Pib

Postal delivery times can vary greatly...domestic and international. And it's not uncommon nowadays for a received envelope to not show any mailing or delivery postmark/date. I On the SSA 7162 mailing the wife and I received this year on 17 Jun had no post marks; only the 6 Jun date on 7162 form contained within the envelope. Expect the SSA forms were printed and then mailed same or next day. I fully expect the SSA in establishing their 60 day return date is based on 30-45 round-trip mailing time which gives the recipient 2 weeks or more to complete a super simple form and mail it back. A generous time. Anyone who wants to argue with the SSA they should use a receipt postmark date (a postmark that may not even exists) is going to have as much luck as fighting a windmill.

I expect the return within 60 days is referenced from the date the 7162 was generated/printed which was 6 June 2024 for this year's mailing...date of printing shown in upper right hand corner of barcoded 7162 that SSA sends you. People in Thailand started reporting receipt in mid Jun. The wife and I here in Bangkok received ours on 17 Jun. When people mail it back immediately it should arrive Wilkes Barre well before end of Jul. Since SSA mails the 7162 via regular airmail if it takes 2-3 weeks to arrive a person's address in Thailand then it probably takes 2-3 weeks for a regular airmail th go back to Wilkes Barre PA. That's been my personal mailing experience but I live in Bangkok which probably helps with mailing times. SSA doesn't generate the 2nd mailing till sometime in Sep with a return within 45 days requirement which would probably be in late Oct/early Nov. And if SSA never receives a 7162 from the person it's not until Jan that they send the person a letter saying benefits are suspended beginning for the 3 Feb payment date.

https://autolifethailand.tv/sales-report-d-segment-june-2024/ Sales Report D-Segment sales in June 2024: BYD Seal is the champion, followed by Toyota Camry. Wait for the new model to be released at the end of this year. ByMoo Teerapat A Share Facebook Twitter Pinterest WhatsApp Sales Report D-Segment car sales: June 67 D-Segment car sales in June 2024 total 762 units. No. 1 BYD Seal* : 249 units Market share 32.7% 2nd place: Toyota Camry : 219 cars Market share 28.7% 3rd place Honda Accord : 122 cars Market share 16.0% 4th place GWM ORA 07* : 104 cars Market share 13.6% No. 5 Deepal L07* : 65 cars Market share 8.5% No. 6 Mazda 6 : 3 cars Market share 0.4% D-Segment car sales in January - June 2024 total 7,825 units. No. 1 BYD Seal* : 4,270 units Market share 54.6% No. 2 Honda Accord : 1,468 cars Market share 18.8% 3rd place: Toyota Camry : 1,157 units Market share 14.8% 4th place GWM ORA 07* : 591 units Market share 7.6% No. 5 Deepal L07* : 334 cars Market share 4.3% No. 6 Mazda 6 : 5 cars Market share 0.1% * BYD Seal / GWM ORA 07 / Deepal L07 are 100% electric vehicles.

Review below SSA website which covers the Foreign Enforcement Program....SSA's scary name for the 7161/7162. Click below link and then just click Next in the top right corner to go to the section/document explaing the program, mailing schedule, etc. Each section/doc is one a page or two long. You will not get any feedback from SSA Wilkes Barre "of the day they receive your 7162"....that would only come from the US and/or Thai Postal Tracking websites for your shipment. As explained before don't be surprised if your EMS-tracked shipment (or registered mail) seems to go MIA for weeks or longer after arriving the US entry point...and/or you don't see final delivery to SSA Wilkes Barre. You might see it go MIA after entering the US, you might see it go MIA between the US entry point and Wilkes Barre, you may see it reach the Wilkes Barre post office but no indication it got from the post office to SSA, OR you may be one of the lucky ones to see tracking and delivery confirmation into the hands of some Wilkes Barre SSA rep. Watch the US and Thai Postal System tracking at their tracking websites. https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0302655000

Is that a bZ4x? If so, very few were sold in Thailand thru Dec 2023. Then in Jan 2024 DLT regristration stats shows 66 was registered for January (probably a wholesale transaction to clear stock in Thailand...maybe sold to a foreign buyer...or maybe transferred/registered to Toyota Sure to be sold as a used car)) and since Jan thru 30 Jun 2024 the DLT stats show "zero" regristrations.

Keep us updated if EMS tracking shows the "entire" trip (especially from the US coast to Wilkes-Barre) to include SSA Wilkes Barre delivery....or does it seem to go MIA after entry into the U.S. And why not fill out a duplicate and also mail it via "regular airmail" for around Bt50. I figure if you are willing to spend Bt1,550 on EMS another Bt50 for a 2nd mailing shouldn't hurt.

Then you need to stop viewing/using AseanNow, Facebook, Youtube, etc., to avoid being a crimmial.

