Thai govt asks retailers to slash prices

[madmitch]

I wonder if the politicians would agree to an 80% cut in their tea money?

[thailand49]

3 hours ago, edwinchester said:

How about cutting import tax?

 

Maybe Trump, I doubt it would have some affect at the Asean meeting.

I love potato chips can't get enough of it at home the prices and variety.

I was at Big C Extra, basically at the foreign section, they had a display of chip Lays from the U.S.,  it was marked 119 baht,  the bag was the size of a 99 cent bag at home I pick it up and it felt as every chip had been smashed intentionally? I was thinking you got to be kidding  the typical 40% tack on tax.  Walk up and down the isle and everything imported the prices. 

[impulse]

3 hours ago, Airbagwill said:

3 hours ago, coulson said:

Surely they would just spend the same!!!???

perhaps you should look at Alibaba's "11/11"?

 

There's a big difference between holding a one day sale, and dropping prices permanently.

 

[tropo]

3 hours ago, colinneil said:

This is a typical Thai attitude live for today, worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.

Brain dead idea, from a brain dead government official.

It's better than continuously stressing about tomorrow. Maybe it's why Thais will smile with less than foreigners from developed countries that have all they need yet never enjoy it due to continuous worries about tomorrow. It could mean living a few years less, but at least they live while they are still breathing.

[impulse]

5 minutes ago, madmitch said:

I wonder if the politicians would agree to an 80% cut in their tea money?

 

The best numbers I've read say that corruption takes about 30-40% of every baht spent in Thailand.  That's politicians taking their tea money and the Elite getting their slice of every baht that's spent in the country. 

 

Even cutting that in half would probably solve most of the problem.

 

 

[Cranky]

I've wondered in recent years why prices are so high here - particularly on cheap crap imported from China.  I'm off to Europe soon and will be doing my Xmas shopping there as it is cheaper than here by quite a margin, particularly for the cheap crap from China I intend to buy.  

[catman20]

i buy very little in department stores its more expensive here than the UK

[Cranky]

30 minutes ago, chainarong said:

Perhaps lifting wages from 1992 level , 10 thousand Baht a month then, with three quarters of the population still on this rate 2017 ,  then people might be able to afford to buy, the whole wages structure of Thailand is bad industrial law , it favors' one section of the population......................................

You are way off.  Average back then was more like 4k a month compared to 12 now for unskilled and nearer 20 in Bangkok today (8 back then) for a reasonably qualified office worker, with very low taxes.  Mid - senior level Thai execs get well over 100k per month today.  Who do you think is buying all the condos in Bangkok - and getting robbed blind by ridiculous interest rates in the process ?

 

Expat packages have also fallen significantly leaving them comparable in cost to Thais in many positions rather than costing 10 times the cost of a Thai back in the early '90's.

[helloagain]

Do something about the crazy exchange rate

[overherebc]

3 minutes ago, helloagain said:

Do something about the crazy exchange rate

Were you here in 1997 ?

[Dave67]

I don't know about high prices just come back from Doha, bought a top of range Samsung walk-in fridge freezer for 10,000Bt Tesco Lotus

[wvavin]

Slash prices? Whose costs? 

[Antiparovian]

2 hours ago, saakura said:

Most of those bitter posters have no home to go back to. Which is one of the main reasons for negativity in their lives!!

Totally agree. Site is spoilt by the Thai Bashers.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

He said he would seek their cooperation in reducing prices on more than 10,000 consumer goods items by 20-80 per cent in order to boost people’s spending.

 

And all over Thailand on Monday, stores were marking up their prices by 20-80% so they could generously then comply with the government's request, and then reduce those 20-80% inflated prices back to what they were before.  A great windfall for the average Thai shopper!!!

 

[AlexRich]

Sounds like the same policy Maduro forced through in Venezuela ... and look at the mess they are in! 

[HooHaa]

19 minutes ago, Dave67 said:

I don't know about high prices just come back from Doha, bought a top of range Samsung walk-in fridge freezer for 10,000Bt Tesco Lotus

yeah, right, dave.

if it was 10k thb, it wasnt top of the line, and unless you are tinkerbell, walk in is even more unlikely.

 

keep the dream alive though. keep the dream alive.

