The first trade-free Sunday

I pledge this post customarily has been scheduled to come out on Sunday, yet on account of other, more interesting plans for today, I wrote it yesterday and could not report here the full picture of the first regular Sunday when shops are closed.

The lawmakers’ primary rationale for bringing in the ban on trade on (around half of) Sundays was to bring this day back to the family, to make people spend more time together, or, alternatively to devoid them of choice, whether to visit a supermarket or a church. Changing people’s habits through legislative acts looms as a domain of totalitarian or authoritarian governments (though I do know this assertion is debatable).

The main argument of the new law’s proponents is that shops in most countries of the Western EU are closed on Sundays. I saw this while venturing abroad and I still am in two minds about this. In January 2017, while flying in to Madrid on Sunday afternoon, knowing the trade is forbidden there, I deliberately did not any snacks to make a supper, my companion and I just ventured into town thinking we would easily find an eatery. Eventually we roamed for around an hour searching for an open restaurant. Prompting eatery-keepers to close them on Sunday means depriving them of sizeable turnover, something I do not hold with.

Imposing such solutions will not work miracles I believe. A new legal act will not make customers go to church or spend more time will relatives. It will only change their shopping habits (maybe I make a huge mistake by thinking people go to trade outpost to purchase stuff as I do, but many just go there to enjoy the weekend).

Although I am not in favour of the ban, since many years I strived not to shop on Sundays. I always believed Saturday was the part of weekend dedicated to mundane duties which could not be handled over the working week, while Sunday was a day of rest, relax, recharging batteries, indulging in hobbies, touching the nature, long walks, cycling. I have rarely contributed to thriving trade on Sundays, but coercing others not to shop just because I do is a step too far. Another aspect of the issue is the fate of employees who until now were forced to work on Sundays. The best solution here is… (yes, indeed) the imposition of higher wages on Sundays which will induce some to sacrifice their free time; another option is a voluntary participation in Sunday shift, yet such concept appears less practicable since if too few volunteers would sign up, shoppers could face the problem of understaffing.

Needless to say, emergence of a new regulation naturally turns on ingenuity of those affected by it. Petrol stations, also those state-owned, might sell washing machines, shopping galleries might be turned into showrooms. Traders come up with several ways of circumventing the new, the lawmakers will struggle to tackle it and crack down on loopholes allowing exceptions to the prohibitions.

My observations from yesterday: denser traffic and crowds in nearby Auchan and adjacent gallery.

My predictions for today: hundreds of nieogarnięci, who, despite numerous reminders, headed to the shops and run across closed doors, nearly empty roads.