Hi guys,
I am not sure of the relevance to other parts of the world but here in Australia we had a recent [10 years ago] deregulation of trading hours.

At first glance this issue may seem of unimportance or even trivial until we look a little deeper at the way chasing the buck is decimating societal cohesion.

Years ago when Australia was a bit of a back water we had weekends, Saturday trading was restricted to mornings only and Sunday trading was only available to essential services only. People worked similar hours and penalty rates applied for over time.

On a Saturday afternoon there would be football matches to go to or other sporting events like "little athletics' etc and on a Saturfay night there would always be a party to go to [ or an ausie barbeque] and on Sundays a picnic with the family of even a community football match or public meeting like church or other community gathering.
Children saw their parents together at the same time and creche or day care for infants was a rarety.

I wonder what will the cost be to society when children grow up never seeing their parents together due to shift work [different weekends]. Never knowing the pleasure of community time shared by the majority at the same time.

What will the cost be to the familly unit and to the community at large when there is no method of coming together.
Is the cost worth the gain?
Care to discuss?

WE had all that done in the UK in the late 80's/ early 90's. Now the roads are hellishly busy on a sunday afternoon, and people whos job it is to think about these things see a continued increase in night working coming up. Of course, doing night shift is bad for you, though a small number of people prefer it, thus you end up with more people doing nightshift and having more disrupted lives. People in the UK often seem to be busier now, because they can go shopping/ have to work at all times of day and night, and thus, it helps destroy social situations.

do you think that the cost is going to be more than we have reckoned for?

What do you mean by trade? As in stores and shops? So you couldn't go down to a convenience store to get something to drink on the weekends? What if unexpected guests showed up at your house and you needed to go shopping?

I really can't imagine this seriously affecting anyone. I suppose it could mean that some families will work split shifts or whatever, but it's more likely that the parents will work to synchronize their schedules so that they can spend as much time together and with the children as possible. Look at it this way, if the parents don't care enough to try to get the best work schedule possible, then would it matter if they spent all day with the kids? You can spend all day with your kids with one hand down your pants and the other wrapped around a can of 4X (Isn't that a popular beer down there? Or did I just see that brand in a movie somewhere. Now that I think about it, I think I did. Shrimp on the Barbie. Anyway, name your own beer. Fosters? Australian for beer?).

It's in the effort the parents are willing to put forth. It doesn't translate linearly to time with the children.


Children saw their parents together at the same time and creche or day care for infants was a rarety.

If both of the parents were forced to work at the same time, wouldn't day care be mandatory if both parents were working?

it's not just all retail that is effected.....manufacturing, and services

What if guests turn up..?....don't show much any more because they seem to be working.
Trying to organise a dinner party is virtually impossible......

So you couldn't go down to a convenience store to get something to drink on the weekends?
Yes you could, but now everyone works weekends. The weekends are now pretty much the same as the weekdays for most people. How many people "take work home" now compared to 10 or 20 years ago?
Isn't that a popular beer down there? Or did I just see that brand in a movie somewhere. Now that I think about it, I think I did. Shrimp on the Barbie. Anyway, name your own beer. Fosters? Australian for beer?).
In Queensland 4X is popular, no-one drinks Fosters, the most popular in general is probably VB(?)

No one in australia drinks fosters, it's trademark is being the australian beer people from other countries drink.

as long as people still work the 40 hours a week then who cares when they do it, i wolud prefer however to do 2 -straight days then take the reast of the week off, monophalasic sleep is able to be altered like that

the question is really about community or a sense of community that may be diminished because of the inability for members to come together at the same time....the cost to the family unit...ect

And the answer is that yes, it will affect communities and families negatively, especially as more people do shifts and nightshifts etc.

from my own perspective, my wife works weekends in retail to midevening hours of 9 and 10 pm, my daughter works weekends, my son studies during the week. I have normal hours.
To actually get the family together for a single meal takes a huge amount of time scheduling.

And i was wondering what future there is for family or community if this lifestyle is maintained........

I would anticipate that the family unit of the future would be severely compromised and wonder how a totally individualistic society of the future will function.

Being from Western Australia we may be getting a state referendum regarding deregulated trading. Ill be voting YES.

As far as effecting social standards I dont think that a change in trading hours will effect it to much. Currently Australia is starting to suffer from worker shortages, this has the effect of driving wages up and individuals have more power to control when they work. A lot of people have put them selves in serious debt and are forced to work longer hours, giving up time for the family to pay for their large house, car, swimming pools, plasma TV's and whatever. This is a serious social problem, but can only be tackled by educating people how to live within there means.

My girl friend is a contracted nurse and prefers to work on weekends as the penalty rates make it very worth while. Yet she has the power not to work if there is a special event that she would like to attend. Apart from the mortgage we are debt free and not slaves to the market.

It will make it harder for small business that do currently trade on Sundays as they will lose some of there customers to the bigger stores that currently cant open on Sundays.

the problem is that alot of the penalty rates will cease to apply.....thus weekeend work is deemed normal rate.....
I do understand the attractions of deregulated hours, especially economic attrcations especially to government. But I wonder if a couple of generations down the line are we going to start paying a nasty price for this change.