Barr orders review of trading hours

I say let the market dictate when shops open.

Re late night shopping, I prefer Thursday but don’t really care too much.

Why am I posting then? I don’t know.

Off topic: The whole “I had to walk 50 miles in the rain/hail/snow/bushfires with nothing but empty tissue boxes on my feet so I could get to my 18 hour job/study/beating” gets kinda tired. Shouldn’t we be trying to improve things?

On topic: personally I think it would suck to have late night shopping move to Thursdays. If I really need to go to the shops that badly that it has to be after work, at least on Fridays there is a sense that it’s the start of the weekend (well, there is for the Mon to Fri-ers anyway). I don’t think I’d go if it were on a Thursday instead…

“Also thursday night shopping.. is it fair for the kids to have to work thursday night then have school uni on friday? If ur gonna be at school all day then work all half the night it may as well be friday.”

Cry me a river, princess… Plenty of people I know (including myself) studied tough degrees and worked multiple jobs to support themselves.

Shops should be able to open whenever they want, to give us, the consumers, the best possible choice. It’s up to us to decide what, when and where we buy things – why not let the free market compete for that business?

I think (I’m not completely certain though) that the push for this is coming from small retailers in the big malls that get pressured by mall management to open on Boxing Day.

…and just what has prompted this ‘review’?

Somehow I don’t think that businesses want the hours changed… is there some huge public outcry over trading hours that I haven’t heard about?

And Crikey, the Liquor Board does a good job of mandating unreasonable conditions on nightclubs already, especially when it’s not in their jurisdiction.

If they wanted to modify nightclub trading hours they could.. it hasn’t stopped them in the past.

What is the significance of the shops being closed dmac? What purpose does it serve? If you haven’t noticed, shops are open every other day for our convenience and I don’t see how a public holiday should be treated any differently.

I’m able to think AND breathe? Now you tell me…

pffft, if you can’t survive the shops being closed for two days you probably can’t think and breathe at the same time.

Shops should be able to open whenever they want.
Anyone who thinks otherwise should move to Brisbane – where the supermarkets close on 5pm on weekends.

I think its a shithouse idea.

Having worked Christmas, Boxing Day, NYE and NY for a few years, there’s terrific money in it (both in terms of pay and store cashflow), and the people who actually do go shopping on those days appreciate that someone is there.

Who cares if the shops are open on public holidays, does it make the holiday any less relevant? On the Melbourne Cup public holiday I went to Magnet Mart and bought pot plants and other gardening supplies. It turned out to be a rather productive day that I would have otherwise probably spent at home drinking beer.

Boxing day is alright if you celebrate christmas.. but how many of the non christmas celebrating ppl are going to want to have 2 days where the shops are closed for a non event.

Also thursday night shopping.. is it fair for the kids to have to work thursday night then have school uni on friday? If ur gonna be at school all day then work all half the night it may as well be friday.

Friday gives people a chance to pay off their bills before spending it all on shopping.

Maybe he’s just sick of jokes about barrs.

I don’t see the need for Shopping on Boxing day.

And the young shop assistants probably don’t have a lot of choice in the matter.

i like the fact that on thursday, if canberran’s wanted late night shopping, we could pop over to qbd. and on friday they could pop over here..so we’d get two late night shopping days =)

and pffft, i personally enjoy working on public holidays. get away from family, and get paid about 30 bucks an hour for it! =D

Mr Barr obviously doesn’t like doing the groceries after work or on his days off and wants to put a stop to it. What inspires these idiots?

Totally agree Special G! What’s so special about xmas day, boxing day, easter sunday, etc? Sure they are public holidays, but many Australians have no deeply religious connection to these days (except for the start of the boxing day test). So why does the govt feel the need to dictate our lives in this area? If the consumers want it, and the businesses are willing to supply this service then why not??

Why not work on boxing day or christmas or good friday or any other day for that matter. IT should be up to the shop owner.

The only review I’d like to see is into bank trading hours- last time I checked, Dickson commbank opens 9:30am-4pm (except Fridays when they bless us with a closing time of 5pm)…

I’ve always been a fan of Asian trading hours- open ~10am and close ~8pm. I’d be a lot more inclined to go to the shops if I didn’t have to knock off early on a workday…

I agree that the shops should be closed on Boxing Day and I don’t have a problem with Thursday night shopping in place of Friday night. But if Barr is serious he should be looking at regulating the trading hours of our nightclubs.

Let shops do what they want – how can shops staying open late or on public holidays be bad for anyone, unless they’re coercing employees to work non-standard hours outside of any contractual agreement? The extra convenience to the public and customers can only be good … and if you don’t need to shop late at night, what’s it to you? Unless you’re losing sleep knowing that somewhere in Canberra a shop is still open …

Maybe the ACT Govt could just introduce an extra tax on shopkeepers for Boxing Day – after all, they like inventing new taxes.

Take away from local shops the few days a year that they can make a decent bit of money?

Did someone at his local give him the wrong change or something?