Should Sunday trading restrictions be lifted?

thelawnet

kevin137 wrote: »

I live in Norway and only certain shops with a sq footage not above a certain amount may open on a sunday, except for December when shopping hours are not so tight and all shops may open on a sunday for even stricter hours than the UK.

And i have to say, it is far more important for family life and family activities that it is this way, the more normal a sunday becomes the more will be expected in other areas, what is next offices open on weekends...?

For me a well balanced life now revolves around family and sunday is part of that with no distractions...!

Have been to Europe and I think in general they are no more religious than we are, BUT it's very nice that people get a day off from shopping.

We might not be religious, on the whole, but we still worship at the temple of Mammon...

vanpopple

I think its the year 2012 and its all about business,
shops should be allowede to open whenever they want, people will decide with their feet if they want to go shopping.
I would personally prefer to shop sundays, as it tends to be quieter meaning your have more time to browse.

It would increase the economy for one and thats a good thing, it would bring more employment - who says the weekend start on saturdays and sundays? our 'weekends' are usually taken midweek due to work, and im more than happy with that, but would love to be able to shop with my partner after she finishes work on a sunday afternoon...

mistylou

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

Sunday should be a normal trading day and shop worker contracts should be for set hours like office worker contracts are. Then you can avoid shifts on days you can't work.

It's not just retail that works on Sundays though, what do Christian nurses/vets/journalists/chefs/pilots etc etc do about Sundays?

great have a normal working day.but why arn't the banks council offices and bus companys working sunday as well, how are workers supposed to get to work when there is no transport?? you are right about the above who do also work on sundays, but the majority are low paid minimal wage workers or those who can command extra pay , do you know there is no such thing as a bank holiday for shop workers bars and resturants and that they have to work for min wage on these days!! and we get crap pensions no flexi hours or time off for shopping like office workers stand all day unlike office workers who get to sit down all day

custardy

mistylou wrote: »

great have a normal working day.but why arn't the banks council offices and bus companys working sunday as well, how are workers supposed to get to work when there is no transport?? you are right about the above who do also work on sundays, but the majority are low paid minimal wage workers or those who can command extra pay , do you know there is no such thing as a bank holiday for shop workers bars and resturants and that they have to work for min wage on these days!! and we get crap pensions no flexi hours or time off for shopping like office workers stand all day unlike office workers who get to sit down all day

maybe not in England
up here they run Sundays too
chicken and egg methinks

jmw93

It doesn't matter whether shops are open 24/7 or just one day a week - I only have a certain amount of money to spend and once it's gone, it's gone.
The longer the opening hours, the greater the costs for the shop - and that gets passed on to the customers. So keep the hours as they are.

Antispam

Why stop at shops. If people want shops to remain open most of the time why not other businesses too. At one time some staff got paid extra working unsociable hours now that practice has almost stopped.

Andysmyrealname

I can always remember as a kid that everything on a Sunday was shut apart from Pubs and Clubs; with restricted hours, and the Off-Licence.
I work in a Bookies and now we are open until 9:30pm on a Sunday. Yes we can opt out of working Sundays, by law we don't have to, but we all know that it would be frowned upon if we did so.
It just seems to me that everybody and companies are all chasing the money and as a society if we went back to the stage of closing everything on Sunday like we did 30 odd years ago we would be far better off as our 'work life balance' would be sorted for at least one day a week.
It's ok for the consumer, but how would everybody feel who is commenting on this forum if they had to work Sundays and until late into the evening?

VfM4meplse

vanpopple wrote: »

I think its the year 2012 and its all about business

Jesus lived amongst Jews 2000 years ago, it was all about business then too but the Sabbath was still reserved.

On the other hand, I don't know of any Mr Patels that own their own newsagents - or any other Hindu for that matter - that would think twice about working 7 days a week, including Diwali.

vanpopple

JackieSparkle wrote: »

If the High Street is going to have any chance of competing with internet sales, shops are going to have to wake up to the fact that they need to be open for longer hours every day, not just on Sundays.

Thats the single best reason for normal opening times,
the internet is busiest shopping wise on a sunday (thats an official stat)
Thats because theres hardly any shops open, so if all shops were open more people would head back to the high street, why not have fairs or local bands or charities that would love to entertain shoppers..

Why not call them 'Family Shopping Funday Sunday' it could be enjoyable, too many people rushing around these days.

Also my partner works both saturday and sundays and hasnt had a sunday off since christmas, but it doesnt make any difference to our life or plans, we have our weekend in the week, where we go shopping see family and friends etc...
But obviously from a religious point of view i understand not opening, but there again churches have their services on a sunday and so maybe shops should open 12-8pm that way everyone is happy, and the staff who will get extra pay, id jump at the chance of working on a sunday if i could.

callum9999

DaybreakGirl wrote: »

I am sick to death of this, Sunday Trading should be stopped everywhere, including the garages and small corner shops. There is plenty of time to go shopping Monday to Saturday. Family time should be Sunday and this forcing of people to have to work Sundays should stop it is unacceptable. I am not religious so it is not down to that.

And I am sick to death of people like you dictating what I should be doing with my time. Perhaps we should designate Wednesdays "exercise days" and ban all cars, public transport etc. so people are forced to walk/cycle anywhere they need to go?

All this moaning about there not being enough jobs, and now people like you want to force people to stop working on an arbitrary day...