"A petition urging shops to stay closed on Boxing Day to give staff a break has been backed by more than 100,000.

Retail workers are "being bled dry" by "greedy employers", supporters wrote on the petition's web page."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37972819


I suppose the answer is that if you don't like the hours involved in working in retail then find a job elsewhere
I worked in social care and my clients still needed care on Christmas Day and Boxing day, so I had to arrange my celebrations around my shifts. I accepted that was part of the job

I expect many started these jobs before it became the rule rather than the exception to work boxing day. I'd be quite happy for all shops to close for 2 days. Nothing is that important.

Predictably the petition refers to time off to spend with family over the holidays 'like everyone else'.

'Everyone else' excluding emergency services, hospital workers, care staff, hotel staff, utility suppliers, everyone involved in keeping TV and radio going, restaurant staff, taxi drivers ...

If they want the day off, that's fine. But don't go for the sympathy vote by pretending they're the only ones working.

When I was a lad in the 80s nowhere was open for days after Christmas. A lot of places closed until the new year.

Those who only get Xmas Day & Boxing off ,may wish to go shopping on Boxing Day when the sales start.

Not everyone has a family to spend Christmas with.

Many work over the Christmas period & may need a shop to be open.

Not everyone celebrates Christmas

That was before people were even required to work on a Sunday as many do now. Hotels and many restaurants are open even on Christmas Day. Others are preparing shops for the Sales until the early hours Christmas eve/Boxing Day.

I remember when shops weren't open mid week on a Wednesday too.

These days some only get one, or if their lucky 2 days off over the Christmas period. Others have to work over Christmas as part of their contracts.

Trains,buses and taxis run on boxing day and those who have been away need to get home.

It is unfortunate that some workers are in jobs that provide vital services that must be delivered on bank and public holidays. I don't think the opportunity to wander round B&Q or Tesco falls into the category of a "vital" service. It wouldn't hurt for the shops to be closed on Boxing Day so the staff could have an extra day off.

As a retail goon myself, most of my prior employments have involved working on Christmas Eve and/or Boxing Day and/or surrounding days, and even those stores which are closed to the public on Boxing Day usually have staff in setting up the store for post-Christmas sales. Christmas Day and maybe Easter Sunday are the only days you'd really get momentum on calls for a trading ban, and even there firms could point to shopping channels and online retailers being able to operate...

"they've got a german shepherd dog named prince"

people need to be weened off doing something as idiotic as wandering around B&Q on a holiday, perhaps they will now take the kids out somewhere less boring ?

Personally I don't think shops should be open on Boxing Day. However, if that is a rule that is unlikely to be overturned, I think it should be law that shops can only be open for a maximum of 6 hours (e.g. 10am-4pm). Those poor sods at Next have to be there for a 5am start. Horrendous!

So a very small minority then.

It's because now everyone MUST go shopping on Boxing Day.

If it's double pay for working Boxing Day I would take the hours. And I work in retail

..and what a pain in the bum it was too.

Trumpxit is coming I think.

It's when a social outcast manages to win a general election on a platform of extreme economic change.

These threads are always entertaining.

Certain posters have almost a sense of...panic, if every day is not identical, and that shops might be closed.

Much less retail workers might be having fun.

I used to work in retail and had to work Boxing day. It used to be reduced hours. Say 10-4

But the company started to extend the hours. When I left it had become 8am until 6pm. Thankfully where I work now and while still in the retail sector its not a shop we are closed 25th, 26th and 27th. Close early on Christmas Eve to

You see them running around the supermarkets on Christmas Eve and Easter, with enough groceries to feed the 5000...all because the shop is closed for one whole day, I hate to imagine how these poor souls would cope if it was two whole days. These posters can't even cope with only 6 hours opening on a Sunday.

I'm not sure that selling more Pringles to fat people is really up there with putting out fires or looking after old ladies. But people get really angry if a job isn't made as shit as it can possibly be.

I hope their petition is successful and the poor, overworked retail workers get the day off. Perhaps they could celebrate not being 'forced' to work by going down the pub and having a drink, poured by, oooh, I dunno, someone who's having to work on Boxing Day...

Most people don't seem to understand the difference between working and trading.

Trading laws only affect the hours a shop can open. It doesn't stop employees being required to work behind closed doors. Lidl and Aldi usually open 8am-10pm, but the workers are there at least by 7am and leave at 11pm at the very earliest. Some of them don't walk out the door until 1am, and don't get paid for it.

On Sundays, they close at 5pm but keep working until at least 7pm, if not 9pm. There are some busy times, such as stock taking or other events, when a few staff can be there until 10pm or 11pm on a Sunday night.

So if someone bans trading on Boxing Day, shops will simply make their staff do loads of work behind closed doors anyway - when it's nice and quiet and they can move things around, polish the floors and do a stock taking without pesky customers getting under their feet.


The masses absolutely love the excitement of Boxing Day sales - not only to find bargains, but because it's an enjoyable day out. Why deny them this?

Some people get the best part of two weeks off over Christmas, some get several days and some work Christmas and Boxing Day. That's life.

You may as well demand that people who work in retail get paid the same salaries as their executives, who almost certainly do not work on Boxing Day, and drive a better car.

I don't understand why in an era of online shopping there is any necessity for shops to be open on Boxing Day? This is only a fairly recent thing and think it does need to be axed for the sake of giving retail workers a bit of time to chill after what is the busiest shopping month of the year.

Also who wants to be confronted by a scene off the Walking Dead when they come into work after Christmas? What's the betting these angry shoppers are the same lefty liberals who bang on about workers rights too?

I am a nurse and I am very familiar with working over bank holidays - Christmas & New Year included. However, I knew this when I started nursing back in 1976 and it is simply part of the job. It is necessary to work bank holidays.

However, the retail trade is different. Do we really need to go shopping on Boxing Day? Would we all go to hell in a handcart if the shops failed to open on Boxing Day?

Of course not. I say give the workers a couple of days off - Christmas & Boxing Day and do your shopping another time.

Is it really too much to ask? I think not.

I'd like shops to close, just to take everyday blokes for one day off the treadmill of endless consumerism and being dragged by OH round the shops with the bright lights and cr@p music. Just give it a rest for one day.
I'm not bothered about convenience stores and mini-supermarkets opening.

I have no particular feelings at all about this subject matter.