jfchandler

Here's El Charro's full product list in Adobe Reader pdf format... prices listed are per item... not per case.... The list shows the number of items in each case....

El Charro PRICE.PRIBKK.BOX.2011.1.pdf

Rimping must be "ripping" off local folks up there... I have no problem paying 96 baht for a decent order of tamales to eat at home...

But as far as the pricing is concerned, I haven't seen El Charro's frozen tamales in the local stores around BKK, but I regularly see their frozen burritos...

The burritos prices on their price list are just about the same retail prices (93 for bean and 103 for meat) that the supermarkets (Villa and Foodland in BKK) charge for them. So presumably they're giving the supermarkets some discount off the price list they sent to us.

So if Rimping is taking a list 96 baht item of tamales and retailing it for 150 baht... they're adding quite a nice markup...

PS - I'm happy to say, their products list includes some very nice things like guacamole and mole and frijoles and many varieties and sizes of corn and flour tortillas..as well as various versions of salsas and sauces...

Pretty much everything basic a good Mexican (or ex-Southwesterner) needs to live on....

Here's your answer for tamales... three varieties... sold in cases of 12 packages per case... 96 baht per package.

I just got their price list...as a somewhat complicated Excel spreadsheet... I'm going to convert it to a Adobe Reader pdf file and post the full thing here...

Meanwhile, here's the excerpt re their tamales...

Interestingly, despite what the husband told me earlier about a 1500 baht minimum order for delivery, the actual price sheet says 1000 baht minimum in BKK (including free delivery) and 2000 baht minimum outside BKK (not including delivery charges).

I don't know about the pricing... Hopefully that will be included in the products list they're supposed to be emailing me later this afternoon...

But as for shipping, the husband specifically mentioned shipping stuff packed in dry ice when I asked him about whether they can handle deliveries outside of BKK... So clearly that's within their capability... Though to CM, they wouldn't handle the delivery themselves... I'm assuming they'd send via EMS or something similar and you'd pay the cost for that in addition to the order cost.

For small orders outside of BKK, the cost of delivery might well outweigh the alternative of buying something already available in a local supermarket... But El Charro appears to have quite an extensive products list, so the real advantage for folks outside of BKK would be in being able to order things NOT available locally.

OK, here's the deal....

Interesting...interesting... El Charro is run by a husband and wife couple... Thai guy and Mexican woman...sounds like mainly the Mexican wife, according to her husband...

They will and do accept private (non-restaurant/food industry) orders, though it sounds like they haven't done a lot of that up until now... Of course, they don't have their own web site or show room, so how would anyone know....

Their office is open 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Saturday...and people can call in orders for delivery, using the office number listed in the link above. They'll deliver pretty much anywhere. For deliveries inside Bangkok, they'll do their own delivery and for free with a 1500 baht minimum order. At least for the BKK orders, it's just pay cash on receipt.

For outside Bangkok, there's a delivery fee for third-party shipping that will depend on what's required, such as whether it needs refrigeration/dry ice or not.

I asked, and the husband also said people can pickup orders from their factory in the Lad Prao area if it's more convenient...though he suggested still calling ahead and placing the order by phone...to give them time to arrange and have it ready. Their Lad Prao location is just a factory set-up... not intended for retail.

They're supposed to be emailing me an order and price list, and I'll post it here as soon as it arrives...

Their regular office staff doesn't speak much English... perhaps enough to execute an order and get the address right... not sure about that, from my initial call. But they ended up conference calling me in with the husband co-owner, Khun Chakrin, who speaks fine English... And although his wife is away on travel right now, he said she'll be back in a couple weeks and suggested English speakers use her as a point of contact. Her name is Faustina.

The better link for access that info is probably here:

http://suppliersglob...data&sid=846776

I'm on the phone with them now...checking about ordering...

Sounds like they'll deliver to your/my home, certainly including BKK.... but still getting the particulars...

These days, it's certainly the exception of a U.S. institution that doesn't charge the 1% card network fee and, even worse, their own add-on foreign currency conversion fee.

And it's my impression that a lot of times, when the institution is only charging the 1% card network fee but not their own add-on, that it can be difficult To find mention of it in their account disclosures, perhaps because they view the fee as being charged by a different entity (the card networks).

Schwab, Capital One and State Farm Bank debit cards are among some of the larger institutions that are fully fee-free in terms of making ATM withdrawals and POS purchases abroad.

Some credit unions and a few banks offer a variety of special accounts whereby -- by having direct deposits, minimum balance and/or various other criteria -- they may charge the 1% fee initially, but then refund it at month's end along with any ATM fees incurred, either fully or up to some monthly amount, if the user's account has met all the required criteria.

