Cashless Thai society not on the cards anytime soon, says study

[recom273]

2 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Only the large stores and outlets have the facility for cashless payment... ie a "cashiers till"

most high street shops, vendors street, markets etc etc are cash sale only.

 

 

Huh? Since Prayut started the "half with you" scheme every restaurant and street vendor accepts phone payments. Im totally lost when any vendor doesn't have a QR code. I would say they are almost forced to accept cashless payments, people who don't carry cash just walk away.

[ozz1]

How do you fill the brown envelopes I can't just put my credit card in there????

[Mac Mickmanus]

Just now, ozz1 said:

How do you fill the brown envelopes I can't just put my credit card in there????

What bribes would you like to pay ?

[tomazbodner]

In my area, most of ATMs have disappeared, and those that are left are inside a shopping mall that's closed at night.

 

On the other hand, all condo invoices come with QR code only, and "Cash not accepted" overprint. Parking for visitors that exceed free allowance, needs to be paid by scanning a QR code with banking app, without any other options. Shops around the place have QR codes and while some still accept cash, many don't. I've asked a street vendor why he only accepted QR payments and his answer was that he has no cash on him so he can't be robbed.

 

So in a way, while some prefer going cashless out of convenience, many have no choice.

 

I didn't for the life of me expect that despite wallet full of cash, I could be completely broke by just letting my phone battery run flat, or losing phone signal...

[hotchilli]

36 minutes ago, recom273 said:

Huh? Since Prayut started the "half with you" scheme every restaurant and street vendor accepts phone payments. Im totally lost when any vendor doesn't have a QR code. I would say they are almost forced to accept cashless payments, people who don't carry cash just walk away.

Maybe you're blessed in the big city.?

[newnative]

Good, good, good.

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

What difference does it make as to where you spend you undeclared money ?

If you spend cash on prostitutes or a new suit , who would notice the difference ?

Amuses me that again and again the discussion eventually invokes comment about bar girls etc. Some of you guys need to find something different to use some of your time. 

Edited May 2, 2022 by scorecard

[mtls2005]

An ageing, rural, agricultural-based society, with limited access to smartphones, and mobile data, and pretty much no edumacation, isn't exactly conducive to some short-term change to cashless-ness.

 

Most cashless schemes actually harm those at the bottom more than any segment.

 

 

[Burma Bill]

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Only the large stores and outlets have the facility for cashless payment... ie a "cashiers till"

most high street shops, vendors street, markets etc etc are cash sale only.

 

 

Yes indeed and very much so here in Cambodia where we sometimes have to change cash into cash! Two currencies are used, the US$ and the Khmer Riel. Many small business traders will only take Riels so I have to change my $ bills into the Khmer currency for local market shopping.

 

Personally, I do not own a smartphone so I use cash or my debit card and long may it be so!!

Edited May 2, 2022 by Burma Bill
additional information

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, Burma Bill said:

Yes indeed and very much so here in Cambodia where we sometimes have to change cash into cash! Two currencies are used, the US$ and the Khmer Riel. Many small business traders will only take Riels so I have to change my $ bills into the Khmer currency for local market shopping.

 

Personally, I do not own a smartphone so I use cash or my debit card and long may it be so!!

Thank you Bill, some people are of the opinion that every nook & Cranny of a country has the same convenience as they do living in the city centres. 

[jacko45k]

7 hours ago, klauskunkel said:

because bribes are only accepted in cash.

A Rolex is too big a unit?

[zzaa09]

8 hours ago, JoePai said:

In God we trust, all others pay cash

Which God?

[recom273]

5 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Maybe you're blessed in the big city.?

Yeah, seems common in Khon Kaen city but even in our village 20K from town, more often than not we pay by app. 

[zzaa09]

1 hour ago, hotchilli said:

Thank you Bill, some people are of the opinion that every nook & Cranny of a country has the same convenience as they do living in the city centres. 

Indeed. 

As life and lifestyles are not even close to being similar - country and urban existence. 

Not commonplace [at all] for the average rural dwellers to become attached/indoctrinated by way of a credit/debit/loan way of life. The overwhelming majority.

 

[Airalee]

6 hours ago, tomazbodner said:

In my area, most of ATMs have disappeared, and those that are left are inside a shopping mall that's closed at night.

 

On the other hand, all condo invoices come with QR code only, and "Cash not accepted" overprint. Parking for visitors that exceed free allowance, needs to be paid by scanning a QR code with banking app, without any other options. Shops around the place have QR codes and while some still accept cash, many don't. I've asked a street vendor why he only accepted QR payments and his answer was that he has no cash on him so he can't be robbed.

