digbeth

1 hour ago, ftpjtm said:

I can envision a time when one must pay for the privilege of using cash. Where does one get cash? At ATM's or branch offices, both of which cost banks money to maintain. 

 

There could come a time where there is a 5% fee in order the receive cash from an ATM or branch office. 

 

I know someone in the US running a business that generates a lot of cash, and his bank charges "excess cash deposit" fees on business account due to the extra expense of handling large quantities of cash.

 

I wonder how many advocates of cash usage will continue to resist cashless payments if paying via cash costs more.

There's already service in Thailand where you can go to a 'Banking Agent' to withdraw money for 5% fee instead of the ATM, currently it's 7-11s and some Supermarkets

Banks like SCB has removed lots of their ATMs now

3 minutes ago, ABCDBKK said:

Here is the flip side to your case. Although payment apps like True Money, LINE Pay and the few others in Thailand waste a lot extra unnecessary time, smartphone digital wallets are a huge time saver and are faster than paying in cash. 

 

With my phone's wallet, I can pay and be gone faster than you can get the cash out of your wallet. Like you, I often get annoyed when someone is going through their wallet pulling out bills or counting coins trying to pay the exact amount in cash. 

 

I started using my phone's digital wallet since the appearance of Covid as a way to stop touching all the filthy bank notes that everyone passes around, which are also considered to be a possible spreader of viruses and bacteria. 

 

Now I have all my debit and credit cards loaded in my phone and all I need to do is move my phone close to any contactless credit/debit card reader to pay for things. So I can just pay contactless at all 7-11, hypermarts, supermarkets, department stores, restaurants, etc. No cash, no apps, no QR code scanning, no online banking apps, none of that. 

 

I can also go anywhere without a physical wallet now. So no cash and no wallet needed when I go outside, just my phone. Hygienic, fast, less stuff to carry around, and I have a record and payment evidence of all the money I spent, where and when, and whenever I might need it. 

 

When you go to Europe, and even countries like Japan, where people now mainly pay contactlessly using their phone's digital wallet, you notice the difference in speed. Payment transactions move much faster than in Thailand because they don't use cash, apps or QR codes. Such a time saver.
 

I wish everyone would do the same already. The problem in Thailand though is that none of the bank debit cards, and only BBL and KTC credit cards, can be added to smartphone digital wallets. So it really limits the Thai population from moving away from those cr*appy payment apps and moving over to using the fast, contactless payment wallets when they want to pay without using cash. So until Thailand moves forward on this technology, you will continue to see people in Thailand fumbling with apps that don't load and waiting for QR payment codes to be generated.
 

Some businesses in Thailand also don't want to pay fees when someone uses a debit card to pay. So you have all this scanning of QR codes into online banking apps to make instant cash payments like a debit card, but without any transaction fees. Another slow and antiquated payment method which hopefully goes away one day too. 

I don't think QR Promptpay as a home grown solution without Visa and Mastercard taking the cut is going away, they even make it inteoperable with other banks in the region from Singapore to Korea now

There are no cheap way to 'receive' QR contactless cards yet whereas the cost for mom and pop stalls to receive QR payment is practically zero

There's a street off Ram Inthra in Min Buri you can drive up in the morning to get day laborers 

24 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

 Very interested as I wouldn't mind doing so.

Have you actually succeeded in doing so, or is it pure theory.

Last I did it it was EUR-> GBP, then I paid for that with Thai credit card

say to the guy you want a plug next to the light switches, and he'll wire it right

1 hour ago, connda said:

A single account is only insured for 1M THB. 

the guarantee is per 'institution' ie bank, so if your bank goes under, the guarantee is only for 1m, having two or more accounts from the same bank doesn't mean you get more protection you still only covered for 1M

28 minutes ago, foreverlomsak said:

Can Wise send from Thailand to UK?

I don't think so.

Sorry, I forgot, not directly using bank transfer from Thai bank accounts but using Thai debit/credit cards you can still take out money from Thailand cheaper than direct swift transfer

1 hour ago, JoseThailand said:

 

What do you mean by "daily"? Savings account?

