Should Sunday trading restrictions be lifted?

vixarooni

I'm cabin crew, so my sunday is just like my thursday, but i still think that shops should shut on a sunday.

We don't need to shop all of the time. Perhaps if we did have more of a relaxed view on shopping a lot of us wouldn't be on this website today.

pineapple

vixarooni wrote: »

I'm cabin crew, so my sunday is just like my thursday, but i still think that shops should shut on a sunday.

We don't need to shop all of the time. Perhaps if we did have more of a relaxed view on shopping a lot of us wouldn't be on this website today.

Agreed. I used to work in residential care and working weekends was part of the territory. But we don't need 24/7 shopping for heavens sake. Especially with internet shopping and some stores open evenings and even all night. Actually I don't have a religious bone in my body - but Sunday used to have a special feeling about it. Days of the week are becoming all the same - like town centres.

trent7176

As most are in favour of Sunday trading, lets abolish weekends altogether and make people stagger their days off. That way business can run 7 days a week and increase profits. That is what will happen eventually if Sunday is just another day. No extra pay either. I like my weekends off so am against this idea.

custardy

trent7176 wrote: »

As most are in favour of Sunday trading, lets abolish weekends altogether and make people stagger their days off. That way business can run 7 days a week and increase profits. That is what will happen eventually if Sunday is just another day. No extra pay either. I like my weekends off so am against this idea.

will it?
what do you base that on?

trent7176

PDWright wrote: »

I'm a doctor. I have a life too. I'm not just a robot designed to serve you. I work unsociable hours. My hospital is open bank holidays. We work Boxing Day AND Christmas Day.
Why does working in retail entitle you to a special Sunday-privilege? Emergency services, medical staff, workers at leisure facilities, restaurants, bars, etc all have to work Sundays and unsociable hours.
I agree people should be permitted time off for religious reasons. But other than that, why should Sunday be any different to other days? Families of those not employed in retail have to adapt to shift patterns, and they get on just fine.
Businesses should be allowed to open whenever they want. It's up to them to find staff willing and/or provide incentives to work unsociable hours.

Maybe I would agree with you on a doctors salary. Working in retail at just above minimum wage, I too worked boxing day and got double time. I dare say in the future that will stop. Apart from the emergency services all those jobs you mention tend to be low paid. This tends to be the case in Sunday trading. Make it an ordinary day and slowly the scenario will change. More factories and offices will open and then people will complain. Just wait and see.

trent7176

custardy wrote: »

will it?
what do you base that on?

I base it on a society that fails to see the significance of a traditional Sunday. If it is just a normal day then business sees no reason to shut. As happens in the Middle East where the Sabbath is on a Saturday.

custardy

trent7176 wrote: »

I base it on a society that fails to see the significance of a traditional Sunday. If it is just a normal day then business sees no reason to shut. As happens in the Middle East where the Sabbath is on a Saturday.

well whats a traditional Sunday?
I dont see people not getting weekends/Sundays off here
just some places are open on Sundays

Kirri

pineapple wrote: »

Agreed. I used to work in residential care and working weekends was part of the territory. But we don't need 24/7 shopping for heavens sake. Especially with internet shopping and some stores open evenings and even all night. Actually I don't have a religious bone in my body - but Sunday used to have a special feeling about it. Days of the week are becoming all the same - like town centres.

^ Agree, has changed so much in my lifetime, a bit like Christmas. Also now on a Sunday, driving across London is awful so even visiting family isn't as relaxing - last week it took me about an hour to drive 10 miles

I have to be desperate for something to go shopping on a weekend, I can't stand it and avoid it as much as possible, working or not. I don't want to see shops open even more.

PDWright

trent7176 wrote: »

Maybe I would agree with you on a doctors salary. Working in retail at just above minimum wage, I too worked boxing day and got double time. I dare say in the future that will stop. Apart from the emergency services all those jobs you mention tend to be low paid. This tends to be the case in Sunday trading. Make it an ordinary day and slowly the scenario will change. More factories and offices will open and then people will complain. Just wait and see.

With respect, what do you know of a doctors salary?
The starting salary of a junior doctor is ~£26,000. (type "Pay for doctors" into Google). And that's after 5 - 6 years at university and £30k+ debt. Working 60 hours a week, which is not common now but was when I started, works out around £9 an hour. If I'm working boxing day, therefore, I'm earning less than someone working double time at Tesco. Please don't assume that I'm seeing this discussion with the rose-tinted glasses of a high wage.

I don't really understand your second point about the jobs I mention being low-paid. I agree, those I mention do tend to be low paid. But the point I was making, which I think still stands, is that bar, restaurant, leisure staff etc work Sundays without restricted opening hours. They do it for pay probably equivalent to retail staff. What makes the staff of retailers with floorspace over 280 m2 any more entitled to restricted Sunday hours than all the equally low paid staff I mentioned and, indeed, the staff of retailers with floor space below 280 m2???

Pay really has nothing to do with it. There seems no reason to restrict larger stores' hours on a Sunday. People say religion or tradition but they don't mind that their local co-op is open Sunday morning when they've run out of milk...

Labsettings

I've been caught short a few times heading to argos or somewhere and finding that it's closed early. I wouldn't mind the shops being open for 'normal' operating times (i.e. 9-6 - even 10-6). Current staff would only have to work the hours they are contracted, they would not suddenly be working 7 days a week.

For the religious argument; my school consists of mainly non-Christian children. Perhaps the holidays should be more in line with their religious holidays rather than making them take time off at Christmas, Easter and summer (originally harvest time) if we are changing the rules about Sunday trading times?