TallGuyJohninBKK

I had a special variety that weren't really available here.

I had a pair of new contact lenses remailed (not sent directly from the source) from the U.S. to Thailand a couple years back, and they arrived fine... But that was using regular international airmail enroute to Thai Post for final delivery. So I don't recall even having to do a customs declaration for the envelope, since the item inside (contact lens case) was so small. I'm not sure I would have had the same result if my item had been going thru the more officious private couriers like DHL and FedEx.

Yep, it's hard to tell or know why some card users run into the "we think you don't live in the U.S." problems, and others can continue using their cards here just fine.

In my experience, the refusals of counter withdrawals by Thai bank branches generally have been specific to individual branches -- and not some kind of bank-wide policy against them. I've heard all kinds of excuses from different branches of different Thai bank companies of why they can't or won't do them. But in general, it's often seemed to be one of two things... either... a. they simply want you to use their ATMs instead, either because it's less work and hassle for them and/or they're aware that it means more fee income for the bank, and/or b. doing the counter withdrawal transaction often involved them running your card thru one of those portable card reading machines, and then entering the correct commands to successfully accomplish the transaction. In my experience, some tellers simply don't know how to execute it correctly, and they end up getting error messages on their machines. The counter withdrawal transaction involving a foreign bank debit card is not something most Thai bank branch tellers typically would have a lot of experience doing... And the workplace education levels here, as is well-known, leave a lot to be desired.... Have you tried any other BKK Bank branches before assuming it's some kind of bank-wide policy?

In answer to the OP's main question, I don't think there is ANY Thai ATM you can use anymore with a foreign ATM/debit card (VISA or MC) that won't charge a flat amount withdrawal fee, generally 220b except for AEON's lesser fee with a lower withdrawal limit. About the best you can do with Thai bank ATM withdrawals using a foreign card is to have a home country bank/card that reimburses you for other banks' ATM fees, and in the case here, that needs to include international ones, not just domestic ATM fees in the country where your bank card was issued. Charles Schwab Bank U.S. is one of those, and their ATM fee reimbursements technically are unlimited. But I have several worldwide ATM fee reimbursing accounts from the U.S., which are relatively rare in general, and most typically have a monthly limit of say $12 to $15 in ATM fees. With Schwab, I say their fee reimbursements technically are unlimited, because, another member here recently got a message from Schwab Bank threatening to close his accounts because he had international activity that suggested to Schwab he might not be a resident of the U.S. as required... See the following thread: For reasons such as those variously cited in the above thread, I generally try to do my foreign ATM / debit card withdrawals from smaller home country BANK accounts that are different and separate from the brokerage accounts where I keep my retirement savings and investments. In short, I try to avoid foreign country transactions as much as possible in my main brokerage accounts. I know the Schwab ATM fee reimbursements are a nice perk, but the potential downsides/hassles like member @IAMHERE encountered makes me want to avoid the potential risk, especially since I have other available options.

Other than the location of your IP address, which can be changed with a VPN of course, the other indicator I believe some financial institutions may look at is the Time Zone listed on the device being used to log into their systems. Your IP may be changed by a VPN. But most VPN connections don't automatically change your device's time zone setting to match the VPN location. Of course, the user can change their time zone setting themselves, and then later reset it accordingly. I've never done that for existing accounts where I'm already established. But these days, if I'm applying online for a new account and want to avoid any potential hangups, I'll do the manual time zone adjustment myself on my PC while doing the online application process.

We're talking here about what's generally called a "counter withdrawal" -- where you use your VISA or MC debit card with the bank's counter/teller instead of the ATM. The Thai banks generally SHOULD allow those, but it tends to be hit an miss in reality. Some staff will refuse and instead tell you to use their ATMs... The best you can do is try branch to branch. The Thai banks generally should not impose any flat rate or percentage fee for that kind of transaction... but I think one or two did begin charging fees for that... including SCB, I think. It's kind of like a cash advance using a credit card. Except, because it's a DEBIT card and it's already your own money in your checking account, your card's bank isn't going to charge any advance fees... However, if the card you're using charges any foreign currency conversion fees, like many do, those would still apply to a counter withdrawal transaction --the same as they would for an ATM withdrawal or POS purchase. What the counter withdrawal avoids is the 220b per withdrawal ATM fee that Thai ATMs charge against foreign cards.