 

So in a way, while some prefer going cashless out of convenience, many have no choice.

 

I didn't for the life of me expect that despite wallet full of cash, I could be completely broke by just letting my phone battery run flat, or losing phone signal...

Don’t know where you live, but in my area (Bangkok) there are ATMs everywhere. Tons of them in the malls, lotus, big c, on the streets in front of banks, 7-11s…everywhere. No shortage at all.

 

I haven’t encountered a single parking garage (different malls/shopping areas) that didn’t accept cash, nor a single restaurant, massage shop, street vendor or any other place. None.

 

The only place that wanted an online payment was my condo.  I told them I didn’t have online banking so they took cash and gave me a receipt.

 

You must live in a very interesting area.

[Airalee]

It’s really odd to hear from people who claim that all these cashless places exist.
 

Other than in MSM stories that seem to promote cashless societies and then trot out the obligatory vegan/gluten-free restaurant as the example, I have only encountered one…just one place in my life that doesn’t accept cash.  The food court at the True Digital Center Mall.  The funny thing though is that they have an employee who accepts your cash and then goes to your selected vendor and scans her phone to pay for your meal….so…in essence, even they take cash.

 

If there was ever a place that declined taking cash…no problem.  I’ll just go to one of the 99.9999999% of other places that do still accept cash.

[Misterwhisper]

I wish I could pay in unused postage stamps. Still got plenty of those left over since mailing letters went out of fashion.

[robblok]

4 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Thank you Bill, some people are of the opinion that every nook & Cranny of a country has the same convenience as they do living in the city centres. 

Maybe you pay as mutch attention to where they can go cashless as to what other posters post. The guy was talking about cambodia not Thailand and you saw it as supporting your position. More people then you post that its all available...so maybe they are right and you are not.

[herfiehandbag]

12 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

What difference does it make as to where you spend you undeclared money ?

If you spend cash on prostitutes or a new suit , who would notice the difference ?

Well the girl might - he would be so much more "hansum"!

[greeneking]

I went to a new fashionable cafe, which was really a resturaunt.  It even had charging points in the car park for electric cars close to where I parked my bike.

There was no menu, but a QR code on the table number.  I saw cash was not accepted.

It was all so modern I could not order or pay.  I use a tablet when I want it, but do not take it with me when I go out.

How is this all better?

[Meat Pie 47]

10 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

Yes indeed and very much so here in Cambodia where we sometimes have to change cash into cash! Two currencies are used, the US$ and the Khmer Riel. Many small business traders will only take Riels so I have to change my $ bills into the Khmer currency for local market shopping.

 

Personally, I do not own a smartphone so I use cash or my debit card and long may it be so!!

Same me I am in OZ I have a smart phone but I don't have data on my phone since I am on a cheap plan so I always pay with my debit card (tap and go) but have not paid by cash for a number of years.I can use my phone at home since I have WiFi

[bendejo]

19 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Did you forget payment by phone app?

Much quicker than the old lady in front paying cash in ones and twos.

In the US it's the senior citizens paying by check.  When queuing up at the cashier lines at the supermarket you have to keep an eye out for the white-hairs clutching their checkbooks, it will take a few minutes just to settle up.

Also for past so-many years gasoline is cheaper if you pay cash, and some supermarkets are keeping prices down by not accepting credit cards.  They do accept debit cards, though.

 

El Salvador has made crypto its currency, but plenty of shops have signs saying "NO BITCOIN" according to news reports.

 

 

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, robblok said:

More people then you post that its all available...so maybe they are right and you are not.

They are correct for where they live.... agreed.

But being the majority of posters does not make it the same for all.

[jacko45k]

7 hours ago, greeneking said:

I went to a new fashionable cafe, which was really a resturaunt.  It even had charging points in the car park for electric cars close to where I parked my bike.

There was no menu, but a QR code on the table number.  I saw cash was not accepted.

It was all so modern I could not order or pay.  I use a tablet when I want it, but do not take it with me when I go out.

How is this all better?

I think it is better for those who carry a smart phone, or even take a tablet with them. Youngsters are so used to dealing this way... forcing them to put down their phones, pick up and read a regular menu, and, oh the trauma, look a waiter in the eyes and converse, would send them into a panic. 

[Stygge]

Pros and cons.
But payments will inevitable go electronic in a near future.
Why?
Because the banks and the governments love it.
För the banks it´s cheaper, no physical handling of cash etc.
For the government it´s a golden opportunity to increase control of it´s citizens.
Stops tax evasion. Authoritarian governments can trace their citizen so much easier. It´s no coincidence China is in the forefront of the caschless society

[mtls2005]

15 hours ago, Airalee said:

If there was ever a place that declined taking cash…no problem.  I’ll just go to one of the 99.9999999% of other places that do still accept cash.