To the Admins... thanks for handling your latest foray into comedy with a bit more sensitivity...and consideration...than the ill-fated April Fool's post about banning marriages between older men and younger women...

It's a small thing, but at least labeling the article modestly at the top with a red "Satire" helps cover the bases...

As someone else said above, it's an unfortunate reality that patently ridiculous things that would be easily recognized as such elsewhere, when dropped into the Thailand context, suddenly become plausible and easily mistaken for reality...

Good advice from Pib... re moving preparations..

I'd add....

--pre-arrange a U.S. mailing address/mail forwarding service to keep and use for your banking and other official business. There are some banks and credit card companies that don't take well to customers using foreign addresses.

--settle any arrangements for life insurance that you may want/need while living in the U.S. Life insurance coverage and pricing in Thailand is generally lousy. Quite a few states, but not all, have laws that forbid insurers from inquiring or basing their underwriting on one's past or planned future travel plans.

--same thing for any will to cover any U.S. assets you want to direct... Wills and the execution of them are state-based, not federal, so you want to settle that under your particular state of residence.

Having a no-fee Schwab bank card and using AEON ATMs are two opposite and complimentary ends of the same spectrum....

The Schwab bank card has no VISA/MC 1% card network fee and no foreign currency surcharge on foreign transactions, as well as reimbursing other banks' regular ATM charges, including the Thai banks' 150 baht foreign card withdrawal fee, if someone really must use a Thai bank ATM.

The AEON ATMs are the best, most widely available ATM option in Thailand that doesn't charge the 150 baht withdrawal fee on non Thai bank cards, a fee that is basically is charged by all the Thai bank ATMs.

By using the Schwab bank card at an AEON ATM instead of a Thai bank ATM, you're avoiding Schwab having to pay the 150 baht fee charged by the Thai banks, and hopefully helping keep the Schwab bank card and its good features viable for the long term, and well as not submitting to the Thai banks' ripoff ATM fee.

Leaving aside my personal views of his politics, Jatuporn ought to be treated the same as any other Thai prisoner in detention...

And, I haven't seen any particular move to let convicted or confined, alleged criminals out on Election Day so they can perform their civic duty.

HEY!!! SRT marketing guys... Are you listening??? Want to know why no one's using Makkasan check-in compared to the busy City Line???

--the BTS/MRT, taxi and pedestrian access to Makkasan (all three!!!) suck, whereas it's generally better at Phyathai. In particular, the vehicle access out of Makkasan for anyone heading toward the main Sukhumvit area is a mess. And even if you end up installing a pedestrian walkway from Makkasan to the Petchburi MRT Station, it's still going to be a hefty walk for anyone with a lot of luggage. You should have found a way to co-locate the Makkasan ARL Station with the Petchburi MRT Station, but too late now.

--what's the point of a check-in service at Makkasan that only includes THAI Air, and they're only there because someone's telling them they have to be. Besides, who wants to fly THAI Air anyway.

--people don't want to pay extra fare for what was the Express Line from Makkasan, when it provides no particular value that makes it more attractive vs. a passenger heading straight to Phyathai for the much less expensive City Line.

--In general, neither the Phyathai nor Makkasan stations are well-suited for international passengers carrying either a lot of and/or heavy luggage, because of the various fare gates, security checks, stairs and extended walking distances. People in that situation are going to take a taxi to the door at the airport regardless.

There certainly are other reasons as well... But these are among some of the highlights... And no marketing plan you're going to devise is going to resolve those kinds of glaring flaws.

Pib's correct above...

AEON machines will accept all U.S. issued VISA and MC logo debit cards...

And for non VISA or MC logo cards, such as straight ATM cards, AEON ATMs will accept those with the PLUS logo on the reverse. But AEON does not accept non VISA/MC logo cards with only CIRRUS on the reverse.

For any bank card that AEON ATMs accept, there will be NO 150 baht withdrawal fee ... unlike the Thai banks. And the exchange rate will be as good or better than what you get from any Thai bank transaction...even apart from the Thai banks' 150 baht withdrawal fee on non-Thai cards.

Seems they decided to comply after being busted twice in a week. I think each bust costs the establishment 20,000 Baht and each smoker 2,000 Baht.

Amazing Thailand!!!

I'd say it's fairly clear that most average Thais could not meet the farang income threshhold that Immigration has set for retirement here... Most of the semi-professional Thai sorts I know -- office workers, government school teachers, non-licensed hospital medical staff -- seem to earn in the 12,000 to 18,000 per month range.

