Do you really need to visit shops on Boxing Day?

[kolpa]

Before you decide to go to half the stores which are open today, think - do you actually need anything? If not, stay away from them.

Those supermarkets that are open would have very few deliveries. Perhaps milk n bread as majority of these are delivered by the bakery and dairy. It depends on if they worked yesterday. As some distribution centres were closed yesterday.

I personally believe that people only shop because the shops are open. If some were open yesterday, they would have gone in.

A good number of the retail workers today are people who don’t have a car who usually bus it in. But no buses means either get someone to drive them in or get taxi/uber which are 1.5-2 times more expensive.

So if you can survive a day of visiting about half the stores which are open today, stay at home or go to others’ homes.

I am most entertained by the commenter insinuating going to the cinema is somehow more essential than buying food 🤣🤣🤣

Where would the line be drawn? The people who serve the hot dogs and popcorn in the cinema get the day off because it is UNNECESSARY to eat a hot dog on Boxing Day. But if you work scanning the tickets then it’s tough luck because people deserve to be entertained, just not eat.

My husband works for an Internet service provider and is monitoring the network to make sure nothing goes wrong. Should people stay off the Internet today too to make sure he doesn't have to work?

Not Boxing Day. We make enough to justify being open but nowhere near what we’d take on a normal day and that includes Sunday.

Boxing day is normally my one day over Christmas even I can sit on the sofa and shuffle back and forth to the fridge. Today I had to go to the supermarket as my 4 month old grandchild was admitted to hospital overnight and his mum needed supplies 🤷
Should I have ignored this and not gone?

Genuine question but what would you have done yesterday when everything was closed? I hope he’s home soon, there’s never a good time to be in hospital but Christmas is always worse, especially for children.

There seem to be an awful lot of poster who used to work in retail saying about double time etc on bank holidays, boxing day etc

i worked at phase 8 for a number of years and left in 2019, there was no extra money on sundays or bank holidays, another shop I worked at in 2021 didn’t, friends work for other high street shops at the moment and there is no extra money there either

when i started working in retail years ago you got double time for bank holidays and sundays when they started opening on sundays….thats been eroded for the majority of shops now

😂🤣

I have heard it all now- watching a film is more important than eating 😂

Why do the poor old Tesco workers deserve Boxing day off for a "proper break" but not the family running the local shop, where you keep telling people to go to today instead?

And to be fair the OP said dont go shopping unless you really have to

lots of stories of people who really have to go shopping for various reasons so i assume the OP didn’t mean them

That's what Unions are for - demand proper compensation for working Sundays and bank holidays, that's what the Unions do in my country.

I used to get triple time for working on Boxing Day, this was in 2006 in a major department store. Sadly the shop is no longer around, a victim of Internet shopping and poor management.

Are you trying to justify your opinion that Tesco should be closed for the workers benefit by saying alternative shops are open? Think about that for a minute…

Just back from Lidl. It was really quiet. All the staff are South Asian so probably less likely to be celebrating Christmas and happy to keep their leave for another time. Most of my colleagues are S Asian and we never have any problems covering Christmas. I work at an airport. Maybe I should start moaning at everyone who wants to travel at Christmas.

Indeed. Next isn't even open today! I passed it on my walk to Boots to ruin some retail workers' lives by shopping, I mean, buy some bubble bath.

Honestly the mind boggles on here sometimes. As if the Odeon are open on Boxing Day out of the goodness of their heart because they are just so dedicated to spreading essential festive joy to families. Definitely nothing to do with mum, dad, nan and granddad all being around at the same time to take the 3 kids to see Zootroplis 2 at the bargain price of £120 to watch a 90 minute film.

I suppose because the family run corner shops are self employed businesses, so can make the decision as to whether to open or not, rather than being "told"

I am just popping out now myself to ruin some lives and break up some families.... er, sorry, I mean buy some food! 😆

I go to get next years Christmas gifts, as I can’t afford the things full price. Not every one has loads of money

Are you not able to entertain yourself at home with friends and family?

There is public transport no need for taxi

You don't get to tell people what to do

Is it distasteful that restaurants. coffee shops and pubs are open?

Some people are very lonely and do not have family. The shops being shut is hugely isolating for him.

Light bulb blew in my kitchen, so I needed the shop today for that.

When I was younger I worked in retail and liked working boxing day. The perm staff had the day off. Its good for people who spend Christmas day alone or don't celebrate it. We don't all think and act the same way, it caters to some not all which is fine by me.