Fiber, plastic, polymer, PVC, HDPE, etc....what the cover's exact composition is I can't say....it's some type of material that is not metal. Rats/mice will pretty much chew on anything that is not metal.

This lady nicknamed Cherry has an Atto she bought 7 May 2023 and now has over 40,000Km on it. She did a video on 14 July 2024 regarding the 40,000Km checkup. She done other Atto videos like her 5,000Km checkup on 13 May 2023 and 20,000Km checkup on 25 Oct 2024. She also did "a really good and detailed video" on the home wallcharger installation/costs dated 24 Mar 2023. Anyway, here is her video on Rat Guard installation she had done on her Atto on 23 June 2024 where you can see what is done during the first 2 minutes of the 4 minute video. The last half of the video is just her waiting around in the dealership lounge snacking on food and giving out information in Thai. Her video's are in Thai but usually provides a lot of "pictures" which greatly helps to explain....you know the ol' saying, "a picture can be worth a 1000 words."

I can now confirm it's "not" for the Seal. Just a few minutes ago another BYD dealership near me called me regarding making an appointment for Rat Guard installation on my Atto....I had messaged them on LINE yesterday. He was calling to offer me an appointment for Rat Guard installtion. I told him I had just a few hours earlier made an appointment at another BYD dealership. I thanked him for calling as he was ready to provide an appointment date...it was going to be one day later than the appointment I made at the other dealership. I then asked him a few questions about Rat Guard. It's a free installation for the Dolphin & Atto only to predominately add protection for the upper "fiber" cover of the traction battery....basically sparying on that chemical and adding some alumimum corner protectors on the fiber cover. The rep said Rat Guard does not apply to the Seal since the Seal has an aluminum upper cover vs fiber cover like the Atto/Dolphin.

Oh, the American muscle car names and days...a time gone by but the names are still copyrighted preventing their use by other car manufactuers. BYD seems to like names that imply "quickness...sleekness' along with liking aquatic type critters that bring forth an image of being sleek & fast under water like a Dolphin or Seal. And for the Atto see below.

The video says it's for the Atto and Dolphin...probably due to those models having a traction battery "top" cover that is fiber materials....but bottom cover is metal. I think the Seal battery has a metal cover for top and bottom...critters can't chew thru. Now of course all cars, ICEV and EV, have wires running everwhere but I think the BYD Rat Guard is focused on protecting the fiber cover that critters have chewed on for some Atto and Dolphin owners.

Thanks for the info. Today I was able to confirm a mid August appointment with my nearby BYD dealership here in Bangkok to have Rat Guard installed on my Atto...no charge. It's a 1pm appointment and I expect they will tell me to come back around 3:00 to 4:30pm since they close at 5pm and the mimumun appointment window covers a 2 hour time frame even for a simple task that might only take 15 minutes. Now I haven't seen a rat/mouse aroiund my house here in Bangkok for around 5 years"....ever since several stray cats decided to visit our home daily several times a day since the wife puts some food out for them. Now before the cats started standing guard around my house I would see a rat/mouse running around the yard every week or two....and at one time for a few months some rats got into the house attic and you could hear them running around at night, but some glue traps got rid of them (caught 3 big ones over a few weeks)...no more noises from attic. But since the Rat Guard installation is free....why not have it installed. I'm fairly sure this explains/confirms some maintenance I saw at my BYD dealership several weeks ago when I looked in their maintenance bay briefly and saw a technician with a respirator mask on and spraying stuff from a paint gun under the car. The car was up on the lift and he was spraying a pretty clear mist back around the rear axle area and battery. I only watched him do this for about 5 seconds as I walked by the maintenance bay and could easily see it. I expect he could have very well be spraying the Rat Guard stuff....at that time I didn't even realized the Rat Guard service was available/even existed. Yea, big thanks for the Rat Guard for Atto and Dolphin crossfeed.

Mr Toyota is still sending the stuffed envelopes. Take a look at the 29 July 2024 Bangkok Post article titled: "Hybrids still greener, Japan seminar told" The article states/implies Japan believes "hybrids" are the way to go; not BEV especially in places like SE Asia....even specifically talks Thailand.

The main reason ibanking in Thailand (not just Bangkok Bank) is 2 Factor Authorizaiton (2FA) for logon is not required....just need your User ID and Password. But with mbanking 2FA is used via use of a PIN code in addition to User ID and PW. Plus your phone is basically "fingerprinted" hardware-wise by the mbanking to make account access more secure...can only log onto your mbanking acct from that phone. With ibanking you can logon from any computer on Earth...to include the hacker that somehow got your User ID and PW. However, but, anyone's bank account can be hacked when they do not guard their User ID, password, and PIN like it's Fort Knox which unfortunately too many people seem to be nonchalant about. Or malware gets on thier compuber or phone which steals bank logon credentials. Personally, I have no doubt that Thai banks will continue to drift away from ibanking if nothing else to only have one system to maintain/keep secure....plus, many Thai's don't have computers---but they sure have mobile phones!!

