Sunday trading.

[Workingman]

There is news that about 200 MPs want to extend Sunday trading hours. They say that there is evidence that it is wanted and that many councils support them.

Has anybody asked you, me or us?

I cannot remember it being mooted anywhere. There has been nothing about it in the local papers or on the radio or TV news. So, where is the evidence?

I do no know about every area but here the local supermarkets are open from 7 am till 10 pm on weekdays and 10 till 4 on Sundays. How much more time do shops need to sell us things? If they open longer will we have more money to spend? And how many 24 hr places have gone back to more 'normal' hours?

All I can see coming from this, if it takes off, is a hike in prices to cover more staff hours.

[victor]

ours stay open til every day and they are busy

i think 4pm on Sundays in the UK is ridiculous

[victor]

whoops missed the 10pm

[Kaz]

Does anyone consider the retail workers in all this? Nobody NEEDS to shop at ridiculous hours, and they have families too, that they would like to spend time with...

[Suff]

It's been 24x7 in Scotland for at least a decade now. Storm in a teacup and I've often wondered why the English have to agonise ver it? Only certain shop are open Sunday night and most of the staff are shelf stocking or cleaning just like any day of the week.

It is interesting to note that the same discussion happens every time. In Germany it is over extended Saturday shopping, something you take for granted, In France it is the same Sunday shopping you already enjoy, but agonised over 20 years ago.

Moot point, 20 years from now it will just be normal and you won't see all that much of it. Today I see even less opening in Scotland during the week and the weekend than before the crisis. 24x7 shopping or not!

[saundra]

When Sunday trading first started there was people saying they wouldn't work Sundays
But as soon as they had increased wages the objections went out the window

[Kaz]

Nobody gets extra for working Sundays now. They did at first, but then new contracts came in for the new staff and they gradually eased it out...Becky gets exactly the same pay on Sundays and Bank Holidays as she does for other days...

[saundra]

Ho im sorry I didn't no that
I always worked on a Sunday but I never got extra but that's years ago

[Kaz]

Yes, they did at first but phased it out! Same as they phased in shifts instead of regular days and hours

[Suff]

Of course, as I said, after 10 or 20 years it becomes normal working practice and people don't get paid any more for it.

There are also serious disadvantages to shopping in 24 hour shops. Back in 2000 Mrs S used to take me to the airport for 04:30 and shop in Asda at 5am. She loved the empty feel of the shop. But she couldn't do her whole shop because there was no Alcohol to be had, the wet fish counter and the butchers counter were either not manned or not fully manned.

When I first went to Germany the shops closed at 12:30 on Saturday except for once a month which they called Langer Samstag when some of the shops opened to 14:30. The Naffi, on the other hand was open till 6pm. So we mainly shopped in the Naffi as I was working most of the hours that the German shops were open and my ex didn't drive and I had no intention of getting up at 7am on Saturday to be out and to the shops for 9am.

Today there are many German shops open till 18:00 on Saturday and they are agonising over 10pm closing on a Saturday night, it will destroy family life as they know it....

You would think that having 24x6 shopping would make Sunday shopping redundant. But, in the end, think, you've had a really heavy week for 6 days, it's a sunny Sunday, you grab the kids and head for the beach. It's been a wonderful day, you had lunch out, you're heading home, it's 7pm and you think, god I didn't get anything for tea....

That is the time when 24 x7 and unlimited Sunday shopping works for you. Of course it comes with a price. But what convenience doesn't.