At my job they have late night Thursday until 8 (normally we shut at 5:30) to get more consumerist types in after work and business is usually crap. They must only just barely be able to justify doing it. They then changed opening time Mon-Fri from 9 to 8:30. This sometimes is OK because it caters to Tradespeople more. It just really depends on what the shop is selling. I think for many shops the 10 - 6:30 change would be a really good idea. I'd be stoked knowing I could sleep in an hour later if my work hours changed.

I fail to see how this is diferent from working in a shop. Its not apples and oranges, they're effectively the same. Why should you expect that the shop closes at 5-5:30?.
Here's how it goes: you apply for the job, they tell you the hours, you don't accept the job if you don't like the hours... There are plenty of other unskilled professions that you can work in which don't need to be open after 5.

Thats what im saying, you accept those hours and now they are trying to change them

Well, it's a one hour shift. I'm actually really sure most people will get over it. Legally, most retail staff have pretty much variable contracts anyway, so its likely to be within most employers rights to shift their hours by one hour. I still don't see many people having a problem with it anyway. Sleep in an extra hour. Traffic not so bad. Have dinner an hour later, your body will adjust quickly. Is there anything practical about this that angers you Steveo, or is it just the principle alone of having your schedule slightly altered against your will that you can't stand?

Practical yes, because getting home an hour later will make it hell for parents. And the principle alone is the thing that angers me personally.

/edit: i dont take kindly to change,

That's a really good point, I do work with people that have kids. Parents in the retail industry will have one less hour each day away from thier children. However, on the bright side it might make it alot easier for many of them to drop their kids off at school.

Addtionally, for many shops the last hour of opening time is often the quietest. It follows that many Managers can afford to send one employee home if they need to get home to their kids. If the person with the children happens to be the Manager, then they clearly need an Assistant Manager that can fill in their duties for the last part of the day. Most shops do have Assistant or Floor Managers that can fill this role. Of course the detriment to this means that's one hours pay docked off every day which obviously makes a huge difference if you have kids. I think ultimately parents always find away around these sorts of issues.

It would be nice if the Retail Association could consult employees on this sort of thing. A happy worker is a productive worker, so it makes economical sense to consult. I'm sure there would be people both for and against this, parents included.

I support efficiency wages

Meh, Salary with performance bonuses rock0rs.

Ive always felt that a low salary is not as good as a high wage since a salary of say 30,000 (about 14/hour pretax) is an easy way to get 18 dollars worth an hour work out of you

Ive always felt that a low wage is not as good as a high salary since a wage of say 14/hr is an easy way to get 18 dollars worth an hour work out of you.

In fact, I think both processes are open to abuse (you can still do a lot more work on a wage than what you are paid for per hour).

Wages typically maxes out a lot earlier before a salary (Compare the higest salary to the highest wage and there will be a huge difference).

Yeah my theory only works at low salarys, when you get up into the big dollars they become very attractive