Sunday trading laws before Christmas

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  • BahtatBahtat Posts: 756
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    Bulletguy1 wrote: »
    My local Asda stores are doing a really odd 'shift' today (Monday). They aren't open until midnight! :confused:

    Christmas hours...
    Fri 19th Dec 24 hours
    Sat 20th Dec Closes at 11pm
    Sun 21st Dec 10am - 4pm
    Mon 22nd Dec Opens at Midnight
    Tue 23rd Dec 24 hours
    Christmas Eve Closes at 7pm
    Christmas Day Closed
    Boxing Day 9am - 6pm
    Sat 27th Dec 8am - 10pm
    Sun 28th Dec 10am - 4pm
    Mon 29th Dec Opens at 8am
    Tue 30th Dec 24 hours
    New Year's Eve Closes at 7pm
    New Year's Day 10am - 6pm
    Fri 2nd Jan Opens at 8am

    What's so hard to understand? They couldn't open until midnight because it was Sunday. After midnight it's Monday, and the Sunday Trading Act makes no mention of the earliest they can re-open on the Monday. The Tesco Extra round here re-opens at midnight every Monday morning after closing for 8 hours.
  • jeffiner1892jeffiner1892 Posts: 14,212
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    Bahtat wrote: »
    What's so hard to understand? They couldn't open until midnight because it was Sunday. After midnight it's Monday, and the Sunday Trading Act makes no mention of the earliest they can re-open on the Monday. The Tesco Extra round here re-opens at midnight every Monday morning after closing for 8 hours.

    I actually find it strange that our local one waits until 6am on Monday to open.
  • occyoccy Posts: 64,627
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    I'm surprised the trading laws wernt lifted, but they also need a Christmas with many open from 10 on boxing day.
  • occyoccy Posts: 64,627
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    It's more cost efficient to shut as they use that Sunday to replenish shelves and staff don't always want to work on extra expecially on a Sunday with some who have families.

    We have become very selfish and expect at s click of a finger supermarkets to stay open extra. People do have lives outside work.
  • sparrysparry Posts: 2,053
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    Isn't it equally selfish that we expect folks to work in shops on a Sunday? Time was when shop workers had the option plus 'time-and-a-half' pay. No more. Folks are expected that Sunday is just another working day.

    My partner works in retail and hates working Sundays and at the moment everyday is manic. She's managed to get Christmas Eve off but is back in Boxing Day, 9am - 6pm.

    I've got 2 weeks off after tomorrow and in all that time I think she's off for 4 days, and 2 of those are because the shop is shut!
  • dearmrmandearmrman Posts: 21,434
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    Dare Devil wrote: »
    It is laziness. It's like it with a lot of campaigns/votes. People cannot be bothered.

    If without, restricts retailers keep to the same hours, then so be it. Atleast then it'd be their choice and not necessarily dictated to by law. It's a about choice.

    I also liked it when there were no restrictions during the Olympics. I noticed towards the end of the 6 weeks it was starting to get more people in. I work every Sunday, so if I need/want to pop to the shops, I can't on a Sunday. You say, it might not be profitable for a big supermarket to trade into the evening on a Sunday, but these stores are staffed 24/7 so when they shut the door at 4 or 5pm on a Sunday, they're already losing money by not trading.

    Of course it isn't laziness, why campaign/vote for something that doesn't bother you personally, those that are bothered either way will vote....why do you find it hard to accept that the majority of people in this Country just don't care about something which in all seriousness is a very trivial matter and are quite happy the way things are.
  • 80sfan80sfan Posts: 18,522
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    occy wrote: »

    We have become very selfish and expect at s click of a finger supermarkets to stay open extra. People do have lives outside work.

    This is where I think France and Germany have it right - Sunday is a day to spend with the family, doing leisure persuits etc. Not a day to be slavishly walking round the likes of Bluewater, Meadowhall and the rest, buying like there's no tomorrow
  • idlewildeidlewilde Posts: 8,698
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    80sfan wrote: »
    France - next to nothing open on Sunday. Some small supermarkets open until lunchtime.

    Belgium - all shops closed Sundays apart from in tourist areas on the coast.

    Netherlands - shops open only in towns & cities defined as 'tourist' areas.

    Luxembourg - little open apart from a couple of shopping centres on the Belgian border. Small supermarkets open until lunchtime.

    Switzerland - virtually nothing but bakeries open until lunchtime.

    Austria - like Switzerland

    Denmark - nothing much open apart from small food shops up until lunchtime.

    Major European countries, big economies. Yet they survive without mass Sunday trading!!

