richard_smith237

38 minutes ago, Scouse123 said:

Slightly off-topic,

 

They are forcing us into this cashless society on the pretence that customer habits and preferences are changing.

 

My Barclays bank branch in the UK, in a busy town centre high street, introduced a number of cash paying-in and withdrawal machines in the foyer.

 

As customers entered, they were directed to these machines rather than counter service. They even had a designated staff member assisting them in their use.

 

Three months later, they closed the branch and said people's choices and preferences had changed, and customers were now more focused on doing their banking online.

 

The nearest branch now is in another town and is eight miles away.

Exactly the same in my branch in the UK...  

But really, with the onset of internet banking and Mobile Banking, I never need to go into Branch anyway...  So I wasn't bothered - but my Parents who are quite 'Analogue' were annoyed by this removal of what they considered to be a basic service. 

When I was a child I remember we had two banks in our village, now my nearest branch is 20 miles (32 km away). I can see the case for removing a high-street bank from a village or small town due to the costs of rent and staff vs amount of customers who actually 'go in' to the Bank... 

Its different for businesses though who'd I'd assume would have it as policy not to turn away a single customer.....  perhaps IKEA can afford to lose the 'tiny' non-digital customer base.

5 hours ago, Patong2021 said:

 

Please think it through and keep the Ikea customer demographic in mind.

The customer base for Ikea is already using digital payments which includes debit and credit cards in addition to telephone apps.

The company most likely  looked at its transactions in detail and realized that  very few if any were paying with cash at the branches where the change will occur.  The dinosaur brigade that you refer to who refuse to use debit cards or payment apps, are not likely to be customers, let alone have the  intelligence or ability to assemble Ikea furniture anyway, so no need to worry about whether or not they agree.  

 

Ikea  sells low cost disposable furniture. The customer base is well documented IKEA's target market primarily consists of the global middle-class group, particularly individuals aged 20-34.

In the USA  The credit and financing company Earnest recently analyzed a dataset of more than 10,000 American shoppers’ spending habits to address a pertinent question: When do consumers ditch Ikea? The answer: at approximately the age of 34.

 

 

 

I'd argue the Ikea Thailand  customer demographic is different than the USA and the ages are a lot older...  I see a lot of older people walking around IKEA..

That said, I do get your point - someone going to Ikea, even in Thailand is likely to be very familiar with digital payments - especially when we see them being used very commonly at wet markets etc, PromptPay its a ubiquitous payment method in thailand.

I do agree with your comment that its likely  'The dinosaur brigade I refer to who refuse to use debit cards or payment apps, are not likely to be customers'...   

... However, my point is 'why put a system in place that locks out 'anyone' ??? 

I guess there could be a scenario whereby maintaining 'cash on premises' is more costly that any business secured with cash payment - but thats difficult to imagine.

Additionally - this is not a 'city wide' policy, but only at 3 stores - so I'm wondering why they are setting different rules for different locations.

3 hours ago, Quack said:

Your wife is not very smart, she could have taken care of it on the spot and you could have drove home. They ALWAYS negotiate.  I'm pretty sure if it was me and my girlfriend, we'd have been delayed for 5-10 mins tops

Thats unfair and insulting to say that of his Wife - There is a large proportion of society who, through socio-economic status will always feel subservient to the police who posture, strut, act powerful and in this case make strong threats...       Had the Wife argued, she could have made a relatively harmless situation worse.

Additionally, perhaps they didn't want to pay a 20,000 baht bribe not to stay in the cells over night.

Unless in that situation, you have no idea how your girlfriend would react if surrounded by Police and being verbally bullied - it would certainly take more than 5-10 mins of your time, unless your GF is a Policewoman or well connected herself. 

5 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Yes, I read your comment 1st page, you pointed this out. 

I hope others here can learn from your comment and get their drivers licence. 

 

I know a few bar girls in Pattaya, no licence and been arrested for DUI. I'd like to know how many of these bar girls would not have been arrested had they had a full DL 

 

OP, Poor guy, spent time in the cell, had to go to court, it all could have been avoided. 

