new2here

8 hours ago, alyx said:

Less competition implies a hike in prices

normally i tend to favor less regulation … however .. when it comes to a service like mobile phone/data, and the impact it has on so many aspects of life and commerce, i would be a bit more cautious and would want a exhaustive review of the proposed merger and it’s realistic short and long term impacts on consumers.

I can’t say if it’s a good thing of bad thing… and i can’t say that mergers, in and of it self, are bad.. only that i think a fair review of its impact on both the competitive landscape and consumer is warranted.

25 minutes ago, slsmith38 said:

I was told AZ+AZ in Thailand is minimum 8 weeks between doses. I needed to travel urgently before my 12 week AZ  second dose was scheduled and Phyathai 2 said they could bring it forward to 8 weeks.

That’s exactly what I was told too when i got my AZ #1…. and based on that 8wk number, i was able to get my #2 exactly at the start of week #8

7 hours ago, KhunLA said:

Apparently nobody cared enough about the place to support it when open.  You can only lose for so long.  

If the mall generates money into Chula, that's always a good thing, as one of the best Uni & hospitals Thailand has to offer.

Better smarter med students and high tech hospital is more important than a dilapidated building nobody visited or seemed to care about.

IMHO

I agree..  I think there’s a balance to be struck here..  i agree that the principle goal or mission of PMCU (Property Management Chulalongkorn University) should be to: 1) manage their real estate portfolio of CU in such a manner that maximizes the present financial returns, and 2) helps to ensure the long term financial stability of the university …. BUT I also think #1 and #2 can and SHOULD be done through the “value lens” of Chulalongkorn not acting purely as a private for-profit enterprise, but principally as a PUBLIC entity charged with operating in the best interest of not only current and future students but also the kingdom as a whole. 

3 hours ago, pkrv said:

How about a little more consideration for those of us who are here? Regardless of income bracket, most are supporting the economy to one extent or another, but perhaps those in charge are simply just looking only at how many zeroes are on the end of our wealth with no further analysis needed.

Good point… My guess only is that those who are already here aren’t even a part of the consideration or a part of the conversation 

 Why?

Without trying to sound cold or insensitive, my GUESS (guess how the RTG sees it) is that when it comes to those foreigners who are: a) married to a Thai national or b) are the registered parent of a Thai citizen, the RTG doesn’t HAVE TO put a lot of effort into attracting them to come nor trying to retaining them  once here— they are either already here or will chose to remain here on their on volition.. so from the RTGs viewpoint, why expend effort into a group that will largely voluntarily chose to remain here already?

From MY thinking putting effort into improving the conditions for this group would be a good idea as they can then be natural promoters of Thailand as a place to come, stay, work, retire or start a family.. so I myself see a lot of value … but my guess is the RTG views this matter quite different .. they don’t need to really invest a lot into a group that largely will already chose to stay or whose situation already ties them to Thailand. 

16 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

My staff have contacted the Social Fund about this. Apparently the Social Fund can issue a card for non-Thai citizens.

 

Let's see what happens next week when they go to the Social Fund office.

I went to my local office (Silom near ITF) and after a fairly lengthy conversation, the desk manager understood what i needed and why.

He, in turn, called someone at the office where cards are actually printed. The printing office  evidentially told the Silom desk manager that a new card can be made AND that when a bew card is issues, the dates of validity also change.

New cards come automatically with a 2 year window of validity. Based in this I believe that my new card will have a December 64 to November 66 window.

It also appears that local SSO offices can’t manually override this 2yr window as the computer screen doesn’t have a option to alter dates for cards. I was able to see the office manager as he navigated the process. 

In my case, I requested a new card because:

1) my old (card still in my hand) has my old passport which expired earlier this fall.

2) I wanted a new card as my old card shows an expiration (that 2yr window) of September 65 and my current yearly extension of stay expires in December 65.  

A new card *should* be dated such that the entire period of my current years extension falls within the cards 2yr validity window, therefore assuring the Pass system that my SSO derived insurances valid for the time required. 

Disclosure: I’m not of this visa class nor situation, so i don’t really have “skin in the game” per se

 but… i’d wonder if at some point the government can set up some kind of “uninsurables” pool … 

kind of like what some countries/places have for drivers who can’t obtain basic coverage to legally operate a motor vehicle.

The underwriters side of the pool is made up all the insurers eligible to and sell policies - and each one is then assigned and required to underwrite a proportional percentage of the applicants in the pool, in line with each underwriters share of the market ..  larger insurers who sell more policies would naturally have to then take a larger percentage of the pool and so on…

The government sets the rates for the pool - so it’s consistent across everyone’s.. and the exact coverage, limits, deductions etc … so for the insured, it doesn’t matter who ultimately they are assigned to for their pool coverage. 

id wonder if the MoPH could do something like this - so that EVERYONE can be insured - and at rates that are somewhat fair, set equally and because the government sets what is covered, limits and any exclusions, there’s no risk of underwriting denial nor government rejection when/if you use said insurance. 