    I think the issue is not one of needing shops open to survive, but the UK grows ever more secular, so why not just open up as normal and give both the retailer and the shopper the choice? We have this crazy situation on Sundays where you can enter stores and "browse" on a Sunday, but can't buy anything until after 10am. It's daft, and antiquated.
  • tosha43tosha43 Posts: 353
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    I bet most people who want Sunday trading don't work in retail,it's one day ffs if it was up to me shops would be shut,also what about banks why don't they have decent hours like shops why do they open 9-4 wtf.just saying
  • dearmrmandearmrman Posts: 21,434
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    tosha43 wrote: »
    I bet most people who want Sunday trading don't work in retail,it's one day ffs if it was up to me shops would be shut,also what about banks why don't they have decent hours like shops why do they open 9-4 wtf.just saying

    Oh you mean a service that people may really need, like Doctors....well they have no restrictions on when they can open, they choose their own hours....but they only think about themselves, I bet more people would find value in a Doctors been open on a Saturday/Sunday then they would a shop.
  • megarespmegaresp Posts: 888
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    tim59 wrote: »
    Because the law says they dont have a choice.

    The law is an ass and ought to be resisted by store-owners and customers alike.

    The pathetic Sunday Trading laws are a vestige from a time when people routinely believed in fairy tales. Get rid of them, and good riddance to bad nonsense.

    In New Zealand in the 1980s store owners in Ponsonby got together and flouted the then very strict weekend trading laws as a group. Many locals lent their support and shopped there. The streets were packed, thus highlighting the ridiculous nature of the laws in place at the time.

    The cowardly weasels in government suddenly woke up to the fact that it wasn't 1525 any longer, and quickly changed the law once it became apparent only that tiny minority of people still enthralled by bronze-superstition supported said laws. Them and a few union-types who were likewise stuck in some gloomy past of their making.

    I wish UK shop-keepers would do likewise. The snivelling cowards that pretend to represent us won't change the law (they refused to do so a few years ago). So it's going to take civil disobedience from store owners and customers alike, giving two-fingers to those idiot counsellors, police persons and judges that think wasting public money by prosecuting people for trading with each other at a time of their mutual choosing is somehow a crime worthy of the state's attention.

    Bah!
  • PorkchopExpressPorkchopExpress Posts: 5,534
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    Bahtat wrote: »
    You'd think that if the government lifted Sunday trading laws for 8 weeks during the olympics all over the country, even though most of it was in London, they'd relax them on the last Sunday before Christmas. Every year, come 4pm, packed stores have to close. It's ridiculous, especially on this Sunday. It really is time they were scrapped, why the hell should religion dictate how business works in this day and age? They should just stick two fingers up to it and open when they want, would anyone bother fining them?
    Living in Scotland I always forget about this and am always caught out when in England.

    The Sunday trading laws In England are absolutely laughable and actually pretty disgraceful. You actually don't have 24 hour supermarkets in England.

    And there doesn't seem to be much public appetite for change either. I find the whole thing utterly bizarre.
  • PorkchopExpressPorkchopExpress Posts: 5,534
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    IS it beyond reason that we could possibly have just one day per week without shops being open? Other countries manage, we used to. Do we have to be able to shop every day?

    I can't think of a single reason why not.
  • tim59tim59 Posts: 47,188
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    megaresp wrote: »
    The law is an ass and ought to be resisted by store-owners and customers alike.

    The pathetic Sunday Trading laws are a vestige from a time when people routinely believed in fairy tales. Get rid of them, and good riddance to bad nonsense.

    In New Zealand in the 1980s store owners in Ponsonby got together and flouted the then very strict weekend trading laws as a group. Many locals lent their support and shopped there. The streets were packed, thus highlighting the ridiculous nature of the laws in place at the time.

    The cowardly weasels in government suddenly woke up to the fact that it wasn't 1525 any longer, and quickly changed the law once it became apparent only that tiny minority of people still enthralled by bronze-superstitions supported said laws. Them and a few union-types who were likewise stuck in some gloomy past of their making.

    I wish UK shop-keepers would do likewise. The snivelling cowards that pretend to represent us won't change the law (they refused to do so a few years ago). So it's going to take civil disobedience from store owners and customers alike, giving two-fingers to those idiot counsellors, police persons and judges that think wasting public money by prosecuting people for trading with each other at a time of their mutual choosing is somehow a crime worthy of the state's attention.

    Bah!

    But the government would love all this fine money coming in. And as has been pointed out alot of other countries have sunday trading laws, so not just this country then,
  • PorkchopExpressPorkchopExpress Posts: 5,534
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    Maxatoria wrote: »
    Oh its going to be fun for retail staff when they're doing 12 hour shifts 7 days a week aint it? its there to give them at least some chance of a bit of a rest

    They don't just make the same employees work more. The recruit more staff and the pay off for businesses is increased economic activity.

    But surely you knew that.
  • dearmrmandearmrman Posts: 21,434
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    megaresp wrote: »
    The law is an ass and ought to be resisted by store-owners and customers alike.

    The pathetic Sunday Trading laws are a vestige from a time when people routinely believed in fairy tales. Get rid of them, and good riddance to bad nonsense.

    In New Zealand in the 1980s store owners in Ponsonby got together and flouted the then very strict weekend trading laws as a group. Many locals lent their support and shopped there. The streets were packed, thus highlighting the ridiculous nature of the laws in place at the time.