This highlights the BiB's standards of equal treatment... Whether Thai or Western, he was without a license and over the limits (for his licence status)...   he was quite lucky really.

I do suspect the BiB were 'hoping' he'd pay his way out of staying overnight in a cell or at least angling for that.

All in all - the Op got of lightly - If he hasn't learned a lesson and got his Thai license by now, he's already being dumb... though that will only give him his two years temp license anyway.

Also: Can the Ops Wife drive ?...   I hardly ever drive at night, usually I've had at least one beer, the Wife is a good driver & there's no excuse for her not to drive, or I take a taxi - its simple really.

5 minutes ago, lordgrinz said:

Seems like another scheme subject to corruption, everyone will be getting a license without ever being physically checked or evaluated in anyway. Though it should excite those who can make a few extra Baht getting the blind a driver license.

Do we really need those checks every 5 years ???  perhaps once older than a certain age... i.e. 65 etc.

18 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

23 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I wonder what the reasoning is to limit the licensing to 5 years... 

O can help you here as you seem to struggle. That´s for you to find out, and hopefully it will keep you very busy.

Have you been hitting the bottle today Mr Angry ?

It seems you're doing your best to turn every thread you stumble upon into an argument....

1 minute ago, Toby1947 said:

Surprised there is a  Thai national with a driving licence. Not one of them would ever pass a western driving test. 

To be fair, if you I, or most others on this forum took UK test right now, we'd very likely fail... 

I know of a handful of posters who think they are the 'best drivers' who'd never admit to such !!! 

Instead of issuing a 5 year license - lengthening that to a specific set age limit (i.e. 65) would make more sense if they wanted to ease the burden at the DLT.

I wonder what the reasoning is to limit the licensing to 5 years... 

6 hours ago, CecilM said:

Will this lead to an improvement in road safety?

No...  As this doesn't include any changes or improvement in driver education / training etc...   Its just an easier way to replace a 'card'.

9 hours ago, Joseph98765 said:

I think I would like to stick to the old plastic DL....I need it for check in a hotel, flights,...

I don't think there is any plan to stop issuing the physical card - it is the renewal process itself that will be online.  I'm 'guessing' that the renewal card will arrive via post.

7 hours ago, jippytum said:

13 hours ago, NE1 said:

Got a sneaky feeling this will be " Not available for foreigners "

I think the same. In Chonburi foreigners can not even book an appointment on line

Its the same at DLT Area 3 in Bangkok - I was unable to book an appointment (getting an IDP), Wife was able to book an appointment. 

When we turned up, she went into her 'short appointment line'.

The other line was huge (100+ people in it) - this was going to be a long day for me !

The DLT officer pointed me to a line for foreigners (because appointments can't be made) - thus, while not being able to make an appointment, a concession was made in my (the foreigners) favour and I was in and out quite quickly.

Its not all anti-foreigner / its not as if they deliberately do not add the foreigner bookings.. its not added for a reason and usually something related to ID numbers etc.

10 minutes ago, kwilco said:

so you don't understand statistics? or you think the road has some supernatural quaity? - Sure, any fool knows most drivers make it through — just like most planes land safely. But when crashes cluster in one spot, it’s not a coincidence, it’s a red flag. Good roads are designed to forgive mistakes, not punish them with fatalities. Blaming tired or undertrained drivers in a system that sets them up to fail doesn’t solve the problem — it just excuses it." Or in simple terms - If a road keeps killing people, it's not a test — it's a trap. Blaming drivers while ignoring crap design is like blaming flood victims for not swimming better.

Its a hill...  what else should they do to the road ??  they can't make it flat.

Put up a sign that say' 'use low gear'   ???

How would you redesign that road so that 'some' drivers of trucks and busses who fail to go into a low gear don't over heat their brakes and crash ?