I use a traditional bank deposit box. I can also specify who can have access. So the mere fact of having a key doesn’t automatically grant a key holder access.  They are all climate controlled as well. 

Downside is that you only have access during bank days/hours and only the larger branches have them (so not the best idea if you might need ready or unplanned immediate access).  

Fee wise, it doesn’t appear to be expensive (around 1500/yr for smallest box) but can be free/included with some of the banks higher level banking packages (ie KBank Wisdom etc) 

i also store some valuables like a classic Rolex and a star sapphire.. because i choose to store it using a professional storage solution, my insurer cuts the loss/ theft premium substantially. 

I think that the whole cashless payment notion is still largely in its infancy stage .. as such, the uptake is going to take some time as the consumer will have to get used to it, merchants will have to adapt their in real cashiering process and infrastructure as well.

There are cost savings.. many banks charge merchants a fee to accept cash deposits.. for example, i know that smaller business accounts at BBL pay around 1 - 1.5% for the deposit of unprocessed (ie loose) coins and i believe there is also a currency handling fee for larger deposits as well.

Security side there’s the oblivious reduction of theft/loss of paper currency/coins, but to be fair, cashless system introduce essentially new risks as well. 

Operationally, I’d bet there’s a savings too.. by going cashless you now essentially don’t need a back office cashier to count the incoming and outgoing cash.

Lastly, I think there is or will be a speed benefit too.. in that i recall some platforms make funds from any cashless sale available to the merchant in near real-time so the merchant can then turn right around and make purchases/payment without the requisite day or two to allow for the physical deposit and account crediting.

I agree that in some cases cashless is slower than cash.. but i myself don’t see the trend reversing, and think as more people experience it, get accustomed to it and the whole architecture around its use and acceptance improves- speed will improve.

10 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

I got my Pfizers at WALMART (not a fan). Was actually impressed by their Pharmacy and mass vaccination clinics. Easy to log onto the W pharmacy site you can download a QR code. It works with the CLEAR app (travel to Hawaii and stadiums/events). it works with CommonPass. 

I myself, think going digital IS the better way to go all around; no doubt in my mind.…  and I think for the larger, perhaps more tech-savvy countries that IS how it will go..  but.. i also think that in the longer term, WHATEVER the system ends up being, it’s going to have to be one that ALL the member (that’s countries who recognize WHO) countries (and private players like airlines etc) agree to and can successfully adopt..
In my head it’s kind like a “lowest common denominator” thing.. 

Right now we are still at the very early stages, so i get why there are multiple formats, systems and processes to verify ones vax status.. and why there may be legal challenges to it… but i do think that sooner or later some of these issues will be addressed and hopefully one common platform that is/will be accepted by all emerges and is used. 

Myself, I like the part about ‘unless you are returning directly from thailand’ part.. that to me makes it now possible for shorter family visits overseas and even business trips they don’t HAVE TO be 21 days or more longer to be eligible… 

For me, when i go back to the US, I tend to make my trips roughy around 2 weeks.. so allowing those who came right from Thailand to be eligible is a big plus.

In theory, i could now make trips to visit friends - who all reside on one of the currently-listed countries - and stay for only a few days, and be eligible for return to Thailand under this program.

What Id be interested to see is at what price point will the various common insurers be setting premiums for USD$50k policies as that seems to be the magical number now; not USD$100k as is now. 

Lastly, while there appears to be no full/formal list of eligible hotels for the one-night-waiting just yet, it would be interesting to see how that prices out.  I’d reasonably guess that there will be a range of hotels; so a range of prices for that part, but what about the test itself.. Under the ASQ package system, if you broke it down, the medical component was a fairly large percentage of the total ASQ price - so it will be interesting to see how these one-night-waiting rates shape up. 

9 minutes ago, Thailand J said:

must be here:

 It’s here… just before the point where the purple MRT line makes the turn to follow Rattanatibeth road. 

1 hour ago, Speedhump said:

Thanks. So TWO yellow vaccination books exist now. That's not confusing at all. Amazing lack of thought. 

actually it kind of makes sense.  they basically copied the much older and established Yellow Fever booklet in terms of size, color, format etc.. so… to that end, I think it makes good sense — copy what has a proven record of success and international recognition…

3 hours ago, JRG23 said:

Think I'll try this. Info much appreciated!

 

What time is very early. 6am/7am?

 

Cheers,

J

plan to be there a little before 6:00am— say 5:30 to 5:45am… that way you get the lowest queue number.. the later numbers require you to wait until the afternoon or go home and come back .. so if you get there very early, you’ll probably get a low queue number and be seen/processed in the AM, therefore little waiting around time. 

