Should UK Supermarkets be allowed to open longer on Sundays?

[Mr Allen]

Topic.

Under current Sunday trading laws, Stores over a certain size can only open for 6 hours a day on a Sunday, maybe 10 AM to 4 PM or 11 AM to 5 PM for instance.

Do you think this should change to allow particularly the big 24 hour Supermarkets such as ASDA, Sainsbury's or Tesco to extend their Sunday trading hours?

Vote in the Poll and discuss.

 

[kay]

You still have weird Sunday rules? What are the reasons? We used to have "blue laws" which prohibited the sale of all sorts of things on Sundays. I think our Sunday restrictions were left over from religious reasons, but those are gone I suppose pretty much everywhere by now. Except alcohol maybe in some areas of the country.

 

[Mr Allen]

You still have weird Sunday rules? What are the reasons? We used to have "blue laws" which prohibited the sale of all sorts of things on Sundays. I think our Sunday restrictions were left over from religious reasons, but those are gone I suppose pretty much everywhere by now. Except alcohol maybe in some areas of the country.

Yes, the law changed a few years back to allow Sunday trading.

 

[Judge]

You still have weird Sunday rules? What are the reasons? We used to have "blue laws" which prohibited the sale of all sorts of things on Sundays. I think our Sunday restrictions were left over from religious reasons, but those are gone I suppose pretty much everywhere by now. Except alcohol maybe in some areas of the country.

Seems business hours on Sunday remain a "political football" in England and Wales. While the vast majority of the public seem not to want any such limitations on Sundays. Even at the expense of small business. Perhaps such laws are the combined effort of organized labor, small businesses and religion, making for a somewhat odd yet robust political coalition in maintaining such laws.

Most of such questions can probably be answered here:

Sunday Trading Act 1994 - Wikipedia


In the US, "fair trade laws" regulated such concerns state-by-state from 1931 to 1975. After the laws were repealed, the "big box" retailers came in and made many small businesses extinct, like my aunt's electronics store.

Of course these laws went much further than just dictating what days and hours they could operate on. They kept prices relatively uniform so big business couldn't "lowball" the small businesses driving them out of business so easily. Nowadays business is cutthroat and little else. Though it's amusing when small Internet businesses can thrive alongside corporate giants.

 

[Streetwise]

Seems business hours on Sunday remain a "political football" in England and Wales. While the vast majority of the public seem not to want any such limitations on Sundays. Even at the expense of small business. Perhaps such laws are the combined effort of organized labor, small businesses and religion, making for a somewhat odd yet robust political coalition in maintaining such laws.

Most of such questions can probably be answered here:

Sunday Trading Act 1994 - Wikipedia


In the US, "fair trade laws" regulated such concerns state-by-state from 1931 to 1975. After the laws were repealed, the "big box" retailers came in and made many small businesses extinct, like my aunt's electronics store.

Of course these laws went much further than just dictating what days and hours they could operate on. They kept prices relatively uniform so big business couldn't "lowball" the small businesses driving them out of business so easily. Nowadays business is cutthroat and little else. Though it's amusing when small Internet businesses can thrive alongside corporate giants.

at the time supermarket owners werent so mercenary !but if there weren't Sunday trading laws some people would literally working 24 /seven .The supermarkets have them by the neck especially in the north-east of England wages are LOw !people are frightened to leave a job !,cominginto contact with the DWP does that to you.
Watch the movie I Daniel Blake !I haven't seen it ,I'm wondering if the director Ken Loach was allowed to say that the job centre give out food bank vouchers!

 

[xudo]

You still have weird Sunday rules? What are the reasons? We used to have "blue laws" which prohibited the sale of all sorts of things on Sundays. I think our Sunday restrictions were left over from religious reasons, but those are gone I suppose pretty much everywhere by now. Except alcohol maybe in some areas of the country.