    The cowardly weasels in government suddenly woke up to the fact that it wasn't 1525 any longer, and quickly changed the law once it became apparent only that tiny minority of people still enthralled by bronze-superstition supported said laws. Them and a few union-types who were likewise stuck in some gloomy past of their making.

    I wish UK shop-keepers would do likewise. The snivelling cowards that pretend to represent us won't change the law (they refused to do so a few years ago). So it's going to take civil disobedience from store owners and customers alike, giving two-fingers to those idiot counsellors, police persons and judges that think wasting public money by prosecuting people for trading with each other at a time of their mutual choosing is somehow a crime worthy of the state's attention.

    Bah!

    New Zealand up until 1980 banned trading Saturday & Sunday, this off course was changed, but outside of main cities shops in New Zealand mainly still close on Saturday afternoons.

    If you want change petition your local MP...you know what though most people in this Country don't actually care, so don't expect a great deal of signatures.
  • dearmrmandearmrman Posts: 21,434
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    Living in Scotland I always forget about this and am always caught out when in England.

    The Sunday trading laws In England are absolutely laughable and actually pretty disgraceful. You actually don't have 24 hour supermarkets in England.

    And there doesn't seem to be much public appetite for change either. I find the whole thing utterly bizarre.

    No and that is a good thing...when people talk about shops been open what they really want is supermarkets...how fantastic.
  • idlewildeidlewilde Posts: 8,698
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    dearmrman wrote: »
    No and that is a good thing...

    Why is a reduced / removed service a good thing?
  • PorkchopExpressPorkchopExpress Posts: 5,534
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    dearmrman wrote: »
    No and that is a good thing...when people talk about shops been open what they really want is supermarkets...how fantastic.

    24 hour supermarkets are a good thing frankly but in Scotland we also have large shopping centres and retail parks routinely open until 9pm and 10pm. It works well.

    And I don't understand this thing people have with adding things and making extreme comparisons. I read here things like "Sunday should be for spending time with the family" and not "going round places like Bluewater spending like there's no tomorrow."

    Why does it have to be positioned in this ridiculous way? Surely people can go to the shops without "spending like there's no tomorrow"?

    Sometimes, as a family, we will head into town or to Silverburn or XScape and spend a bit of time pottering around the shops, maybe have some coffee and cake and then later have a meal in one of the restaurants. Or even go to the cinema before heading home.

    Do people think cinemas and restaurants should be closed or have restricted opening hours on Sundays? No, just shops for some reason.
  • MaxatoriaMaxatoria Posts: 17,980
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    idlewilde wrote: »
    Why is a reduced / removed service a good thing?

    If they had to open 24x7 they'd have to factor in the 3-4am costs of having probably 30 staff in for just probably a pack of nappies and some guy on his way home from the pub after anything fattening to soak up the beer
  • idlewildeidlewilde Posts: 8,698
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    Maxatoria wrote: »
    If they had to open 24x7 they'd have to factor in the 3-4am costs of having probably 30 staff in for just probably a pack of nappies and some guy on his way home from the pub after anything fattening to soak up the beer

    This isn't about shops or supermarkets having to open, just about removing the restriction that would then allow them to if they thought demand warranted it.
  • PorkchopExpressPorkchopExpress Posts: 5,534
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    Maxatoria wrote: »
    If they had to open 24x7 they'd have to factor in the 3-4am costs of having probably 30 staff in for just probably a pack of nappies and some guy on his way home from the pub after anything fattening to soak up the beer
    Nobody HAS to open 24/7.
  • MythicaMythica Posts: 3,808
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    occy wrote: »
    It's more cost efficient to shut as they use that Sunday to replenish shelves and staff don't always want to work on extra expecially on a Sunday with some who have families.

    We have become very selfish and expect at s click of a finger supermarkets to stay open extra. People do have lives outside work.

    You do know that at 10pm on a Sunday that your local Tesco will be busy full of workers anyway? It would take limited resources to then keep that shop open for trade. So I'm not sure where you get your information from but it's wrong. Sorry to burst your bubble too but why don't you care about the poor person that is working in an open casino at 10pm on a Sunday, or McDonald's? Don't they have families?
  • dearmrmandearmrman Posts: 21,434
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    idlewilde wrote: »
    Why is a reduced / removed service a good thing?

    Because though Supermarkets are good for the average person, for other businesses they are bad...and we should never have allowed them to get the size they are now. What supermarkets do is they come in offer cheap prices, because they can afford to, and try and destroy other competition.
  • tim59tim59 Posts: 47,188
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    idlewilde wrote: »
    This isn't about shops or supermarkets having to open, just about removing the restriction that would then allow them to if they thought demand warranted it.

    In other words its not about what might be best for public its about, having laws and rules that people dont like, think its fair to say that the demand would not be there as most dont even take advantage of being able to stay open for longer on the rest of the 6 days.
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