Ontario, Canada..close stores on Boxing Day?

[Warped9]

This subject will likely mean more to Canadian residents and perhaps those in other Commonwealth countries that observe Boxing Day on December 26th.

When I was growing up in Toronto and then later in Mississauga, Ontario retail stores were closed on Boxing Day (December 26th) the day after Christmas. I and many others relished this as it made Christmas feel like something more than just an elaborate day off. It meant folks could travel to visit friends and family, actually "make merry" if they wished on Christmas Day and have an extra day to recuperate or just enjoy time with family and friends.

Of course since Boxing Day is a recognized statutory holiday many people still enjoy it as an extra day off work...except retail employees. Although I can't recall the exact year Ontario decided to allow retailers to open on Boxing Day I do know that for retail employees it makes Christmas mostly a joke. For retail employees (such as myself) you don't get to go anywhere during Christmas and you usually have to think about going to bed even earlier than you normally would because you'll have to be at work extra early (echoing Ebenezer Scrooge asserting the very same command to Bob Crachet) for the Boxing Day door crasher crazies.

And I don't apologize for saying that because it's true. I see Boxing Day close up and door crasher specials are usually cheap crap that a store usually doesn't carry except to entice compulsive shoppers out in the wee hours of the morning. And now that many retailers are observing something of a Boxing Week it makes shopping on December 26th even more absurd.

Retailers didn't gain any more business by starting their sales on the 26th rather than the 27th (as they used to)--they're just starting a day early. And employees don't have any real choice whether to work or not--it's effectively mandatory.

We already have Sunday shopping and pretty much a 24/7 shopping society. Can we not take that one day back to make Christmas feel special again? It worked for many years and no one suffered for it.

Now I know some will say that there would still be people working. Yes, some restaurants, police, hospitals, fire fighters, some movie theatres and some convenience stores and gas stations, but none of those are threats to most other retailers.

I also know some will defend Boxing Day shopping primarily because they can shop on their day off and aren't compelled to work like the retail employees who will be serving them. And of course the business minded will defend it primarily because dollar signs rather than sugar plums are dancing in their heads. And I've no doubt that if the Wal-Marts of the world could be open Christmas Day then they'd do it in a minute and screw the employees who would be forced to work. It likely wouldn't be any more voluntary than Boxing Day is.

I don't see this happening anytime soon because the business interests can get the ear of government much more easily than the public. But I still wish we observed Boxing Day as an extra day off after Christmas for everyone and not just for those fortunate enough not to be working in retail.

For the record I've felt this way long before I worked in retail. I've shopped only once on a Boxing Day many years ago and I have never and will never repeat the experience. I'd rather stay home and relax. Also, I rather like my job to the point where my only serious beef with it is being compelled to work on a day that others like myself used to have off. And society still functioned, didn't fall apart and folks still got their bargains.

 

[Timewalker]

You would deprive all of us of standing in line at 3 a.m., waiting several hours for electronics stores to open so we can save a bit of money, freeze various portions of our respective anatomies, and make Tim Hortons rich? (because even though the store had coffee/cocoa set out for people, it was utter crap - everybody who wanted a hot drink went to Tim Hortons)

Actually, I've done the Boxing Day shopping a few times in my life. The worst experience was at a department store, with hordes of people fighting over Christmas decorations and wrapping paper! I did the "freezing my hands, feet, and nose" rite of passage a few years ago when Visions Electronics had a sale too good to pass up. But the best year was when I waited until later in the day when the crowds had been and gone... and snagged some great bargains on videos and music!

Mind you, Boxing Day sales aren't something I do every year. But it is something to do after the actual Christmas is over and done with. My family has always done Christmas on December 24, the family/friend visits on the 25th, and by the 26th we need to get out of the house!

(I live in Alberta, in case you're wondering)

 

[T'Baio]

I know a lot of employees that love working Boxing Day for the time and a half. What about them? You wanna' screw them out of their extra cash?

 

[Count Zero]

Well, I live in a country (Germany) where shops are closed on Boxing Day and on most Sundays, too. I prefer it stayed that way because I like that there's a 'time out' on shopping.
Labour unions fought hard so that workers wouldn't have to work on the weekend and could spend time with their families. Now, it seems retail employees slowly get cheated out of this achievement. Well into the 90s, shops here closed at around 6 pm on weekdays and on noon or 2 pm on Saturdays and somehow people managed. Nowadays, stores stay open at least until 8 pm on weekdays and often equally long on Saturdays, so it's not like people are unable to do their shopping then.

 

[enlisted person]

I would think that should be up to the individual stores to decide. I hate oppressive laws that tell people what they can and cannot do. We have many blue laws here in the states that regulate store hours. Why should a retailer not be allowed to keep a store open 24/7/365 if they want too? Many people have to work Christmas day, why not allow them the ability to buy things if they need to.

 

[Warped9]

The problem with allowing individual stores to decide to stay open is that it really is the slippery slope. Employees will have to work in those stores if they're open. And then competitors will also feel the pressure that someone has an unfair advantage of an extra business day. In truth no retailer is compelled to be open Boxing Day, but what retailer will surrender an extra business day to a competitor.

For business the only difference is that their big sales are on the 26th rather than the 27th. For employees the difference is a truncated holiday where they can't go far from home. Business gets all the other days of the year, but I guess that still isn't enough for them.