Contact Manila SSA and tell them what you want to do. Note: It appears over the last month or so Manila SSA has deleted from their website their "inquiry form" method they have used for years. Or, if that inquiry form weblink is still there it like "if it was a snake it would have bit me" because I no longer see it from looking a few minutes ago. By inquiry form I mean it was an online form with pull down menus where you selected why you were contacting them, what personal info you needed to enter to identity yourself such as name, address, SSN, etc., along with a Remarks block where you could state exactly what your issue is....press Submit and that was transmitted to Manila SSA for review/action/response. But I dont see that anymore....it appears they have went back to preferring an email like it use to be a half dozen or so years ago. See below Manila SSA website on how to contact them. And don't waste you time trying to call them as you would have to be extremely lucky to get a human on the line during their limited call days/hours....use email. Be sure to clearly identify yourself or you may not get an answer or they will come back with a request for more identification. https://ph.usembassy.gov/services/social-security/#small-call-out-carousel OR, call the SSA at their main 1800 number since you still only have a US address onfile with SSA. https://www.ssa.gov/agency/contact/phone.html

As long as your phone is not jail broken and if using an Android phone running Android 8 or higher your phone is good to go for use with Bangkok Bank app. Can't speak to the requirement for an Apple phone. What the bank branch rep said about a weak mobile signal probably causing the unable to verify number error message is laughable answer. The problem is on the Bangkok Bank end...something not fully setup on their end....maybe some typo...maybe needing a few more working days for the setup to be fully completed. If you can't get working by end of day 1 July I recommend you "call" the Bangkok Bank Central main help number to work the issue. Email works fine for some issues but sucks for other issues.

First check with your local/nearby immigration office to get a residence certificate. If for some reason they refuse then just go to BOI/Chamchuri Sq Immigration Office to get one....costs Bt500 and takes approx 1 hour....no appointment needed...just walk in.

Use the 2021 version available from the Manila SSA webpage below. https://ph.usembassy.gov/services/social-security/

Whoops...in the first paragraph were I said "Registered airmail wll cost around Bt50" I meant to say "Regular airmail...." Registered airmail will cost around Bt355.

Yeap. Digital electric meters, whether digital TOU or non-TOU, are going the GSM or RFID communications route as that greatly reduces manpower required to go read the meters every month....no need for a meter-read to go eyeball some dials on a meter. And like you also said digital meters can give the electric company much more detail about how and when a household uses electricity such as a certain TOU meter was installed for EV charging purposes but electrical useage might show it being constantly used or for much longer periods than it typically takes to charge an EV, etc...etc...etc.....an easily tipoff to the electric company that maybe the TOU EV meter is really being used to power big electric motors, a drill press, a metal cutter machine, a welding machine, etc., as the household also happens to run a business where they live such as a 3 story shophouse where the ground floor is a business--LOTS of such townhouses in Thailand. By the way regarding electric meters. My 30/100A analog non-TOU meter (i.e., regular meter) stopped measuring in June...that is, the big rotary dial stopped turning along with its little readout dials. The same thing happenned about a dozen years ago...back then it took MEA 17 days to replace the meter. Well, this time it took them 32 days to replace the analog meter with another analog meter after we followed up around 5 times via email and telephone conversations with the MEA Call Center asking why it was taking so long to replace the meter. But not until we visited a MEA Office in person on a Friday afternoon to talk this issue that we were told that MEA is temporaily "out of replacment" meters and it might take 3 months to get the replacement meter. We had also talked to the MEA "meter reader" a day earlier who drove around to take the monthly readings in our neighborhood about getting a replacment meter and he said some people have experienced up to an 8 (eight) month delay in getting a replacement meter. But anyway, apparently our in-person MEA office visit on a Friday made a difference as Monday morning our meter got replaced. And for anyone wondering how MEA charges a person when the meter is inop/can't be read, well, the MEA office rep said they charge based on the "average" of your last 3 monthly bills. However, when we got our bill for the one month the meter couldn't be read (i.e., still broke...still awaiting replacement) MEA charged us "exactly to the stang/number of KWH unit" for what you had been charged for the previous month....not an average of the last three months. Oh well....but I'm not upset as I know I probably used at least 10% more than the previous month.