As @Judge linked, the law was changed in 1994 to allow Sunday trading, but we still have the restrictions. It's left over from religious reasons that we still have the restrictions on opening hours. It's incredibly frustrating when you don't have a car and the only shop within walking distance is only open until 4pm on a Sunday (we are in this situation).

Some people say it would be unfair on those who work in retail, like as if they don't have to work Sundays and holidays now. My husband works every bank holiday we have and Sundays. Most places pay a premium on Sunday too, so there can be benefits. Plus, if they did change the law, it wouldn't be compulsory to open longer or for people to work later.

 

[Bolletje]

I think shop owners should be able to open their doors on Sunday if they want to.

 

[Mr Allen]

Seems business hours on Sunday remain a "political football" in England and Wales. While the vast majority of the public seem not to want any such limitations on Sundays. Even at the expense of small business. Perhaps such laws are the combined effort of organized labor, small businesses and religion, making for a somewhat odd yet robust political coalition in maintaining such laws.

Most of such questions can probably be answered here:

Sunday Trading Act 1994 - Wikipedia


In the US, "fair trade laws" regulated such concerns state-by-state from 1931 to 1975. After the laws were repealed, the "big box" retailers came in and made many small businesses extinct, like my aunt's electronics store.

Of course these laws went much further than just dictating what days and hours they could operate on. They kept prices relatively uniform so big business couldn't "lowball" the small businesses driving them out of business so easily. Nowadays business is cutthroat and little else. Though it's amusing when small Internet businesses can thrive alongside corporate giants.

That's the thing in the UK, traditional "Bricks and Mortar" Businesses can't compete with exclusively online Retailers, especially on price and customer service.

Because these online Retailers are available 24/7 365 days a year, the likes of Amazon even deliver on a Sunday if you have a Prime account, normal Businesses can't do that, apart from Supermarkets, because there's no Post on Sundays.

 

[Judge]

That's the thing in the UK, traditional "Bricks and Mortar" Businesses can't compete with exclusively online Retailers, especially on price and customer service.

Because these online Retailers are available 24/7 365 days a year, the likes of Amazon even deliver on a Sunday if you have a Prime account, normal Businesses can't do that, apart from Supermarkets, because there's no Post on Sundays.

That's why I included "small businesses" among those likely lobbying with your government to regulate such hours. However in the big picture, I don't see how a single day in the week can truly make an impact to even the playing field between large and small business entities.

Besides, most of the money moved online pertains to very large corporate retailers- not the "little guys". It seems more like a political gesture at the expense of annoyed consumers. Appeasement to a few special interests that doesn't really accomplish much beyond pandering to certain religious institutions. Politics as usual.

In my country the laws pretty much leave it up to the businesses in question. Most of them operate on Sundays without incident or religious outcry. Though it remains politically contentious as to those who seek to force taxes upon all Internet retailers, whether they have brick and mortar equivalents or not.

 

[Aeolienne]

Seems business hours on Sunday remain a "political football" in England and Wales. While the vast majority of the public seem not to want any such limitations on Sundays. Even at the expense of small business. Perhaps such laws are the combined effort of organized labor, small businesses and religion, making for a somewhat odd yet robust political coalition in maintaining such laws.

Most of such questions can probably be answered here:

Sunday Trading Act 1994 - Wikipedia

It's interesting that Sunday trading in Scotland has "always been generally unregulated", according to the Wiki link. This is somewhat ironic given Scotland's historic association with strict Sabbatarian versions of Presbytarianism. Admittedly these days the last remaining strangeholds of the so-called "Wee Frees" are remote island communities such as Raasay and Lewis-with-Harris. I wonder if there have been any studies done into the impact of Scottish Sunday trading on family life?

As to what I think ... I'm usually able to do my weekend shopping within the available opening times so in one respect I don't need longer trading hours. However I don't think it's the business of government to be regulating family time (the usual argument in favour of restricted Sunday trading). For the same reason I would also be in favour of having public transport on Christmas Day and Boxing Day - which would bring the UK in line with the rest of Europe (including Germany).