I'd gladly do without that extra time-and-a-half pay to have the day off after Christmas.

 

[Holdfast]

Even in my line of work, which is decidedly not retail, I know plenty of people who opt to work over the holidays - even going to the extent of swapping with those originally rostered on - because the extra cash, time in lieu, no family, or a myriad other reasons. Sure, a lot of people do it because they feel obliged, too, but it's wrong to say it's only people being forced to work that are working that day.

And to address the other main point, how do you know that they're not making more money by opening on the 26th rather than the 27th? It's very difficult to test, since overall retail sales tend to rise year-on-year anyway, so being able to differentiate enough to be sure would be difficult. Footfall is likely higher on the 26th than if they started their sales on the 27th, because there will be more people off work and available to shop. So sales could well be higher. And even if not, an extra day's shopping in the year means an extra day's turnover. So over the whole year, sales will be higher by opening on the 26th, even if no extra items are sold relative to another normal non-sale day.

In general, I'd say that the occasionally anti-social hours are something that those choosing to work in retail are aware of when they opt to work in that field, so on balance, I'd say "no harm, no foul".

 

[Trippy]

This year especially, with the 26th on a Saturday, it makes sense to open as per status quo. I don't shop Boxing day anyway, and most stores have 'Boxing Week' specials anyway.

 

[Warped9]

I don't usually work Saturdays and Sundays, but if Boxing falls on either of those days then I have to work. And getting a day off during the week sometime isn't the same as two days off together.

 

[trampledamage]

This year especially, with the 26th on a Saturday, it makes sense to open as per status quo. I don't shop Boxing day anyway, and most stores have 'Boxing Week' specials anyway.

Off-topic but the weirdest thing I experienced when I first moved to Canada was the fact the some Canadian stores use "Boxing Day" as a general term to mean a day of big sales - so we arrived in February to adverts for "Boxing Day" sales.

 

[Warped9]

For some years now some stores have been touting Boxing Day sales that have actually lasted a week or more. But the crazy hours of opening at 5 or 6 AM apply only to the first day.

Although I work in retail I'm not in the sales aspect of it. Doesn't matter, I still have to work on the 26th.

Candidly I can't stand the exhibition of such blatant corporate and consumer greed hand-in-hand. For me it's the ironic over-the-top counterpoint to Christmas as a whole and what it's supposed to represent.

 

[emacs]

Although I can't recall the exact year Ontario decided to allow retailers to open on Boxing Day ...

Boxing Day Shopping Act of 1996
http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/statutes/english/elaws_statutes_90r30_e.htm

 

[Captain Ice]

And I've no doubt that if the Wal-Marts of the world could be open Christmas Day then they'd do it in a minute and screw the employees who would be forced to work.

They absoloutely can be open, though maybe not where you are from. They simply choose NOT to be.

We have had several retailers choose to be open on Christmas day here and, to an extent, it works.

 

[Crusher Disciple]

Off-topic but the weirdest thing I experienced when I first moved to Canada was the fact the some Canadian stores use "Boxing Day" as a general term to mean a day of big sales - so we arrived in February to adverts for "Boxing Day" sales.

You think that's bad? It took me years to learn that the 26th never featured a boxing match.

 

[Kirk's_Tights]

...how does having ONE extra day off that much of a difference? How far do you really have to go to spend an evening or even a day with family? Wake up, open your presents, go have dinner with family at around 5/6PM, go home after a few hours, stay up another hour or two or more to relax and watch TV, go to bed.


I don't see the big deal. I do it every single year and my paycheck is enough reason to make me happy about working every boxing day. If it were a week we were talking about, that might be different, but one day, who cares. I was always the only one working on that day and I never cared. I'm making money while everyone else is just sitting at home or shopping for things that I don't want, anyways.

 

[Captain Ice]

If he has to drive a couple of hundred miles each way, then it makes a huge difference.

 

[Warped9]

If you work in retail then the commercial aspects of our society are right in your face...every minute of every day you're there.

If you've never experienced having the two days off together as it used to be then possibly you don't get the difference.

If all you care about is the extra money and Christmas is basically a chore to endure and get through then you might not get it.

And those who benefit from Boxing Day, be they business folks or customers, likely won't get the difference either.

I've always considered it something of a joke when references are made to the Christmas holidays. What holidays? One day off. That's a long weekend if it falls on a Monday or Friday. Any other day of the week it's just an elaborate day off.

And yet yesterday on the evening news I heard people talking about their holiday vacation starting this week (the story was in connection with folks dealing with New York's snow storm). And there are businesses who actually close their doors for a few to several days, sometimes until after New Years. Now that's a Christmas holiday. In fact I used to work for such a company back in the '80s and it was rather nice having an actual Christmas holiday of several days.

But I'm not advocating that. I'm talking about one lousy day that we used to have until the business minded convinced the government to take it away. The almighty dollar wins again.

 

[Trippy]

It depends on where you work or what you do to have a Christmas 'vacation'. I'm a teacher, so I have 2 weeks off.

I used to be a hairstylist, and we were closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day (no real sales at a hair salon to line up for) and that was it. We had to work Christmas Eve until 4 pm.

It's the nature of the beast if you work retail.

 

[Holdfast]

I used to be a hairstylist, and we were closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day (no real sales at a hair salon to line up for) and that was it.

You should have offered a special for anyone who had their hair disarrayed by the unseemly jostling in the sales.