That would be 'current' accounts in Thai it's กระแสรายวัน which is where he must have got 'Daily' from 

31 minutes ago, RobU said:

Perhaps now SkyTrain can afford to tighten bolts properly and implement careful checks and maintenance to stop bits falling off

The shoddy monorail is another project, actually owned by MRT, the underground company, but operated by BTS, and not connected to this money pile 

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

There is one missing from the list that would come in well ahead of the pack at number one.

Going through the list of top shareholders of the top Thai companies like Banks and such would reveal this pretty quickly, but any further discussion on this forum would be shut down quickly

20 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

Is the only real difference between HEV and PHEV that you can "plug in" to charge the PHEV?

 

 

some 'hybrids' can't even be run in pure ev mode, the engine has to be turning all the time or in case of 'mild' hybrids, only has small battery power for air-conditioning so that they can shut off the engine while idling stopping in traffic

3 minutes ago, KhunBENQ said:

Bangkok traffic has little to do with Suvarnabhumi to Pattaya. Exit airport, enter motorway 7 and straight to Pattaya.

Airport is on the south east corner of the metro area and strictly not even in Bangkok.

Exit motorway 7 heading right to the north is usually not as bad as going central.

If you see queues on the final tolls on google maps, maybe take the hwy36 exit to Naklua, but that exit might be jammed with people going to Rayong too

handle bars you can manage as you'll be aware of where your hands are, it's the mirrors positioned on the same level as car's mirror that's gonna be a problem,

If you look around  a lot of Thai Forza350 riders just fold them permanently and attach small mirrors to the side instead 

there are garages that makes the mirror fold electrically which is a lot more useful than the electric windshield

Songkran traffic to Pattaya usually aren't too bad there'll be congestion around the service station in Bang Pakong 

Might want to ask around for Taxis/Limousine that has easy/m-pass as that's around 20 minute at the final tolls you can cut through 

if they make an exception to let it goes down walking street at night it'll be quite popular 

the only guarantee is that on bigger piece or bullion will be stamped with the shop's hallmark, and of course they'll buy it back

bigger brands/chains from Bangkok Chinatown is probably better known and more accepted

The exemption was there because they did not foresee the scale and reach of importation that is now possible with the Chinese (Singaporean) apps, 

going back 10 years ago, ordering online means doing it through the computer, you'd need credit cards or bank accounts and be able to click through things in English, sure a few Farang and Hiso thais maybe able to get things off Amazon, the average Somchais have no idea how

but now there's cash on delivery and any grandma can order things on their phone....

and no they're not doing it through the post office like leaving the green card for you to pay at the office, they're asking for a cut from the apps, they know they won't be able to handle the volume otherwise, 

The Chinese found a loophole or lobbied for it in the first place, same with electric cars, they negotiated exemption for electric cars import where imports from other countries get 80% tax, decade back, battery electric vehicle in most people minds are probably gold carts... and now they're set to dominate the market 

Shops that makes their own gold Jewellery will happily take them 

https://www.goldtraders.or.th/DailyPrices.aspx

this is the daily spot price from the Thai gold trader's shops would based their buy/sell price off this, 

for 99.99% 24Kgold, look at the last row, first column is price per gram, the middle is price per baht weight (15.244) grams, 

if the shops would only give you price for their usual thai gold (96.5%) you're getting ripped off at around 100 baht per gram

payday outage are common in Thailand as people pay bills and their lottery dealers on the middle and the  end of the month

So baiting locals into confrontation on camera for 'views' is the MO for these guys? 

So getting <deleted> kicked in on camera would drive more traffic and earn him more money?

I's a win-win I think I can tolerate this 

9 minutes ago, Classic Ray said:

That is a pity, especially for those passengers who have started to rely on the service.

 

Whilst the trains are proven in service elsewhere, this is the first time a Thai company has constructed a monorail guideway system.

 

will be interesting to see what the actual problem is and whether it affects the Pink Line, using the same rolling stock/guideway system as well.

conductor rail falls off, pink line had the same issue already last December, this time it didn't looks as catastrophic as it was the inside rail that broke off, and got caught in the walkway between the concrete guideways (rails) whereas the outside one broke off and fell to the street 

clearly there are issue with the material of mounting hardware or how they're attached to the concrete, last time it happened they said they had 'inspected' the tracks but that it happened again means they'll need to replace whatever it is that fails for the whole length of the tracks of both lines