

LakeTiticaca · 23/12/2023 07:22

When I first started work in the 70s, no Sunday opening or bank holiday opening, and when Christmas fell at weekend the shops were shut from friday night and back open Wednesday morning. Pure bliss.
Nobody died, they just used the local corner shop. No whiny social media posts cos it wasn't invented woopwooop😁

Baconking · 23/12/2023 07:23

Shops were closed on Boxing Day until the Sunday trading laws were changed in the late 1990s

RiddlePiddle · 23/12/2023 07:27

Places like the Trafford Centre fine companies (in the tens of thousands) for not opening their shops Boxing Day and NYD which really doesn’t incentivise businesses to give their staff a day off

naughtynine · 23/12/2023 07:30

Shops were closed on Boxing Day until the Sunday trading laws were changed in the late 1990s

which is when I was a teenager

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 23/12/2023 07:31

IHaveNeverLivedintheCastle · 23/12/2023 07:14

You have 12 months to plan and if they are closed boxing day you would simply save a days holiday to cover that, the same as most people working in offices have to do.

I can only speak for my sector but Boxing Day, New Year's Day and, because I'm in Scotland, 2nd January are always taken as extra paid public holidays on top of annual leave - no one has to save days for them. Good Friday, Easter Monday, May Day are the same. On other "public holidays" offices may or may be open but when the decision was made in the sector to open on what had been pubic holidays those days were added to annual leave.

Edited

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It's also standard in my sector that the last working days before Christmas and Hogmanay are paid extra half days. My firm stopped half days and instead gives àn extra full day after Christmas and Boxing Day (or the relevant dates if 25 and 26 fall on a weekend) so everyone one this year is off on paid extra leave on 25,26 and 27 December.

naughtynine · 23/12/2023 07:31

And In the 80s there we’re definitely sales on the 27/12 as opposed to sales only in January.

MikeRafone · 23/12/2023 07:39

Crunchingleaf · 23/12/2023 00:11

When I was young January sales were a thing, there was no going shopping straight after Christmas. I have always detested seeing retail opening up on the 26th. The staff deserve a break. Let them actually let their hair down or visit family for Christmas without having to worry about work the next day.
So fair play to any company that stays closed on the 26th

by the 1970s I can remember all the sales on the 27th and people on the tv sleeping out to get the best bargains - madness even by then