TravelerEastWest

"...but if i were you, i would not follow the trend in thailand.

rather i would keep my kid with me til he is about four or so, preferably around five or six, before i would send him out to a school....

whatever he would learn in school at three or so can never be able to replace what he could learn from mom and dad at home at that very tender age....

why allow strangers-teachers, some aren't even duly qualified nor certified according to western educational requirements and standards, to teach or mold your kids....

at that tender age bracket, they are most susceptible to ideas and practices and habits.... that may or may not be acceptable to us farang..."

A good point - however, having kids in school at a young age teaches social skills.

In Thailand getting used to homework and learning to read at a young age is something - probably good - I think...

So assuming the school is a good one early education is probably the best way to go..

Double post forum software error

"There is still absolutely no need for anti virus software on a Mac"

I thought that IT pros often advise antivirus software when a Mac is used in a business as it is possible to receive an email from a Windows computer with a virus and then although your Mac may be fine you can then send that virus out via email to another Windows computer and casue a problem.

Do you disagree?

I am about to buy an iMac which will be used in a business and plan to buy ESET's Mac antivirus software as I have a low tolerance for problems.

Another useful link it seems that international regsitered mail tracing is being developed although currently it is a beta version:

http://track.thailandpost.co.th/trackinternet/Default.aspx?lang=en

I understand your frustration, but if you stay calm all will be well.

First, call the main Bangkok mail center - they speak English and give them your tracking number. Ask them to trace the package and call you back if they need time to research.

Unless, the IRS has changed its rules your mailing date is what counts and you can provide your ems receipt as proof of mailing.

EMS is quite reliable although every now and then there is a problem which is usually fixed within a week.

Ok, maybe i just had bad luck many times as I have never been able to track an AIRMAIL parcel on Usps.com as well as on Thaipost after the parcel left Thailand. But i am sure that it's impossible to track AIRMAIL parcels for most of European countries.

And i mentioned Thai post because you can usually track parcels delivery on both Thai post and country of delivery websites, as EMS, but maybe not for Airmail parcels to USA.

Next an EMS parcel will be late I will ask a refund again to see if they now accept to refund, what they never did in the past. Do you know what is the official delivery delay for EMS ? And at which point can you get refund ?

Thanks for your info.

Registered airmail in the USA is not true tracking like EMS, however, you can:

1) See final delivery status

2) See delivery attempts - usually only one

3) Your customer can use the registered mail number if a delivery attempt was made to reschedule, or pickup at the local post office.

4) Please test the above yourself on 5 or 6 packages within the last 2 months and let use know your results

5) If you ask the Thai post office on the phone they can tell you the exact flight number and date that registered mail leaves Thailand. But they are lazy and don't like to..

EMS to Thailand

I have asked 5 or 6 times what the delivery time for a refund is and never get an exact answer... but 2 weeks or more and I apply for and get 100% refunds except for when they claim customs caused the delay.

http://www2.thailandpost.co.th/CMCD/Web%20Link%20Registration.htm is an interesting page on the Thai post office site that looks incomplete but may be helpful.

I only check registered mail to the US and only then when we have a problem. When I say most countries allow registered mail information I mean most countries that we do business with which does not include Africa, South America and most 3rd world countries althought we do use EMS to China and a number of other countries. My apologies if I was not clear.

"EMS takes more than 1 week only when US customs are slow, but EMS does not refund if the parcel arrived less than 1 week to US after shipping but has not been delivered in time because of US customs."

You are simply wrong - we get refunds on a regular basis - from late EMS that has nothing to do with customs.

You are correct that sometimes the post office will not make a refund claiming that customs help up a package. Personally I have my doubts as to how often customs is to blame but there is not much we can do about those times when they blame customs.

The US mail is quite slow these days - the same package mailed via registered airmail to the UK takes around a week while it takes 3 weks on average to the US. Why - I don't know...

Still waiting for evidence, and i would love to be wrong because it would show that Thai post has improved its service.

Registered mail to the USA can be tracked here after a delivery attempt is made and delivery is also shown http://www.usps.com/shipping/trackandconfirm.htm

The US post office is responsible for the information. Why do you mention the Thai post office?