Yeah, this "strategy" works for beer, but many online sales - yes, there is CoD - require a bank transfer.

 

With a local bank account, an ATM debit card and the bank's mobile app, it is relatively easy to use contactless payment.

 

I can understand the older, foreign demographic grappling with new-fangled things, it can be frightening, so carry on.

 

5 hours ago, bendejo said:

In the US it's the senior citizens paying by check. 

 

5 hours ago, bendejo said:

El Salvador

Facepalm.

 

Someone's having a senior moment. This topic is about thailand, at least it was when I started reading it.

 

 

[tomazbodner]

16 hours ago, Airalee said:

Don’t know where you live, but in my area (Bangkok) there are ATMs everywhere. Tons of them in the malls, lotus, big c, on the streets in front of banks, 7-11s…everywhere. No shortage at all.

 

I haven’t encountered a single parking garage (different malls/shopping areas) that didn’t accept cash, nor a single restaurant, massage shop, street vendor or any other place. None.

 

The only place that wanted an online payment was my condo.  I told them I didn’t have online banking so they took cash and gave me a receipt.

 

You must live in a very interesting area.

Just moved here a good year ago. At that time, there were 4 ATMs around my condo. Now there's none. At that time, most restaurants, food stalls, fruit vendors, etc. accepted cash only. Now all of them have QR code on, some still accept cash, many don't. ATMs are still at shopping mall not too far away, but the ones at 7-11s that used to be plenty are disappearing. Condo only accepted bank transfers or credit card payments, no cash, from the start (parking included). I remember a long line of cars and a stand-off on leaving condo by someone trying to pay cash but security guard wouldn't accept it. Eventually someone from a car behind paid that few baht.

 

I'm in Bang Sue.

[tomazbodner]

53 minutes ago, Stygge said:

Pros and cons.
But payments will inevitable go electronic in a near future.
Why?
Because the banks and the governments love it.
För the banks it´s cheaper, no physical handling of cash etc.
For the government it´s a golden opportunity to increase control of it´s citizens.
Stops tax evasion. Authoritarian governments can trace their citizen so much easier. It´s no coincidence China is in the forefront of the caschless society

Was just reading that there's a revolt in some African country now that mobile banking has basically completely replaced cash, and government introduced a tax on all mobile transactions. I guess that's coming, once enough people use it.

[recom273]

@hotchilli Did you not hear of "kor la krung" "half with half" - it was a scheme that Prayut installed during Covid. You deposited a maximum and minimum amount into your virtual account and the government matched it, as a kind of covid relief. You could spend that anywhere, in markets, restaurants, any street vendor that was registered - even my wife, who sells second hand clothes managed to manipulate the system to become a vendor, because she had people asking to pay with the app, and if they couldn't they would walk away. This was the start.

 

Of course, we aren't 100% cashless, I wouldn't want to see cash refused, but I see that in the post abovem, it prevents petty theft. If you aren't a person who has adopted cashless payments, you won't know how widespread its use is. Sometimes I am surprised to see people using their phones to pay in the most remote or strangest of places for the smallest amounts, like 15B for some mini pancakes?? really?. I have yet to move my bank account from another province and every time I go to the ATM it costs more than 20B per withdrawal, so we use our phones to keep the cash we have in our pockets.

 

Of course, I wouldn't want to see cash phased out - one of my pet hates is the QR code menu, I was in one place (hipster restaurant) they had a basic menu, just names of all these fancy burgers, I asked what this specific hamburger had in it - I was told by the cool waiter to scan the QR and check the online menu, I got up and walked away - what's wrong with people, lost the capacity to communicate? lost the concept of doing your job?

 

But yeah, leave your money at home and see how widespread cashless is - not too sure where you are, but take a trip upcountry, and you will see that its just as widespread in the villages as the cities.

[robblok]

3 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I think it is better for those who carry a smart phone, or even take a tablet with them. Youngsters are so used to dealing this way... forcing them to put down their phones, pick up and read a regular menu, and, oh the trauma, look a waiter in the eyes and converse, would send them into a panic. 

Not to mention the cost saving of all of this. Menus that can be updated easily. So many advantages. Sure its not easy for those that are not used to these kind of things. But the young generation is and they are wat matters oldies will be replaced.

 

I can't say that i like menus my phone on a tablet its ok big enough and all. But still for those who are used to it its the future and its easier to update and cheaper. Win win.