On 4/21/2025 at 10:56 PM, kwilco said:

so there have been dozens of accidents within a few metres of each other on this road - your theory is that people suddenly become stupid on this stretch? - maybe there something in the air?

how often have you driven this stretch?

There are a multitude more people driving down that road that don't have an accident...    

What exactly are 'you blaming' regarding engineering the road ? the incline ?

Could the incident have been avoided IF the driver remained in low gear and didn't overheat the brakes - IF that is the cause ?

Road are far more dangerous in the Alps, sharper turns, deadly drops into ravines, steep inclines, yet we don't get this 'frequent' brake failure that we do in Thailand - why is that ?

Maintenance ? or poor driving standard of busses ? it can't always be the roads fault - human error is the primary factor whether you like to use the word blame or not.

As you pointed out, drivers being too tired, that may well be a facet too...   but even tired drivers know to use a low gear.... 

.... so it still comes down to poor driving standards that incidents such as these are occurring with such frequency.

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

I asked Gemini a slightly different question, how long would it take to travel from England to Thailand by road.

 

The answer was several months minimum.

 

Flight time London to Bangkok 12 hours.

 

IMO the OP is a masochist.

I suspect the Op is considering this not from the point of view of getting to the destination, but from the point of view of experiencing the journey.....    

... without all the potential paperwork issues, it could be quite a blast... 

8 minutes ago, villageidiotY2K said:

6 hours ago, CM Dad said:

Why don't you simply get a new card?

you better run home to your mama now

It was a sensible question...  why get abusive ?

Why make things harder for yourself when getting a new card is so simple ?

If you don't want the 30 baht fee - can't you just withdraw from Kasikorn and ingore the others, or is there no convenient Kasikorn ATM near you ?

I recall with SCB - that I could only do cardless withdrawals at an SCB ATM - but that was a while ago and may have changed.

9 minutes ago, Ralf001 said:

 

Tread the globe did it recently in a Fiat Ducato Campervan

 

 

Thats not quite driving 'from UK to Thailand'... I think they've had to circumnavigate some of the Middle East via shipping... 

Op wanted to drive from UK to Thailand, there are countries which cannot be driven through which make that impossible. 

While 'physically possible'   its impossible due to 'human / political' reasons... 

The last time this was 'nearly' possible was in the 1960's and undertaken by Harold Stephens, Albert Podell who wrote the following book (below)...  

If I remember correctly they had to bypass Myanmar and ferry their car from Bangladesh to Thailand, and then continue...

4 minutes ago, tgw said:

I really dislike apps.

the small screen makes it difficult to browse.

Agreed, I'm much rather browse the food that I want to order on my laptop rather than the small screen of the phone... (its the same with Lazada and shopee too)...  

I find the Apps here to be quite 'noisy'... 

10 hours ago, NE1 said:

Got a sneaky feeling this will be " Not available for foreigners "

Quite likely, but only because it will be tied to the Thai ID card, whereas we will still need to provide one of the 'proof of address' methods (CoR, Letter of Address, or Yellow Book where accepted)....

But, the added bonus for foreigners, even IF this is not available to us, is less queues at the DLT while most others renew online...   IF the do, that is.

When we renewed our Sons passport - we booked an online appointment and turned up at the allotted time... waited a few mins and were being processed. Meanwhile 100's of others were in a long queue as they had not made their online appointments - So it seems that many, still do not adapt to these 'convenient' online measures.

1 minute ago, Will B Good said:

55 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Coleman's medical claims have been widely discredited and described as pseudoscientific conspiracy theories...

 

why do the claims have to have been discredited by deep state working... why not by independent medical experts ???

 

 

I was joking!!!

Ah... OK...     in that case... 

On 4/21/2025 at 11:50 AM, Luuk Chaai said:

 

would imagine with that scenario... up to about age 75 seems to fit that young description ( in Thailand ) 

Nope...  I know of an example in the UK were a lady lost her hand and forearm up to her elbow in a butchers on the same type of machine (mincer / grinder).

The machines are supposed to have a guard on them to prevent getting the hand-inside anywhere near the 'auger - corkscrew' part.

