This was the statement made by a so called expert, when commenting on Apples and Facebboks suggestions about freezing eggs. All because they are putting the needs of their companies first. How dare they!

Let's face it, most bakers would love to have breakfast with the family, see the kids off, then go off to work, but the reality is their businesses/jobs would be non existent. So their lives are controlled by the needs of their employer, as they should be.

Well educated one, may I suggest you cast your memory back thirty odd years and you will find the majority of workplaces were family friendly, because Monday to Friday was the norm for most.

In retail it was usually 7 to 5 Mon to Fri and 7 to 11.30 on Saturdays, and working Sundays, or public holidays was unheard of.

Of cause, as consumers continually pushed for more and more, late nights on Thursdays, all day Saturday, late nights every week night, then Sundays, is it little wonder so many workers are now deprived of family time.

Let's face it, thirty odd years ago the only one who worked out of hours were nurses and doctors, along with the occasional essential service. And bakers of cause.

So, may I suggest to this lady that there is a simple saying, that being, for every action, there is a reaction, and the reaction this time is the intrusion on family time.

Too late now to chage I'm afraid. You pushed, you got your way, your stuck with it!

Rehctub "Of cause (course) as consumers continually pushed for more and more, late nights on Thursdays, all day Saturday, late nights every week night, then Sundays, is it little wonder so many workers are now deprived of family time."

As someone who has worked shift work all my working life, I never felt deprived of family time. It was my choice to do this work, and my life fitted around it.

I was able to work weekends while my husband looked after our daughter, and was off Monday to Friday with her, so I spent more time with her than most working mums.

The extension of shopping hours has resulted in more jobs being available for students and others, so it can only be a good thing.
The family can all shop together on a weekend...

rehctub,

We live in a consumer society....every facet of it from the cradle to the grave is nuanced on the premise of conspicuous consumption.

Of course, eventually all the "free time" once taken as a given has now been gobbled up by corporate expansion...and the "consumers" - that's "us" are happy to partake of all that's on offer.

That's my critique - not necessarily my preference.

< Of cause, as consumers continually pushed for more and more, late nights on Thursdays, all day Saturday, late nights every week night, then Sundays >

That's baloney, butch, it was business that pushed for extra trading hours. Remember the guy selling books on Sundays and you got a free billiard table with every purchase to get around the trading laws?

Yes, you are right RM, it was business that pushed for it as well, big business. And look at the result, almost total domination by two retailers.

Talk about self restricting, and as usual consumers allowed this to happen.

Consumers are a very strong voice, but unfortunately they are also easily bought.

Consumers allowed this to happen>. Consumers wanted this to happen.
As usual Butch your reflections are very narrow. Retailing will forever change, there is another consumer shift going on in USA now. That is for the return of the smaller retailer. Large shopping malls are seeing their life cycle come to an end.
Someone has to finance these shopping malls, and they demand a return without delay, so a dominant player was always going to be installed, and the rest fight over the scraps, with mostly small success.
Strip shopping is mostly dead. Consumers want parking within 150 Meters of everything, and they are willing to bypass anything for convenience.