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From: rbutterworth@watmath.UUCP
Newsgroups: ont.general
Subject: Sunday shopping hours (again).
Message-ID: <5626@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 4-Mar-87 13:10:04 EST
Article-I.D.: watmath.5626
Posted: Wed Mar  4 13:10:04 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Mar-87 18:36:26 EST
Distribution: ont
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 48


There was a lot of discussion a while back about Sunday shopping
in Ontario.  I've just spent some of the last month in Australia,
and the shopping hours there might be of interest to those that were
following the previous discussion.

Those that don't like the current situation in Ontario, will think
that the Australia (Sydney area anyway, I don't know about the rest of
the country) situation is extremely wonderful or horrible, depending
upon one's point of view.

It seems that on week nights, almost all shops are closed by 5:00
or 6:00.  On Thursday nights they remain open until 9:00, but on
Fridays they still close early.  Each city has one week night on
which they stay open late.  Thursday is Sydney's night.

I was somewhat surprised that there wasn't any Friday night shopping
in the area, but my hosts tried to reassure me by pointing out that
lately many of the shops have been staying open as late as 3:00 or
4:00 on Saturday afternoons.  (Don't even think about Sundays.)

I don't know for sure whether the shopping hours are regulated by
law or are voluntary, but the people I spoke with thought that it
was entirely up to the shop owners themselves.  The thought of shops
staying open late on other nights seemed to be completely silly to them.
The shops would have to double the number of employees since they
couldn't operate with a single shift as they do now.  Also, where
would they even find people who would be willing to work in the evening?

One thing I really did like about shopping in Australia (and Singapore
and many other non-NorthAmerican countries) is the prices.  When I
buy something in Ontario its price is say $4.99.  That means that
I actually have to pay $5.34 with tax.  That's a $5, a $.25, a $.05,
and 4 $.01s.  When I buy the same thing elsewhere its price is $5.00.
That means that I have to give them a $5 bill and that's it.  The
concept is so simple it is amazing.  Have you ever wondered how many
man-hous of labour go into counting change every year in this country?
In the month I was away the only one-cent coins I saw were sitting
on people's desks at home.  Not once was I ever given or asked for
a one-cent coin.  Even five-cent coins were very rare.  Why can't we
do something sensible like that here?  I suppose that would be as
unAmerican as expecting Canadian products to have reasonable sizes
(will that be the 341mL size or the 355g?)  Australia is completely
metric now, by the way, and it was wonderful not having to bother
converting.

One other item.  Movies there are $8 each, but at least you can get
a glass of beer to wash down the popcorn.