In both cases, this guard was obvious removed as it was 'getting in the way'.... 

Must have been horrific for the boy - I very much doubt much of his hand will ever be usable again.

Just now, Stiddle Mump said:

Words in Science are very important Richard. That's why definitions of certain words change. Often to fit in with the white-coat narrative.

 

'Isolation' is one such important word. A virus has never been isolated. Growing them in a petri dish - even if that were possible - is not isolation. It is ingenious and certainly unscientific to say it is. In fact any paper that has stated they have isolated a virus, when they have not, is downright fraudulent.

Anyone with a basic grasp of language understands what isolation means. So when you claims a virus has "never been isolated," you’re not just contradicting common sense - you're also veering wildly from the consensus of virologists and infectious disease experts around the world.

In science, to isolate a virus means to extract it from a sample, separate it from other components (like cells, bacteria, or bodily fluids), and demonstrate that it can infect host cells in a lab setting (usually using a cell culture). This process confirms that the virus is both present and active.

You are hinging your misinformation on semantic games - you might claim, “The virus hasn’t been isolated in a completely pure form, free of all other matter,” which isn’t how isolation works in virology. Viruses can’t replicate on their own - they need a host cell. So isolating them almost always involves cell cultures (something else which you mentioned cannot be carried out), which conspiracy theorists such as yourself misuse to imply contamination or fraud.

But scientifically the virus is absolutely isolated and confirmed by electron microscopy, genetic sequencing, and infection assays.

Just now, Stiddle Mump said:

As far as Stiddle Mump (me) is concerned. I have written plenty of essays on the subject of exercise physiology, energy delivery and lactate testing for athletes. And when I've been on stage, I've often been asked about vaccines. That naturally leads onto explanations of germs, viruses and nature.

 

If you knew where to look you could also see this chap on Question Time (BBC weekly tv programme) that looks a lot like I did 30 years ago.

Great - David Ike was also making TV appearances !!!

7 minutes ago, Stiddle Mump said:

Thanks for that Richard.

 

Actually in the US and UK it was 6 feet. In case your maths are not up to it; that's a bit less than 2 metres.

That was a 'recommended social distancing' distance...       

Contextomy: You've taken a 'tid-bit' of information and manipulated it - it was simply are recommendation to 'reduce transmission' not a statement of the maximum distance a virus can travel. 

This is the issues with having such discussions with people such as yourself - you deliberately misinterpret information to twist the context to your favour.

7 minutes ago, Stiddle Mump said:

I can recall that white-coat on the English tv, saying that 6 people are allowed together, and must be 6 feet apart. There was another 6 he referred to. Can't quite recall that one. Something to do with how many pints could be bought/carried/drunk. Could be wrong there though. Dr Hilary Jones was his name.

Yes, there was certainly a degree of absurdity in the whole affair. The official narrative centred on reducing social interaction to limit transmission, while simultaneously preserving a semblance of normal life - hence the curious logic of allowing pub outings but in limited group numbers and only outside etc...

Frankly, the entire approach struck me as farcical, and I found myself disagreeing with much of it.

Take the testing regime, for instance: if COVID-19 was so contagious that simply sharing a room posed a risk, why was it necessary to jab a swab halfway to my brain just to detect it? That alone felt inconsistent.

And the distancing models, in my view, were flawed from the outset. Some of the so-called "concessions" to everyday life bordered on the ridiculous.

I also want to be clear:  this isn’t to say the virus wasn’t real, or that vulnerable groups didn’t need safeguarding, particularly in the early stages.

However, once it became evident that the fatality rate was significantly lower than initially projected — especially when compared with the dire predictions from Imperial College - I believe continuing the lockdowns and restrictions was not only unnecessary, but actively harmful to society.

The real issue, of course, was political. With the economy already severely wounded, any swift reversal would have looked like an admission of failure - a death-knell for those in power - a risk few politicians were willing to take. So instead, they doubled down, prioritising optics over outcomes.