As a side note mailmen often are sloppy about leaving delivery attempt notes - they forget or put them in a bad place etc.

Also some countries like Taiwan will actually call people if regsitered mail cannot be delivered. Great service.

Good dental cleanings can be hard to find as for some reason dentists do them here and they are in a hurry...

As compared to dental assistants etc who do them in the States

Airmail registered or not won't allow you to track your parcel abroad, so it's useless (tracking for airmail works only in Thailand)

The only option is EMS and it costs 900 thb to US (1kg), 1 week delivery maximum even with slow US customs...

....

Most countries do show registered mail online when delivered and with a mis-delivery as in no one home, registered mail numbers then act as tracking numbers.

So your "useless" statement is perhaps an error.... smiling

Also the OP has a 600 baht budget so EMS is not likely to work.

1 week delivery is not always true. EMS can easily take 2 weeks to America when things are slow or longer... I know because we apply for and get refunds from the Thai post office when EMS is late.

"Motto: It is harder to run a successfull business here and not easier, as first impressions and salesmen often have you believe."

If you do not speak Thai and understand the culture you may indeed find it difficult to do business here. Otherwise I disagree with you.

However, if you are a skilled businessperson with capital and you work long hours, Thailand is not so different from anywhere else.

Accounting and taxation are not that different from the West.

Labor costs are lower here

As other posters have mentioned startup failures are normal worldwide.

IMO The difference in American and Australian English,and British English, is minute,and does nothing to alter the Basic English Language!,just some different ways of spelling a few words, hardly anything Radical to get excited about!

Exactly.

I am American and enjoy the sound of a British accent also a southern US accent as well.

If you memorize boot/trunk apartment/flat gasoline/petrol and few more as well as a few spelling differences you will be fine. Children should know both perfectly.

One billion again can be memorized but that is the one single issue that would concern me if you were in science or finance. I wonder what type of footnotes audited statements of multinational companies have regarding billions....?

Also with the influence of Hollywood and Wall Street one could argue that American English is the English of international business and has been for a long time.

On a practical level on native speakers of English in my experience understand American much more easily than other English speakers - again not because American English is better - simply because of Hollywood.

The iMacs were updated last week, if buying from a store I'd make sure you get one of the new ones and not old stock. The online store is showing a delivery time of 3-4 weeks at the moment so I would highly suspect any stock is the old model.

A very good point indeed! Thank you.

I want a 21.5 model.

Depends on where you apply. Koh smui seems to want a new one every year, while others don't care about how old it is.

Call them or just get a new copy for about 20 to 50 baht.

Does anyone know what Bangkok's policy is?

Last year I was asked to get one for the first time.

50 baht is not an issue but the time to go and get one factoring in traffic etc makes it an expensive piece of paper costing hundreds of dollars...

Use Registered airmail small packet.

55 baht is the charge for registered mail

It will take about 3 weeks to the US and require a signature.

Add insurance if the item is very expensive - but insurance claims take a long time and can be difficult

Hi, I am a very happy iMac,iPhone and iPad user, bought it all at the Pattaya outlet of maccomseven the only authorized retailer in TH, I guess your shops are also either iStudio or iBeat which is the maccomseven group.

They really help with everything, very well trained people with a basic understanding of english. Their prices are the same in every shop, maybe you check it out :maccomseven.com

rgs Mag

Mag,

Thank you - yes iStudio is near me.

They are friendly but their English was not very good.

I will check what service they offer as I need to transfer over my family photographs.

Hi, I am a very happy iMac,iPhone and iPad user, bought it all at the Pattaya outlet of maccomseven the only authorized retailer in TH, I guess your shops are also either iStudio or iBeat which is the maccomseven group.

They really help with everything, very well trained people with a basic understanding of english. Their prices are the same in every shop, maybe you check it out :maccomseven.com

rgs Mag

Mag,

Thank you - yes iStudio is near me.

They are friendly but their English was not very good.

I will check what service they offer as I need to transfer over my family photographs.

New iMac where in BKK to buy?

I am close to an Apple Studio store in Bangkapi or Fortune city or should I order online?

If the prices are the same would the store offer more support?