 

Edited November 13, 2017 by HooHaa

[jonclark]

This reminds me somewhat of what old George W Bush said after the 9/11 attacks - he called on Americans to go shopping 

 

 A  cynical, but successful ploy by Bush,  using a prolonged credit fueled consumer binge to deflect and help keep complaints about his performance from becoming little more than a nuisance.

 

 It would seem the current Thai government is following the same tactic and hoping for a possible surge in popularity as the masses melt their credit cards!!

 

 

[jonclark]

5 minutes ago, HooHaa said:

yeah, right, dave.

if it was 10k thb, it wasnt top of the line, and unless you are tinkerbell, walk in is even more unlikely.

 

keep the dream alive though. keep the dream alive.

 

I wonder if he takes his shoes off when he goes into his fridge? 

[goonnerone]

2 hours ago, Farangdanny said:

How often posts on here are so negative about Thai life/society/people etc. It's disgraceful. Often the same posters. Why don't you just go home to where you came from.

Was thinking the same thing, sad posts from sad people

[HooHaa]

6 minutes ago, jonclark said:

I wonder if he takes his shoes off when he goes into his fridge? 

it would be rude not to, though when spending time in the freezer section, i do wear wooly slippers

[Mickmouse1]

So the Government is well aware if the highly inflated prices?

80% means 100baht item to be sold at 20bhat and still making profit.That tells the average consumer that they were being ripped off in the past? and of course now ?

[hansnl]

5 hours ago, al007 said:

Wow there must be a lot of gouging of customers

 

How about the govt cutting fuel prices

Yes, indeed, some of the profit margins on merchandise in shops can be called obsceen, while some other margins are minimal.

The tax and excise on fuel, actually, is not too high.

It would be nice if those prices could be lowered, but tax income has to be found somewhere.

[Nemesis7]

The will hike the price tag and then say SALE..ultimately nothing will change

[Jools]

Attacking the business sector is never a good idea in ANY country. This will probably be the last we will hear of that idea.

[ajarnmarc]

Most Thai's are convinced that when they need to do their household shopping Makkro is the place. I've researched all the items I normally buy at other stores and they always beat out Makkro prices. The other stores also offer shopping bags, and the items are better displayed to boot. Local shop owners know how to market their items, by giving less effort on presentation, and the locals believe it's to save cost, which the owners can pass on to the consumers, but in reality it's any but that. 

Then their the shops that actually want the consumers to remove their shoes,

to enter the business store, 

for that reason alone, I move on. 

For me Tops, and Lazada are easiest way to compare prices and usually save money in the process. 

Tops store, even has an app which reads bar codes, so I can easily compare prices in any store, 

with the Tops app bar code reader to see if the other store is cheaper or not?

If the other store isn't cheaper, then I can place the items on Tops in my shopping cart, 

and have it delivered, usually by the time I get home, as any order made before 13:00 are delivered the same day, free of charge...

Can't beat home delivery, saves time and gas, not to mention the rude workers in the store,

that just push past the customers if they are in the way,

while the labor is trying to stock shelves...

[thailand49]

42 minutes ago, Antiparovian said:

Totally agree. Site is spoilt by the Thai Bashers.

Maybe when you get more than 35 post, you might actually be learning something like those who live here which when first came thought like you?  But as time goes on it is pretty hard to turn a blind eye to what is going on here and other countries in the area and that has nothing to do with whether they can go back or not or whether they have money or not! It isn't being spoiled it is reality who has a open mind instead of bashing Expats for speaking out! 

[observer90210]

And the retailers ask the concerned to slash tax hikes !! 

[Cranky]

If the wealthy were to start paying some tax............

[Chris Lawrence]

need to slash prices on goods that keep giving. The ones that you buy are proud of but need to kept in good working condition. But it is a strange request

[farcanell]

3 hours ago, Farangdanny said:

How often posts on here are so negative about Thai life/society/people etc. It's disgraceful. Often the same posters. Why don't you just go home to where you came from.

Given that TV, as a whole, leans toward covering negative aspects in “Thai life/ society/ people etc”, surely it cannot come as a surprise to find negative comments on the same.

 

disgraceful might be an irrepressible optimist jumping on here and making all sorts of light, of a dark matter.

 

but, scroll up or down and you may come across the feel good article of the day, where most post positive fuzzies... ?