aldriglikvid

Don't change the subject now, Boomer. Your first post was that TE was a failed programme and no members. ???? Clearly wrong.

Demand is through the roof, and that's why they're raising prices. That's not "Thai Economics" but traditional Austrian Economics. Where it hurts, I believe, is that you Euro-poors aren't in the crosshair of TPC. The 70's are no more, unfortunately, and your EU-pension can't compete with the Koreans, Japanese or the Chinese.

I'm always surprised when boomers enters the thread and calls Thai Elite a failed programme. And, most often, ends with the comment "Thai economics, heu heu heu" - and the other Pattaya-boomers sends likes and emoji's. The fact (if that interests you) is that active users of the TE scheme is up +400% since 2019 and grew triple digits alone in 2023. They declare revenue and profits annually, and we just learned it's both record revenue and record profits. Demand isn't "low", to the contrary, it's through the roof; and that's why they're increasing prices.

A couple of threads back I envisioned +50% price increases and was made a laughing stock. I even was told the program was failing. +400% increase on the 20 year. Wow!

Hi fellas, I reckon i have an UTI and 'back home' we can buy UTI-tests over the counter. I'm thinking this is the sensible way, before i activate the Doctor's Fee. ???? Do you know if it's available here also?

I went with Roojai. Very easy!

Hi fellas, I'm buying my first new scooter, a Honda ADV160, and I wonder what insurance you guys would recommend? I guess it makes sense for a 1st class insurance Year 1-3 or so. Thanks!

I'm willing to pay for your first month of TRT-replacement, so we can fix that grumpy mood ???? For the rest of you: using [Internet Banking] we can transfer max. 100 000thb without any photo, or any other limits. To transfer above this limit, the 3rd party account needs to have been in your receiver file for a min. of 5 days. This according to my call to customer service right now.

Can I try to transfer without actually transferring? If so, my thread is obviously misplaced ???? My bike is delivered tomorrow, thus little room to "try" and it's not working at the spot (hence my thread here today).

Hi, Tomorrow, I need to transfer approx. 100k thb for a bike delivery. I use Bangkok Bank and I can access both the web and mobile application. Although my transfer limit is above this very number, I remember reading something about transfer limits recently. That you need to enter a Bangkok Office bank for a photo? I asked the dealer if, in a worst case, I could do 2x50k transfers and they were totally fine with that.

Hi, I'm about to do my first 90-day report ever. Does it make sense, technically or in any other way, to the first report in an immigration office - and the latter ones online. ? I wouldn't mind doing in person the first time, if that was the case. Bless

I have none of the aforementioned issues - but once in every quarter (or so) I get a sore throat and a dry cough; and not having any of this regurlarly I supposed is a good sign (in this context). The landlord is a great guy he's told me that he'll pay for a mold source investigation, and we'll take it from there. Thanks for the input here

All very helpful takes, I'm a little bit less worried now. I'll report back with my findings! Again, thanks. ????

What I did now was to trash the pillows and cases (of course) and then checked under the bedding: no issues whatsoever. The madrasses look and smell clean. I'll see what the owner says tomorrow, he's been very forthcoming with all issues thus far.

All right, here it is guys - the weirdest Q for this year: I'm renting a condo and overall I'm very satisfied and I try to keep it as clean and tidy as I can. I left the condo for 3 months this time, and my two pillows were drenched in mold (cover & cushion). I've never seen anything like this. The bedding had no colors on it (it's in the cleaner now, however) so it seemed isolated to the pillows. Anyhow, we have a issue here. The bed frame seem to be made of something that resembles suede / leather - could this be "bad" and infecting the other stuff? The rest of the apartment, to my knowledge (just landed a couple of hours ago..) is just fine.

Thank you all - very swift and good responses allround! I found a AC guy on FB and he'll swing by, he said fee is 400-700thb depending on issue and full cleaning. And, if I got the stamina, I'll pass it on to my landlord.

Hi, I'm renting a condo and the AC in my bedroom is getting, in my opinion, weaker the last couple of weeks. I've tried to clean it. I wonder, should I order refrigerant re-fill?

I didn't mean for me to sell it, I mean TPC probably won't sell the 20-year visas for anything below 2.5m going forwards (a forecast of mine, nothing official is said about this yet).

On Reddit, Facebook and www-forums there are tons of anecdotes similar to this one: the programme is simply exploding in popularity. My friend arrived at Suvarnabhumi this friday and even though July is peak-low season there were EPAs (and their shuttle trucks) literal everywhere. Again, my bet is on a +50% across the board.

High level revisionism here: you said program wasn't going well, when in fact it's delivering record profits and record memberships (yes, new and accumulative active members). Again, you keep going back to the "only 5k new memberships per year" as something bad or low - what do you base that on? All indications (interviews in Thai financial media etc.) is that they can't keep up with all the new members i.e. 5k is a high number; in other words, it's a good number. Let's not forget you started all this claiming that TE was a failing programme, and it certainly isn't. Secondly, Bangkok is hardly failing in a global context where it's pretty much civil war in Europe, a post war exodus from Russia, a post C19 & Xi Jingping crackdown exodus from China. And so on. Let's put it another way, why do you think this failing country had 3-4x uptake in applications the last 3 years? You're clueless, son.

What official agents have been told is that the ESE is to be scrapped entirely, and replaced with a new 20Y visa costing +2m. We'll see ????

You're only making stuff up now - how do you know about their goals? To the contrary, if you read quotes from the TPC board to local Thai financial news they are unable to satisfy all clients with EPA services - because there are so many new clients! If you want to debate, at least engage honestly. You argued it wasn't profitable - I showed you it was. You're telling me now that "it's no success" - according to who/what, your opinion? I'm out.

Your understanding is simply wrong. You have the assumption that they want this to be a volume scheme, couldn't be further from the truth. TPC reached profitability in 2021 (it was mainly the unlimited SPAs and Golfs that made it unprofitable). It's a LTD, with a proper P&L, but government owned nonetheless. They are increasing prices because demand is through the roof, and most importantly, because they can. The amount of cards sold 2021 Oct - 2022 Sep (TPC fiscal year) was 1950 cards generating 1,2 billion thb. Next FY, they sold +5000 cards in only 6 months (Oct 2022 - Mar 2023), generating 3.2 billion in revenues. This FY, ending in ~1.5 months, is set to rake in 10 000 new memberships generating 6-7 billion in revenue. It's an absolute profit center. They know they're priced too low, and they gonna increase prices substantially. It's a no-brainer: more revenue with less of the fix costs (less security and immigration fast track, less EPA to be hired shuttling passengers throughout the Airport). TE might have been a failure when it started, 20 years ago, but today (Russian exodus, Chinese exodus, European Civil-war/islamist takeover, work from home exodus etc.) it's an absolute success. The 20 year elite superiority extension I bought for 1m last month, not gonna sell for less than 2.5m this autumn. Just wait, son ????

Not really sure what's this comment is based on. Look at this graph, and remember 2023 isn't even in it - and according to Bangkok Post they're currently growing +50% YoY in 2023. Nah, TE will increase their prices +40% to 50% across the board, because demand is simply through the roof. I would advise anyone under the age of 50 aiming to be in Thailand long term, to acquire a TE before the 15th of September. Prices gonna be nuts.

Magnesium and GABA worked great for my sleeping, and I'd recommend that. Some interesting suggestions in the thread that I haven't tried already. I do have issues of waking up and feeling the urge to pee although volume is insignificant. And unfortunately gotten worse last 1-2 years; so I'm planning to do a checkup with the prostate later this year. Fingers crossed. Late 30's.