As in show us the basics of the OS and helping to transfer photos from a PC to our new iMac?

Thank you for the suggestions

Gallery 3 does not have the permissions of Gallery 2 and I prefer a newer version of software

Coppermine does not have a theme that I like.

Zenphoto is what I am looking at now.

What exactly do you make?

RAZZ

I to would like to know more about what u make and the exact work they would be required to perform? I live in phetchabun and I know a number of thais here and elsewhere in thailand that are intelligent and coordinated. Most of them have family working in and close ties to bkk, maybe if I could give them a better description of what they would be doing they would be interested in testing for you. Just a thought.

Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness in asking for more details!

We make luxury clothing by hand from silk, linen, cashmere and wool for export. Perhaps 5% of the time a sewing machine is used.

The exact work is primarily very detailed hand sewing that has to be perfect - if even one stitch is off we start again.

The work requires in addition to hand/eye skill some basic math ability for changing patterns.

Also we need career people who want to work for 20+ years.

Must be friendly and honest and hard working.

In theory no direct experience is required. Sometimes no experience is even better for the right person. We have hired people with years of factory experienc e who did a terrible job and retraining them our way was very difficult.

Good health - to stand for long hours and ability to thread a very small needle (smaller than needles typically found in Thailand)

Gallery Software suggestion needed

I am looking for some very easy to use gallery software that has nice themes - without advertising. Hosting space is not an issue as I have lots of space and bandwidth.

Open source is OK or something that costs around $200.

Thank you for your suggestions.

Location,location,location.

I have had True 16mb and poor service - I could not use YouTube our my Vonage phone

Now I have 3bb 5/1 premier service with a new internet line and my own IP address and all is well.

I agree with most of the posters here in that 8k isnt going to cut it, however you may have overlooked an option. All around Bangkok there are a number of charitys that work with abandined children, mothers trying to get off the street, Father Joe's is one, there is another called Goodwill that helps underprivalaged womed, Sisters of the good shepard etc etc. Most of the adult learners here are trying to break through the poverty line, but due to circumstances and little or no education they dont have a lot of choice, why dont you speak with these organisations and see if they have available talent, if good hand to eye co-ord is the key and not a degree, you might have some luck

Prudent Rabbit,

A very interesting idea - thank you. Although we need very stable workers from the first day.

As for the salary - again my apologies if I was not clear we pay above 8,000 per month (including bonuses) from day one as a training pay. Salaries will go up quickly depending on entirely on skill so we do not set the salaries after the first couple of months. If someone had high skill levels they would be making 12 to 15,000 after 3 months plus bonuses - with no education requirement and further raises...

Updates:

My father-in-law visited a number of villages in Isan for us and found many people doing "factory" type sewing which is not what we need but sometimes when we interview and test 20 workers with factory sewing background we find one good person so there is a possibility.

Interestingly when we told the workers about our starting salary of 300 baht per day with bonuses and rapid raises they could not believe it saying the payment was too high and something sounded "wrong". Anotherwords they are used to everyone paying the Isan minimum wage to start - just over 200 baht per day. So 50% higher than the minimum to start was strange to them.

When my wife spoke to them on the phone they felt better.

PS

I have received a number of very friendly and helpful private messages - thank you everyone for your ideas you are all kind to take the time to try and help us.

A cheap pre-school with few activities restricted to a single room might be bad for kid, but in LOS they are a lot of pre-school around 60-100k baht per term which are world class and have every possible activity. If a kid prefers to stay home over this, he has some kind of chemical imbalance or it's because you let him watch too much of his precious TV.

I would rather go to our kid's preschool than stay home myself. Learning Thai, playing with other children with amazing toys,soccer, swimming, good food, a good nap, singing and stories, arts.. I envy them.

A basic pre-school might be a bad idea though, It's just prison for kids. They need a place that light their eyes up when you cross the door.

A great post - I agree.

Schools are more fun than staying at home - plenty of time to be with the family on the weekends and holidays.

A big mistake to keep kids at home if you have a good school available. From 2 of they go.

Correction:

I mentioned that Bangkok workers were not that good in a post above I meant the workers from the countryside.

Those in the city seem more serious