That said, personally, while I understand the argument, I don't find much meaningful relation between the typical monthly income of Thais and what the government chooses to set as the minimum for foreign retirees to stay here. The latter group, myself included, are guests in the country. And the current threshhold is not out-of-reach for the typical western retiree.

A couple of years ago there were big cases about longan contracts with many people fingered but as far as I know never brought to justice, and a while ago another case relating to the sale of substandard canned fish, Also massive and many thefts of rice from warehouses, and false accounting cases.

And of course the utter disgrace of the embezzled Tsunami money, which had Western embassies writing to the government.

Thanks for adding to our long list of scandals, Sharecropper... Some of those also I'd never heard of before...and the tsunami one was particularly interesting...and galling....

If you have dates and/or links to the source articles you included in your post, please add them....

Let's not forget the Alpine Land Scandal. It doesn't really compare in scope and pure brazenness with some of the other cases that have been mentioned here, but it is an excellent example of how if you simply embed the corruption deep enough to where it involves and affects too many people, not only will you not be investigated, but you CAN'T be investigated. Even when the evidence of wrongdoing is overwhelming.

Edit: Oops. Sorry. I see that was already mentioned above. Not surprising that the news headline was of a legal technicality to make the case go away.

Yes, and the final chapter coming some 20 years after the original wrongdoing (1990 vs 2010).

You gotta wonder, what the H were the authorities (so to speak) doing in all the intervening years...

Well, I guess you don't have to wonder too much....

What my wife has heard through the grapevine is that she has left the country.

Well, both the Post and The Nation had ADVANCE articles saying she was supposed to report to authorities Thursday to face the charges in Juvy Court... But, as far as I could see, neither of them had any after-the-fact followup on what actually did happen Thursday, and did the girl show.

Did anyone see any after-the-fact reports of what in fact happened?

Posted 2011-05-14 06

JULY 3 ELECTION

Snoh confirms move to Pheu Thai

By The Nation

Pracharaj Party leader Snoh Thienthong yesterday confirmed his decision to change parties in order to run as a Pheu Thai party-list candidate.

"I share the same aspirations as Pheu Thai - to uphold the monarchy, to foster good relations with neighbouring countries and to wage the ultimate war on illicit drugs," he said.

Snoh said his party-list ranking would be finalised at Monday's Pheu Thai meeting.

He said the Pracharaj Party would continue under a caretaker leader. Three former MPs from the Thienthong family, Sorawong, Thanit and Treenuch, will follow Snoh to Pheu Thai.

(more)

And separately:

Meanwhile, Surachart Thienthong, son of veteran politician Snoh, is trying his best to win votes in Bangkok's Don Muang Constituency 11 under the Pheu Thai Party.

And then there was the Snoh and Alpine Golf case, clearing the way for him to run in the upcoming election as a PT candidate:

Posted 2010-11-20

ALPINE SCANDAL

Snoh saved by legal technicality

By The Nation

The Supreme Court on Friday cited statutory limitations to dismiss a case arising from the so-called "ALPINE Scandal" against a former interior minister on charges of allegedly abusing his authority to purchase two plots of land.

A nine-member committee of the National Anti-Corruption Commission made a unanimous decision to try Snoh Thienthong, also Pracharaj Party leader, in February.

The commission sued Snoh for alleged corruption related to the ALPINE land scam when he was the interior minister in 1990.

The NACC report was forwarded to the Office of the Attorney-general for trial preparation.

The high court ruled that the case was actually lodged after the expiry of the August 21 deadline.

(more)

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4035218

And then there was this from our Prime Minister lately:

Posted 2011-06-02

Corruption spreading like plague : PM

By The Nation

Corruption has inflicted untold damage to the country's competitiveness, spreading like a neverending plague, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday, urging all sectors of society to unite in rooting out graft.

"As government leader, I know politicians have been joint suspects," he said, conceding that he was not satisfied with the anti-Corruption fight in the past two years under his watch.

Abhisit said he hoped the July 3 election would be a turning point for every political party to come up with a road map to fight corruption, which he believed had become a complex issue and could not be easily detected.

He voiced concern about the attempts to rig the bids for public projects by inflating the benchmark price, thus adding kickbacks as part of the cost borne by the government instead of the tea money paid by the winning contractor. The inflated cost would later be distributed via moneylaundering.

He was speaking at an antiCorruption seminar jointly organised by the government and the private sector. Seminar sponsors included the National AntiCorruption Commission, the Federation of Thai Industries, the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Thai Bankers' Association.