That above is the only time I'll be exercising my newly restored emoticon expressions.... ????

The return of those "negative" emoticons, along with the protection/cover of providing anonymity, is an invitation to increased trolling.

Yes it was... and that's what let to it being removed... until now.

Trolling is the SAME person repeatedly targeting another member. It's NOT trolling if five different members each post a single laughing or confused emoticon on a particular member's various posts. Now, though, apparently, the targeted member has no way of knowing which kind of conduct is occurring.

Not when you don't know who's actually doing the trolling because, apparently, the use of the various emoticons will now be anonymous to the poster being commented on, and all other regular members of the forum. And, I think it's pretty clear in the past that most of the time, when emoticon trolling/stalking issues arose, it was because targeted member could see and know it was the same member doing it repeatedly to their posts....and thus could report it. But now... invisible except to the mods, who don't spend their days seeking out such things.

1. Being indoors with AC doesn't do anything to help with/reduce the issues of air pollution when it's bad. 2. if your child's school is a private one, then they're free to set their own health policies including regarding mask wearing, regardless of those set for government schools. Have you asked the school why they're requiring the kids to wear masks while at school?

Is anyone here actually surprised that a Thai national, in the aftermath of a serious traffic accident, ends up leaving the scene. Happens here all the time, based on the local news reports we are regaled with.

Such as, if you're living abroad like in Thailand, but are earning income from rental property back in the U.S. from a state with state income tax. Merely being expat living abroad by no means gives anyone an all-purpose pass on state tax liability.

So they actually managed to arrest THREE of the 17 fraudsters they supposedly were looking for... and the other 14 had managed to vanish! Wonder what the odds are that some of those got tipped off prior to the crackdown, perhaps by the same kinds of folks who were issuing them pay-off illegal visas in the first place. If Immigration was a professional baseball player, with a batting average like that, they'd be sitting on the bench!

Around my neighborhood in BKK, most Thais still are wearing face masks when close around other people, especially in indoors venues... And a lot of expats as well.... From what I'm seeing, it's the western tourists who are the most conspicuous in not wearing face masks these days, even in places like the BTS, where they're specifically being asked to wear them.

In all likelihood, the school kids were being told/asked to wear face masks because of the recent/current spate of very bad air pollution, which is a standard thing for schools when the air gets bad. It would be madness not to try to protect kids from air here lately that in many areas has ranged from unhealthy to hazardous.

Some of us were wearing N95 masks here in Thailand, seasonally, long before COVID came along because of PM2.5 air pollution. And will have reason to continue wearing them no matter what happens with COVID, at least until/unless the unlikely event of the Thai government getting serious about PM2.5 air pollution occurs.

As I said above, it's JD.com that's closing its Thailand business, not Shopee... See the following: China’s JD.com to officially exit Indonesia, Thailand 30 Jan 2023 "Chinese ecommerce major JD.com is officially closing shop in Thailand and Indonesia by March 3 and March 31, respectively. Both platforms will stop receiving orders by February 15. As such, JD.com urged its customers to use up or transfer the balance in their accounts and pay off any loans before the closing dates." https://www.techinasia.com/jdcom-exits-indonesia-thailand

I believe it's JD.com that's leaving Thailand, not Shopee....

Bangkok should consider itself lucky that the mess up north hasn't moved further southward as yet.... Note the areas of RED (unhealthy) and PURPLE (hazardous) air quality. https://aqicn.org/country/thailand/

In reading the full report, it's full of a lot of caveats and hypotheses... It's also a non-peer reviewed preprint study from 2020. But it would be interesting to know if the authors ever did the follow-up work they were discussing.

Air pollution is bad in China, and people with impaired respiratory systems due to chronic air pollution are likely at greater risk of negative COVID outcomes. But I'm not following your quoted comment above. I don't think air pollution levels themselves drive COVID particles to become more airborne than they otherwise would. And, AFAIK, "old people" who might never leave home tend to catch COVID from family members who bring the virus home from outside and then infect their relatives.

The virus particles from COVID don't float around in the air by themselves. They are expelled by breathing / coughing / talking and become part of larger mucosal particles -- the sizes of which are very readily captured by N95 masks.