On the Seventh Day You Shall Shop

Forget the shop closing laws! In the U.S,. you can hammer, deliver, and shop on Sunday as you please — a regular paradise for consumers.

Imagine: It is Sunday morning. You are sitting at breakfast, when an infernal clatter breaks out in the apartment above you. Drilling, hammering, rumbling, as if a decibel record had been broken. And the occurrence is not a brief one. No, it lasts for three long hours. Obviously, a demolition army has advanced upon your neighbor.

The ruckus would presumably disturb you, right? Perhaps you would go upstairs and ring the doorbell to complain. Maybe you would even threaten calling the police? In Germany, events would unfold as such.

Therefore, we expected the worst when the furniture for our new apartment was being delivered on a Sunday at 10 o’clock in the morning, and the diligent workers kept up a continuously high noise level. We braced ourselves for everything: furious neighbors, upset passers-by and, who knows, maybe we would even become familiar with a few cops from the San Francisco Police Department.

Nothing happened. A wonder? Were the other residents not at home? Had the neighbor not turned on his hearing aid? Of course not. In the U.S., working on Sunday is normal. Not only is it common for a certain Swedish furniture store – where we bought our household items – to deliver on a Sunday, but obviously the furniture assemblymen themselves were not bothered by working on a Sunday. And what we thought of as a nuisance is pleasantly tolerated here and is not nearly as startling as in Germany. At least the guy from the floor above still gave me a friendly greeting the next day.

Sunday Is Not Holy

In the U.S., there is no “holy” Sunday, as one knows it in Germany. All stores are open: When, if not on Sunday, does the average office worker have time to shop and spur consumption?

For a German, it at first seems strange, though soon it is taken for granted. One never again has to worry about shopping for everything on a Saturday afternoon and getting enough supplies for Sunday or a holiday at home. Utopian opening times, at least for the consumer.

But not only are the shops and stores open — many supermarkets are actually open 24 hours — everything can also be delivered whenever one would like. Delivery services like Google Shopping, Amazon Fresh, Ebay or even local organic stores provide not only groceries and toilet paper, but also electronics or cosmetic products directly to your front door on Sunday — and if you wish, even to the uppermost floor.

Employee Rights? Free Market Economy!

The luxury also has its dark side, at least for the poor sales clerks, who have to stand at the checkout lanes in supermarkets until 3 a.m., or for the workmen who have to put together furniture on Sunday morning. In Germany, one would insist upon employees’ rights; here, many are happy that they even have a job — and they have no idea otherwise. And that’s all despite the fact that the U.S. is a very Christian country: One can find churches on every corner, which, in contrast to German houses of worship, are still full on Sundays.

A contradiction? No, a free market economy. Maybe it would cross one’s mind that a rethinking of service in Germany also wouldn’t hurt. Of course, the supermarket does not need to open 24 hours straight; somewhat later than 8 p.m., as in Bavaria, would be a start already. However, honestly said, at 3 a.m., I am either lying in bed or standing at the counter of a bar. I would surely never find myself shopping in the supermarket at this ungodly hour.

And the next time the neighbors are hammering loudly on a Sunday morning, I will simply smile, relieved, and be happy that my move is already behind me.