Be sure you have paper copies of passport, 2-jab certificate.. they will ask to see them and will verify your jab status using the QR code. 

4 hours ago, JRG23 said:

I agree. I'd much rather have the passport but I can't get it! Nowhere, literally, is available before I fly.

Surely these places will allow 'walk-in' customers to get passports? Anyone know if walk-ins are allowed?

 

It's a crazy system. It's a crazy country.

This is one of the (or only as i recall) in the metro area that issues them on a walk-in basis.  i got mine thus way.  They cap the number of walk-ins and that cap is reached VERY early in the AM.

https://ddc.moph.go.th/bidi/

it’s not far from the Nonthaburi Provincial Government Complex MRT (Nonthaburi Civic Center) station and a short motorcycle taxi ride from that station. 

it looks like the TH govt is transitioning to allowing people to use their MorPhrom (MP) app to request this orange booklet, but as of today, while you can REQUEST it via MP, you still have to physically GO to the issuing office and receive/pay for it… but the app does show that postal delivery and online payment functionality will be coming at some later date.

i have a requested a second booklet via this MP app channel already, have an been approved with a scheduled pick up day set.

56 minutes ago, RafPinto said:

Teachers will be disappointed.

How many of them are at the beach, renting with a few colleagues a pool villa and doing a few hours online a day.

What a life.

right.  i suspect that this group - the teachers group - might be the only major stakeholder who isn’t so motivated to go back to in-person.

I can say for myself, from ONLY a personal “lifestyle” perspective, i would hate going back.. Online means i have zero commute to/from, so that’s time and money saved… I really only have to be actively engaged for a few hours a day max and on some days, i have no class at all, due to natural scheduling issues… 

So, from a purely lifestyle point of view, returning to the classroom IS a negative… therefore I agree with you.

now, all that said, I do think there are many teachers that also factor in issues like teaching effectiveness, ability to make better contact with students etc.  so, while i agree that from what i might call a “lifestyle” basis, going back for a teacher might be a negative… but when you take other issues into account, now i think it might be a bit different.

1 hour ago, Falcon said:

I wonder just how many people were polled for this result. Probably the usual +/-1,000 people country wide. Real facts are that there are 5.5 million children in Thailand that are in grades 7-12 and, as was reported yesterday in Thai news, 2.2 million children were going to remain unvaccinated as their parents thought it not safe to vaccinate them. 94% is a very high figure to believe and, as with all figures given from government and government agencies in Thailand, expected to be at least 50% exaggerated.

i agree … i’m somewhat skeptical of the polling and related processes as well..

but.. that aside, it’s my opinion (option only) that the vast majority of parents would support a return to classes - in large part because keeping kids in an online learning mode kinda of shifted child care and even some teaching work to the parents — so just from a purely self-serving perspective - Id bet a lot of parents support return to school.

Kids?  well of course- they’re going to support return to school. They’ve lost a lot of their socialization and social networks … so students saying they want to return to me is a no-brainer.

Teachers i think might be the only group where the feeling isn’t so unanimous… I’d guess for some, the benefits of working from home (ie no commute, shorter actual working time, etc) far far outweigh the benefits of person-to-person teaching.  So i wouldn’t be entirely surprised if the teachers group wasn’t so unanimous in their desire. 

3 hours ago, Changoverandout said:

So I presume you have to book this before arriving. It’s getting ridiculous 

Ahhh this is what i was kind of expecting…

Thailand aside, if you think about it, IF the rule is that you have to take test right at point if arrival, then that’s going to be at the airport.. and unless the airport is set up to reliably do MASS testing, house all the people waiting in a socially distanced manner for the waiting time AND you can get testing done in only a few hours at best, then you’re going to have to “house” these people somewhere offsite until the test comes back.

to me, the government can simply predesignate several hotels as “pending test” hotels.. don’t rely on each passenger to find, choose and book a hotel individually for that one night..  

what Id do is just require the passenger pre-pay some fee (call it X baht) and that fee then covers: the required test, one night at a “pending test” hotel and transport to/from the airport and the hotel.

When you actually arrive THEN your hotel would be assigned- like how SQ room have been done for returning Thais.

This testing and apparent overnight housing mandate also signals to me that the whole CoE won’t be going away anytime soon.  as i could see the government adding it to the CoE.

i have noticed that more and more places have and use chip-readers.   Most of the banks that i frequent have them right on the tellers workstation.. So the staff just partially insert the ID card and the cards’ chip is read and whatever data needs to be verified can be done online or a digital record of the card being presented can also be recorded.