(more)

I was reading the U.S. indictment document in the Siriwan-TAT case (which I included as an attachment in the prior post on the case) tonight...and it makes for interesting reading... using her daughter to allegedly take down $1.8 million out of a $14 million project, with payments to a variety of foreign bank accounts.

I suppose it's possible the lack of any apparent follow-up here in Thailand might have something to do with others here having shared in the bounty...

And then there's the Klong Dan water treatment plant case in Samut Prakan...and an actually convicted official...who's also on the run.

Govt to appeal Klong Dan verdict

By The Nation

A protracted appeal process is soon to begin in the already years-long Klong Dan water-treatment plant row.

Government ministries and a department are appealing against a decision by arbitrators requiring Bt9-billion in government compensation to be paid to a contractor over legal conflicts in the construction of the huge water-treatment project in Samut Prakan province.

Relevant agencies have been approving the appeal process.

The final pre-appeal approval came from the Finance Ministry, which echoed the position of the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and the Pollution Control Department, that paying the huge fine and compensation to the contractor would violate public moral principles, PCD director-general Suphat Wangwongwatthana said yesterday.

The right to appeal will expire after a 90-day period next month, and the Office of the Attorney-General, which is tasked with appealing against the arbitrators' decision, has been informed of the final decision by both ministries and the department, he said. The appeal process is expected to take about one year, after next month.

The huge fine has been widely dubbed "stupidity fees" in press reports and attributed to preconditions agreed upon by corrupt politicians, officials and contractors as a way to escape losses by the contractors, in case the project cannot be completed due either to corruption being detected, inefficiency or technological glitches.

The project, the largest waste-water project in Southeast Asia, was initiated and approved by veteran politician Vatana Asavahame, who has been sentenced in absentia to 10 years' imprisonment for his corruption and illegal benefits from the project.

The Northwest Company and the NVPSKG Joint Venture, which constructed the project, are demanding huge compensatory fines from the PCD after the project was halted due to legal conflicts and criminal prosecutions.

The arbitrators' decision, that the PCD should pay a total of about Bt9 billion to the contractors, was reached on January 12 and was empowered by conditions in the project contracts.

However, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and the PCD dispute the decision, saying it violates the contract conditions.

-- The Nation 2011-03-22

And by way of background:

Bangkok, Aug 18, 2008 (Xinhua) Thailand's Supreme Court Monday awarded 10 years' imprisonment without parole to Vatana Asavahame, former deputy interior minister of the country, after the court found him guilty of corruption.

The court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, by an eight to one vote, sentenced Vatana in absentia for his role in wastewater treatment project, the Bangkok Post webnews reported.

Vatana is also the chief advisor to the ruling Puea Pandin Party.

An arrest warrant has been issued on Vatana who is believed to be hiding in Cambodia where he owns a hotel and casino, the report said.

Vatana was accused of misusing his office as the deputy interior minister 16 years ago.

http://current.com/i...n-hamropalo.htm

And then there was this today on vote-buying for the upcoming election:

Posted June 25, 2011

WATCHDOG

Vote-buying and graft undermine the country's competitiveness

By Nophakhun Limsamarnphun

Thailand is just one week away from a general election in which incumbent Abhisit Vejjajiva of the Democrat Party and Yingluck Shinawatra of the opposition Pheu Thai Party are basically in a head-to-head contest to be the next prime minister.

But Thai elections are usually marred by vote-buying, and this time will be no exception. In Bangkok and its peripheral areas, canvassers are reported to have offered Bt500 to Bt3,000 per vote. In other parts of the country, prices vary.

(more)

Well, there was this lately:

Posted 2011-05-11

Anti-graft body probes CAT executives

By Usanee Mongkolporn

The Nation

The board of the National Anti-Corruption Commission has set up a subcommittee to investigate CAT Telecom chief executive officer Jirayuth Rungsrithong and CAT board directors in connection with CAT's deals with True Corp on co-developing a wireless broadband service, said NACC member Methee Klongkaew.

The move is in line with a recommendation of the Senate's corruption investigation panel, which looked into the deals.

(more)

http://www.thaivisa....ost__p__4415387

Just curious... has any government official of any prominence ever been actually held responsible in any of the major corruption cases???

It took a coup to get rid of Thaksin, and he's still on the run, with some nine different cases listed above.

Re the Film Festival and TAT bribery case, the former TAT exec has been charged in the U.S. (not in Thailand), and whereabouts unknown.

Re the Government Lottery case, the guys actually convicted got suspended sentences, but they went on the run anyway.

Suvarnabhumi Airport related stuff in all its various forms??? And on and on...

I'm sure there must be ONE somewhere, sometime....