Believe me....you want to get the Bangkok Bank mbanking app working. It provides more security than their current ibanking, more electronic banking options, makes banking easier, etc...etc....etc. Plus, Thai banks are slowly drifting towards getting rid of ibanking in favor of only offering mbanking. KrungThai Bank and SCB have already discontinued ibanking....only mbanking now available. Use of a VPN provides practically zero extra security because when logging onto ibanking it uses HTTPS which means a Secure/encrypted connection. By using VPN you are only doing another encrpytion "around" the already encrpted HTTPS connection...and this VPN encryption is only between you and the VPN server....not between the VPN server and the site you are connection go such as the Bangkok Bank ibaning site. You'll be sorry later if you don't get the mbaning working....it may be months or years from now but you will be sorry.

From looking at the latest MEA, repeat, MEA (not PEA) EV Charger Promotion it does not show or mention use of a 2nd meter like their earlier EV charger promotions. MEA is for the Bangkok metro area. The latest promotion (below) which seems to address the case of needing a 2nd main line from the meter to a circuit breaker box shows a Main Line to the home main circuti box and also a 2nd Main Line going to the EV charger circuit breaker. I fully expect the 2nd main line would be an above ground even if a person current main line is underground.. Apparently both main lines merge and then connect to "one" meter on the pole...does not show an option for a 2nd meter like maybe a TOU meter (or even regular meter) for the EV charger. Instead only one meter would be used....the resident would probably need to chose to run the entire home and EV charger under regular meter tarraff or TOU meter tariff...not allowed to have a regular meter "and" TOU in a typical residential situation. I expect most (not all) people would go with the regular meter tariff since the power used by home (i.e., A/Cs, TVs, heaters, etc.) throughout a 24 hour period 7 days a week would probably exceed EV power usage used periodically thru the week for a short period(s). And a person would probably prefer not worrying about trying to avoid peak usage periods when powering the home electrical equipment like A/Cs, TVs, water heaters, etc). But I realize some people can get by just fine using a TOU meter 24/7 and actually save a significant amount....each person's power usage requirements will be different...especially when they need to use certain electrical equipment and various other reasons. https://www.mea.or.th/other-services/ken/S3Lhgkpt/ev-charger

Well, some people use Thai registered airmail....I guess some have used EMS....maybe FedEx also. But EMS and/or Fedex will be expensive....probably aorund Bt1500 or more. Registered airmail will cost around Bt50. Now if using registered airmail the tracking via U.S. Postal or Thai Postal will probably stop once it enters the U.S.....usually on the East or West coast International Service Center for the US Postal System. The tracking may no longer show any updates as the mail makes its way to Wilkes Barre...the mail appears to go MIA but should arrive no problem. And since it's going registered airmail it will probably take 2 to 4 times longer than regular airmail as the registered airmail receives speical handling which slows things down...but that special handing typically stops once it enters the U.S. where it will then enter the regular USPS 1st Class Mail system. Regular airmail should arrive Wilkes Barre in around 2 weeks....registered airmail will probably take around a month unless you get lucky. I based the mailing times on my personal mailing tests of mailing regular airmail and registered airmail envelopes from Bangkok to Houston/LA where I was notified the day the envelopes arrived Houston/LA. And it might be a good idea to make a good/clear copy of the 7162 in order to mail it again via regular airmail say around 2 weeks after mailing the original back to Wilkes Barre. And if you get another 7162 from Wilkes Barre in the Sep/Oct time frame that means they didn't get a reply from you to their first mailing "in time enough to avoid their 60 day cutoff" which then triggers another mailing from them to you. Yeap, if they send you another 7162 be sure to complete and mail back regardless of how many others you have already mailed back...or if you have confirmation your previous mailings made it to Wilkes Barre.

Good report...thanks. Since the bank account is brand new maybe it will start working on the mobile app (i.e., mbanking) after several business/work days have passed...like 3 or 4 business/work days...don't count the acct opening day or weekends/holidays. I know you got setup for ibanking mmediately, but maybe the mbanking takes longer since they are two separate systems. And the opening deposit amount requirement was only Bt500....it's not a fee...just a deposit which you can literally withdrawl the next day (or maybe sooner). Seems a Bt500 opening deposit requirement is pretty standard across the great majority of Thai banks when opening a regular savings account. Basically BOI has vouched for you with Bangkok Bank allowing the easy opening of a bank acct....or maybe it's more accurate to say Bangkok Bank knows you went thru quite a documentation vetting process in obtaining an LTR visa which more than satisfies Bangkok Bank for account opening purposes. Edit: and remember, you can also open a bank acct with Kaiskorn Bank using your LTR visa....no need to first go thru BOI to arrange a K-bank appt....you can just go direct to a K-bank branch....but I would take along a printout of below BOI webpage in case you get a deer-in-the-headlights look from the bank rep. BOI has a deal with Bangkok Bank and K-bank (only those two banks) regarding easy acct opening for LTR visa holders. https://ltr.boi.go.th/page/opening-bank-account-in-thailand.html