But for the “blue book” i’m not sure how that document can be digitalized as I don’t recall it having a QR code, chip or other alternate means of use. 

but in the end, i applaud any movement towards increasing the use of digital use and decreasing the reliance on paper - so long as the proper safeguards of e-data are in place and there is commitment from all stakeholders agreeing that a digital record carries the same weight as that of a paper record. 

5 hours ago, Crossy said:

Sadly, whilst I do think increased vetting is a sensible idea, I suspect this initiative will result in a standard Thai "sledge hammer and nut" solution.

 

It's far easier to assume we are all criminals on the run than it is to actually filter out the bad guys.

I agree.. I also think, in fairness to thailand, that this would also be the same in many other countries as well… exacerbated in those counties where domestic privacy and rights-of-the-accused are lacking or weak overall. 

21 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

This happens quite often. You pay a corrupt official one time and you must continue.

 

They know you are a soft touch in these matters.

 

Sadly, they've got you where they want you. Non compliance this time could cause you problems. 

 

Unless you can move from the area and use a different immigration office, this could be happening to you every year,

I agree.. it’s like the book “If you give a mouse a cookie, then he'll ask you for a glass of milk, and then a straw…”

Once you start down that path - which i cede you probably didn’t initiate - it’s hard to get off.

15 minutes ago, mikey99 said:

Thanks for the great information, this is actually what I was looking for - Can you tell me when you are due to go to Bang Sue for your second jab ? Mine is the 21st. 

I have received my jabs in a somewhat less than conventional format.  

I got #1 On July 18, at SCG Bangsue - that is a Bangkok Health Department/BMA program, that jab initially appeared only on the ThaiRuamJai website. 

I got #2 at Bangsue Grand Central on Sept 10. But that was purely by accident. I was at bangsue to get that 13-digit number because everyone i had spoken to said that it had to go to Bangsue.  When i got there and they finally understood what i neeed, the staff also noticed that exactly 8 weeks had passed since my -#1 jab… That meant i was now eligible for #2, so they asked me if i wanted my #2 right then and there.. so i agreed.  My #2 was at Bangsue.. that meant i got both my 13-digits code.

Last week i got an SMS for my “second” jab via ThaiRuamJai - because the TRJ data doesn’t know that i already got my true #2 at Bangsue, a Morphrom run program.

So, now -I have my #3. In total Thairuamjai thinks I’ve had 2 and am fully vaxxed.. and Morphrom thinks I’ve had 1, so i’m betting that in a few moths, i’ll be told to get #2 (which would then be #4) unless the two major vax platforms better merge their data. 

You should get a message via Morphrom when it’s time for your #2.  

OP, i had the same problem… and the only way i could get that 13 digit number was to speak to the data entry staff (step 2) at Bangsue Grand Central …

I called and even visited several other places, DDC office, MoPH Nonthaburi, etc in hopes i could get it that way… and all said that the number is on/will be on the vaccine certificate and only the site that actually gave me my jab can issue the certificate.. 

so essentially for me, all roads lead to Bangsue. 

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

No countries have ever done this before for any reason.

Not even passports can be checked for validity outside the issuing country.

I agree it’s uncharted territory… but.. my opinion only, is that i wouldn’t be surprised if that where it ended up going.

To me, the days of relying on a paper document are limited… like far powered cars, paper will remain for quite a lot longer.. but… i do think - and all gain that’s my opinion - that there will be some kind of large scale movement to go “e-verify” like… it will be peppered with security and private concerns (legitimate concerns IMHO) but in the end, that’s where i think we will end up with regards to being able to prove one’s vaccination status. 

6 minutes ago, ChomDo said:

I was asking this for a long time, but there was no answer on how EU or US vax passport would be transferred to the local Thai card. I guess it won't matter much anymore since non-vaxed have pretty much the same rights (unless you have a Fitness First membership).

i don’t think it ever will.. my guess is that initially, the default answer will be the use of the yellow-book-like Covid Certificate- that very closely resembles that of the much older and nearly worldwide recognized Yellow Fever Certificate. With each country issuing their own, but in accordance with the agreed/accepted standards.

Later, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some countries migrate to an online searchable database, accessible by authorized entities; like foreign immigration agencies. 

1 hour ago, cclub75 said:

But in anycase, this idea of "Covid pass" will never be widely used in Thailand... It's just impossible. From a practical point of view.

I agree.. IMHO, a combination of an overall lax attitude towards rules/law compliance by the general public plus a law enforcement mechanism that just hasn’t shown its ability to enforce laws uniformly, consistently or continually.

I think the ONE area where it could be implemented is for the purchase of domestic air travel.  The carriers could be forced to add a field in their booking platforms, for your covid pass to to be uploaded or linked, before a ticket can be bought and then again, shown at time of travel.  That part could be added to the TIMATIC profile and therefore would automatically be triggered when someone checks in.