to think supermarkets should open longer on Sundays?

[ThisPlumCrab]

By late Sunday morning my local supermarket is like a rugby scrum with trolleys. The car park is jammed, people are queueing before they even get inside, and once you are in the aisles it feels like an obstacle course just to reach the milk. It is easily the busiest day of the week here, yet we still have the six hour Sunday trading limit.

Because of Sunday trading laws, the big shops in England and Wales can only open for six hours. In practice that means everyone piles in at the same time. Late morning is rammed, early afternoon is even worse, and by the afternoon the place looks like a plague of locusts has been through, with only artichokes and beetroot left.

In Scotland there are no Sunday trading laws for large shops, so they can open as long as they like, and life seems to carry on perfectly fine.

If supermarkets here could open longer, like on a normal day, people could spread out their shopping and the whole thing would be calmer. Families who spend Saturday at kids sports or activities, and workers who do shifts at the weekend, would have more choice than the current six hour window. Smaller express or local stores are open all day anyway, but they are pricier and do not stock everything, so you end up doing several little shops.

I know the main argument for the current rules is that Sundays should be for people to spend time with their families. But not everyone lives in a family setup, and many people, especially students, part timers, and those looking for extra income, actually prefer to work on Sundays. For some, it is the best day to pick up extra hours without clashing with other commitments.

I just do not see how the current system helps when Sundays are already the busiest.

People clearly do need to shop on a Sunday and that is why it is so busy.

Online deliveries are not suitable for smaller shops.

I live North Italy, many of our supermarkets are open 8-8pm on Sundays, I'm surprised UK still has the old 10-4 rule.

People mainly shop on Sundays for a family outing in my area the shops are open 24 hours Monday through to midnight on Saturday....and there are plenty of school kids being dragged around at 2am...we also have online and clic and collect if you can't sort out shopping in all those hours it's not because you can't. Shops also have to do some maintenance that can't be done when they are open being closed from midnight to 11 and then again from 5pm 7am isn't really long to deprive the starving overspending population.

Uber or similar

So what’s the difference?? People work Sundays in a small shop too. No need to close any. If people don’t want to work Sundays then don’t.

So people want big supermarket staff to be able to have a day off, but they don't want small supermarket staff to have the day off.

I don't make the laws.

I agree with you OP. Sunday trading laws are as they are because of the church wanting to keep Sunday holy - but how many people go to church? I know very few. We have in a 24-hour society. Most of us have to work. Many of us have to do that work between M-F. I often do my shopping in the evenings in summertime, because my local supermarket is open until 10, but that's not available to everyone.

It wouldn't necessarily create more jobs no, as that would require people to fill those roles. What might very well happen is existing staff being stretched even more thinly. The fact that Scotland, a much smaller market, staffs shops fine on Sundays doesn't tell us anything about whether it would be the case elsewhere.

It's true Sunday is a good day for some people to work, but that hasn't stopped other sectors that do offer work all day on Sundays like hospitality and care from having significant shortages. We don't appear to have a surplus of people who want to work on Sundays but lack the opportunity. And the worse public transport clearly is going to be an issue for some workers.

I always think it's telling that we've not seen any wide scale retail worker movement advocating for longer Sunday opening hours.

I live in Scotland. I am absolutely fascinated how different our cultures must be that several of you think shops should actually be shut completely on a Sunday. Doubly so because I'm pretty sure as a whole, we're more religious and a higher percentage of us attend church?

But in your first post your said "but i can't tell you how many xmas, weddings, party's i missed"

So which is it?

You can adjust scheduling when it is just you and your immediate family, but for the majority of society weddings, and parties happen on weekends and schools operate a Mon-Fri week, with strict absence policies. So things absolutely need to be done on set days.

The UK doesn't, just England and Wales.

Not many people work from 8am to 10pm in the week, though - including the staff in the supermarkets, who will not normally have a shift for that entire time.

Do you really have such a busy life Monday to Saturday that the only time you could find to buy your food is overnight?

I live somewhere where no shops are open on a Sunday…

What do you suggest the alternative is then?

I live in a town with 3 supermarkets. And I think they should stagger the opening hours so one has the hours of 10-4 and another has 11-5 and another 12-6. Especially in the summer when days out are longer.

I think people should get there S**t together and be moderately more organised.

Home delivery during the week. Top up shop Friday or Saturday, or slightly more expensive purchase at local petrol station on Sunday.

Surely if you don't want people having to work on Sundays, then petrol stations should also be closed??

I do try to have my shit together and be moderately more organised. But sometimes for one reason or another it doesn’t happen.

We do have the idiotic 10am alcohol embargo though.

Not sure there'd be much in that for them. They'll all want what their research suggests is the most lucrative of the 6 hour blocs, rather than allowing them to the competitor. That won't necessarily marry up with covering as many hours as possible between them.

There are two reasons why petrol stations have to stay open, though:

Firstly, lots of people need to be out driving on a Sunday - including emergency services, breakdown services, carers, people who fix gas and water leaks in the road, delivery drivers, undertakers, people travelling as a result of sudden family illness or death... and many, many others - often for long (and frequently unexpectedly so) distances, so not always possible to fill up with enough fuel on Friday or Saturday.

Most vehicles cannot work unless they get a particular kind (or possibly one of two kinds) of fuel, so none of those people can make their essential journeys. Imagine calling 999 because your house is on fire and being told that they can't send an engine, because they've had too many call-outs already and they're all out of diesel until Monday morning!

With food, there are loads of different options, as well as meal requirements being somewhat more predictable - most people will have some food in the house already, and if not, there are corner shops, small convenience stores and... petrol stations!

Secondly, insurance for a petrol station is very expensive; and this rises very dramatically if the premises are unattended. Vandals could easily come and do horrendous damage - reaching far and wide - if there's nobody there to stop them or raise the alarm/call for help.

It's therefore much safer and much more cost-effective to have somebody paid to work there 24/7 - even if many hours go by without any customers at all.

The UK doesn't have this rule.

I'm in Scotland and we all seem to survive with Sunday supermarket opening.

For those who say keep supermarkets closed entirely on a sunday to allow workers time with their families, where do you stop? What about transport (bus drivers, airport staff?), what about soft plays, pubs and cafes, outdoor activity providers? Theatres and cinemas? Football grounds? Businesses that are open at weekends to cater for families who want to spend time together?

What about families who survive financially by one parent working during the week, and the other at weekends, as they have no childcare?

You can get a delivery until very late on a Sunday from Morrisons.

From 5.30am until 23.30 at night.
The later ones are only £2 each.
The peak price is £7!